Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website

Challenge: Less-Web-Savvy Audience

The people who are searching for your product

or service may not be as knowledgeable about the Web as you are, and certainly not

as knowledgeable as you hope they are. So, even though the Web is chock full of

niche shopping sites that are worth looking into, it makes sense to give your attention

first to how your site looks in the search engine mainstays: Google, AOL, Yahoo!,

MSN, and Ask (formerly Ask Jeeves).

And, while you may have the benefit of marketing research and brand differentiation,

your potential audience may be frustratingly unaware of your preferred labels for your

own product or service. Are you selling “the finest micro-techno-fiber all-weather

apparel”? That’s great, but your general user base is probably searching for “blue rain-

coats.” In addition, they may be misspelling your product or—

the horror

—your brand

name. Careful keyword research can help you tremendously.

Challenge: Unexpected Search Competition

As your audience is potentially very large

and diverse, so too is your competition. We mean your

competition, of course.

You may know exactly who your top five competitors are in the “real world,” but when

you get down to identifying your top-priority keywords in your SEO plan, you’re likely

to be amazed by the sites that are clogging up the top ranks. They might be competitors

you’ve never heard of, or they might be individual consumers talking about how much

they hate your products. Or, as we often see, they may not be related to your industry at

all. Did you know there’s a band called “The Blue Raincoats”? Well, there is, and last

we checked, it had the top nine spots in Google for the term “blue raincoats.”

Challenge: Page View Conversions

If, like many B2C websites, your measure of con-

version is a page view—for example, if you’re using traffic data to sell ad space on

your site, or if your main goal is brand awareness—get ready for an exciting ride. Sim-

ply going by the traffic numbers can have you shouting from the top of the parking

garage one day and weeping into your latte the next. This next bit of advice may be

hard for a slick up-and-comer like you to swallow, but we’re telling you because we

like you: Accept that you have less control than you think you do. The Google gods

are fickle. An algorithm change, or a search engine marriage or divorce, may be all it

takes to sink your traffic.

Large Organization

If you’re about to embark on SEO for your large organization, brace yourself, this is

going to sting a little:

Pearl of Wisdom:

You do

not

have dibs on the number one spot in the rankings just because

you’re big.

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