SEO & Business Management
As a business owner, investing in the right search engine optimization (SEO) management and strategies can be the difference between a well-known, successful business and one that’s floundering.
SEO is a vital skill in the modern business landscape. Hiring SEO managers, or bringing in digital marketing consultants, can be expensive. Luckily there are some great tools out there to help you get start with SEO.
Google is the most used search engine on the internet – it is the dominant search service among consumers. It has a major impact on SEO strategy when its algorithm changes. Google also provides bunch of helpful services so you can collect and analyze data about your website and its performance.
There are two distinct services which are often grouped together but have some very different purposes. In general, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is use to increase the search engine ranking of your content. Online Reputation Management (ORM) is a bit broader of a term, and is used to specifically manage the online reputation of a person, place, thing, site, brand, etc. They both sound pretty similar to the name so it is a great way to have a better understanding of what each are. That understanding is the key to making a wise decision especially when determining the needs of your company.
The Basics of SEO
Search Engine Optimization is merely making a website, review, blog etc., as much as possible. Meet the specific criteria that a search engine uses to determine ranking. Sounds simple and the basis for it is simple, but as the 27.9 million it’s in Google can attest, it is anything but simple. Here are small number of the most important things good SEO will incorporate (keyword refers to both “keyword” and “keyword phrase”):
Search Engine Optimization incorporates these plus hundreds more. In this sense search engine optimization is truly optimizing your site/content for the highest search engine ranking possible. If all that is SEO then what is ORM and why should a company not just pursue SEO?
Business Branding
SEO can also optimize your business for branding but also with the correct domain name. You can consider a brand as the idea or image people have in mind when thinking about specific products, services and activities of a company, both in a practical (e.g. “the shoe is light-weight”) and emotional way (e.g. “the shoe makes me feel powerful”). It is therefore not just the physical features that create a brand but also the feelings that consumers develop towards the company or its product. This combination of physical and emotional cues is trigger when exposed to the name, the logo, the visual identity, or even the message communicated.
White Hat SEO
Choosing good SEO goals is a critical first step in your digital marketing campaign. As with any long-term endeavor, knowing your marketing end goals and working directly toward them saves time, money, and stress.
Good SEO cannot be done in a vacuum. It depends on business goals, the needs of the sales and customer support team, and intimate knowledge of the competitive landscape in which you work. Engage the critical stakeholders in each area of your business and work together to come up with a list of needs. You may be surprise at how SEO can help each team meet its objectives. I know some women group in the Technical SEO (digital marketing) field. Based in London, who sometimes get together, make business hub and grow their business brand and reputation together. This is really good for the society to see women in tech business.
It’s important to choose right goals before implementing any SEO management and strategy and get continual buy-in from your team. Combine and categorize ideas to find the ones that digital marketing is well suit for. If possible, pick some “easy” objectives and start stacking up quick wins with your team. This buys you time for longer-term strategies that SEO is suited for.
Branding is often overlook but is a mission-critical part of an ongoing marketing campaign.
If you’re just starting to build your brand with your target market, branding eases future conversations by creating space for you in your customer’s mind. It’s easier to engage with a known company than a new entity you only recently found.