Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
We started learning about Search Engine Optimization back in 2001, when Google was just a baby. It was a lot easier back then, because Google's PageRank™ system was a lot less refined and SEO was a lot less competitive.
Over the years, Google and other search engines, like Yahoo and Bing, have evolved and focused much more on getting businesses to pay to appear in search results. This has made optimizing for the "organic" or "free" searches more challenging, far more competitive (as everyone scrambles to get the free traffic) and has created an explosion in Pay-Per-Click advertising.
Search Engine Optimization is a complex and individualized process. Every business has unique sets of keywords they would like to be found for and every industry has a different level of competitiveness for those keywords. If you are in the Pest Control business, you will find aggressive competition for both organic searches and Pay-Per-Click. If you are in a more niche business, you may find it easier to be found without much effort. However, you still need to know how your Website is performing, because the business intelligence that search engines can provide is extremely valuable and there is always someone ready to jump ahead of you when they work out how.
Regardless of which industry you are in, Cyrius can help you improve your Website's performance. No matter how well your site is currently performing, it can always be improved – either by better positioning, a wider range of keywords, or working on the site itself to improve response and retention rates.
We understand that many factors are involved in Search Engine Optimization. It is a lot more than just keywords and getting onto the first page of the search results. We take a holistic approach that considers all of the following:
Excellent Web design: First impressions make a huge difference. We all know how quickly we hit our 'back' button if we don't like what we see after 'Googling' a Website. Your site must look professional and be styled to position your business exactly as your visitors expect it to be. Check our portfolio to see how we approach the challenges of Website design and how we have succeeded for our clients.
User-friendly: Your navigation, layout and menu structure must make it easy for visitors to get around and find what they are looking for. This may involve the use of "breadcrumbs" or drop-down menus as well as highlighting active sections or sub-pages. A site map helps provide an overview of all your content.
Rich, appropriate & high quality content: Search Engines index sites based on what they find when they "spider" them. People also rate sites based on what they find. So your Website must be filled with informative, helpful, relevant and up-to-date information. Not only must it explain what your business does, it must provide evidence that you know what you are talking about (just like this page is doing for us!) and may also need to have good links, supporting evidence, case studies, testimonials, etc..
Technical considerations: There are lots of technical considerations to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). As you might expect, search engines use computer programs to look at your site, so you must make it as easy as possible for them to do this. This is what is known as being "search engine friendly". We run a full report on your site's search engine friendliness to determine if there are any problems, such as bad code, content being hidden from the spiders, or other factors that may cause your site to slip down the list. Any issues exposed will need to be addressed in order to improve your SEO chances.
External links: One of the big factors of SEO is how many other Websites think your site is good enough to link to. Search engines figure that the more popular the linking site is, the more credible your Website must be. A lot of this linking is done without anyone asking you – people will just link to you because they like your site or find a particular article interesting. You will want to encourage this by providing easy linking mechanisms. You can also submit your site to directories, offer exchange links with your clients and associates and set up pages on a variety of Websites, such as YouTube, LinkedIn or Twitter that link back to your Website.
A reason for people to come back: In the end, you can get all the search engine traffic in the world, but if there is nothing for anyone to hang around for or get to know about you and your business, all your SEO investment and work is wasted. The final piece of the SEO puzzle is to retain the visitors that you attract. Offer them something. Provide articles that they might link to. Allow them to comment on those articles and tell them that they will be notified if anyone responds. This is the self-fulfilling, snow-balling feedback loop of SEO. The more people you get, the more content they link to or contribute to, the more search engines index you and rank you, the more people you get... We like to call this phenomenon "Perpetual Promotion".
Our Search Engine Optimization Strategy
This is how we are going to take care of you and help you get onto the first page of the Search Engines for your desired keywords. We take both a scientific and highly individualized approach:
- Assess your current Website situation thoroughly.
- Identify areas that could be improved.
- Offer a detailed strategy to improve your site and a plan for making the strategy work.
- Commence SEO process with regular communications with you.
- Send you a monthly report of how the site is performing and provide ideas for the next phase of the SEO cycle.
- Keep you updated with Search Engine trends to help you stay in touch with the changing SEO landscape to make sure you stay dominant in your industry.
If you would like Cyrius to become your very own SEO department working for you to get your site listed high in the search engines and generating lots of traffic, please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.
