Holistic Technology Part 1 - Search Effectiveness
Posted Sun, 2011-04-10 20:27 by MrAdamJohn
I was in the throes of working on a strategic marketing and SEO plan for a local business owner and realized I have internalized a holistic technology approach. It occurred to me a few weeks ago, actually, as I listened intently to another local business owner describe in concise yet flexible language what "holistic" means in that line of work. "wow!" - - I thought - - "it applies to me!" I have shared bits and pieces along the way... and this seems like a great point to start.
The clarity of that thought has helped me refine a whole host of lines of our business in the last few weeks. While process and procedure are important to define, and they are not always paid attention to ... they very well deserve to be cared for in any business. We have taken some time to define our "holistic approach to search effectiveness".
It is hard to figure out where you're going without knowing where you are...
Search Effectiveness seems to be that term to concisely cover both SEO/M optimization. SEO is Search Engine Optimization, and SEM is Search Engine Marketing.
Holistic Search Effectiveness:
1. We must first understand or seek to help the client define:
(a) business product(s) and/or business plan
(b) marketing strategy
(c) sales strategy
(d) where SEO makes sense
2. Good Content! (Creative, appropriate, compelling, interesting content with images, audio/video/interactive elements)
3. Keyword research & keyword targeting
4. Conversion Rate Optimization
5. Testing & optimization of content for users (time on site, bounce rate, engagement, etc. all matter directly & indirectly)
6. Content strategy (which ties into the business plan and business strategy)
7. On page, or in-site optimization
8. Search-engine friendly site architecture
9. XML Sitemap
10. Analytics - visitor tracking is just a start. Important follow-on includes; webmaster tools, link monitoring, brand/mention notices, social media tracking, campaign coordination and more
11. Alternative search listings (local/maps/places, video, images, news, blogs etc)
12. Usability, UI & user experience issues (since these can have a huge indirect and possibly direct impact on rankings)
13. Reputation tracking & management
14. Competitive research (initial, periodic, ongoing)
15. Syndication, scraping, copyright and duplicate content issues
16. Traffic source diversification (blogs, digg/reddit/stumbleupon, youtube, flickr, directories etc)
17. Enaged and/or encouraged (relevant, quality) linkbuilding
18. PPC Ads, Banner Ads, other advertising
19. Social media marketing - critical strategic and tactical
20. Social networking strategies
Well, that about does it for now. Believe it or not, this is NOT intended to be an exhaustive list! It is a starter list. Exhaustive lists are for experts. If you've got a hanlde on this and you're ready for more, send me your resume!
Any feedback or suggestions, please send them our way!
