Search Engine Positioning

Search Engine Management

Strategic Search Engine Management

Our approach to success with search engines is a 5 Step process.

Step One
Select the search engines and search phrases that are most important. We will work with you to identify which search engines are most important to meeting your business objectives, both nationally and internationally.

Then, we work together to identify the immediate and long range phrases you need to be known for.

Step Two
Remove Barriers To Success. Many of today’s web pages actually have design or programming elements built in to them that inhibit or block search engines from doing their job. We review your web page programming and structure to remove barriers and do our best to repair damage from any “tricks” employed by previous web managers. Common mistakes are Flash introductions, repetitive keywords, type colored to disappear and words unrelated to a specific page.

If you wish, this review can also include whether your web pages are unfriendly to certain browsers or browser versions and whether your web pages are properly accessible to the physically or visually impaired. Federal Section 508 guidelines exist which require Federal agencies to ensure that their information technology efforts are accessible by persons with disability. You can ask us to employ these standards in your website as well.

Other barriers to success might be “services” which submit your site every week (the important search engines don’t like that) or individuals who occasionally do something to “help.” Too many chefs can definitely spoil the search engine result.

Step Three
Embedding the Correct Web Page Coding. Based on the objectives and key word phrases we’ve worked together in Step One to develop, we build industry Best Practice programming into each of your web pages. Because we also agreed on which search engines are most important to your business model, we are able to focus on methods and tactics with the strongest appeal to those Search Engines.

This programming will require access to your web page files which is easily accomplished when you host with us. If the files are outside our system, we’ll need to work together on a process whereby the pages we’ve corrected aren’t overwritten by other authors managing your web pages. Or, we can assume complete responsibility for page management including content changes.

Step Four
Observe Search Engine Software Behavior. Here’s where our status as an ISP can really be a plus. It is possible that the ISP you’re using has programmed their server or their network firewall in a way that might discourage Search Engine software robots. So, even if your web pages were programmed perfectly, you still would fall short of competition.

Because we are an Internet Service Provider as well as a web design and communications company, we are able to observe how the major search engines interact with your website and with our webservers. We can determine which ones are visiting your content, how often and with what result.

Step Five
Strategies To Improve Listing Positions. Getting listed in a Search Engine is one job. Being listed early on in results is quite another. There are several industry Best Practices which will steadily move your website toward the top of the list when employed correctly over time.

While it is unprofessional to “guarantee” any kind of result with search engines, we have seen several companies go from being “nowhere” in the listings to being at or near the top in 60 days. Some categories are more hotly contested than others and success will require more effort over longer periods of time.

Moving to the top of the list, and staying at the top of the list, requires ongoing effort and constant review of ever changing search engine priorities and best practices. Your company will benefit if you can retain us over the long haul to achieve and hold the results you need.

The Cost?
Not to dodge the question, but we really do need to talk about this one. For some situations, three or four phrases are all that’s required. Other websites may have hundreds of important phrases, brand names, generic equivalents, etc. Popular words such as chocolate or toys will require much more concentrated effort than benzene or polyurethane.

We do charge an initial fee for consultation, development of objectives and programming the web pages for initial success. Then, month by month, we provide tactics to improve your rankings and to broaden the family of words and phrases attributable to your website.

The cost is reasonable, probably less than you expected. And the benefits are likely more than you expected. Let’s talk.