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Why do I need Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Critical to the success of your business is finding sources
of new customers. Enabling qualified prospects to find
you is a major goal of your marketing efforts. It makes
sense to find the most cost-effective ways to do this.
We know that people use search engines to find a solution
or an answer to a problem they are experiencing. This
makes for a highly qualified prospect. In fact, 80% of
new customers indicate they found the web sites of their
suppliers by using search engines.
A good ranking in a search engine is like having a premium
booth location at a trade show - maybe better because
you can filter out the tire-kickers. If your business
is looking for new customers or wants better exposure
to existing customers, a sound search engine strategy
is the single, most cost-effective marketing activity
you can implement.
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Why
is keyword selection so important?
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Keyword
and key phrase research is the process of finding
terms and phrases that ideally meet these 3 criteria:
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used frequently by your target audience
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not
used by most of your competitors |
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relevant
to your site |
| Keyword
selection is the cornerstone of your web marketing
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NetLiance
uses sophisticated databases and high-end data mining
tools to conduct keyword research. The histogram
above is an actual example of a multivariate keyword
analysis indicating the best set of keywords for
this client.
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Is SEO the same thing as Search Engine Positioning?
For all intents and purposes these terms mean the same
thing, i.e. optimizing a web page or web site for the
best position in the search engine listings. The focus
of this process is keyword analysis and selection,
and constructing pages to be as friendly as
possible to human visitors and search engine robots alike.
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For $39.95 I can get submitted to 1500 search
engines. Won't that work?
There are many firms offering to submit your site
to dozens, hundreds or even thousands of search engines.
Submitting to "hundreds of search engines" may sound
like a lot of work, but unless you also develop optimized
content for each one, your efforts will have little
or no effect. In fact, a poorly prepared site will realistically
get a poor ranking which can be very difficult to remedy.
The point here is simple. There are no shortcuts. If
you need to spend the time to prepare your site for
submission, focus on preparing it for the 10 to 15 engines
that get 95% or more of the traffic.
Most of the hundreds, even thousands,
of "search engines" listed by these submission services
are not 'real' search engines anyway. Most are "free
for all" linking sites collecting email addresses for
'opt-in' lists.
NetLiance includes a
Search Engine Submission Service with several of
its hosting plans. We strongly encourage clients to
make sure their sites are prepared before this service
is activated.
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What is a meta tag?
A meta tag is a section of a web page
which is invisible to a human visitor but readable by
the search engine 'spiders'. The tags contain a description
of the page and a list of relevant keywords as well as
other information. The search engines use this information
to help categorize and rank the page in their database.
Each search engine has a different (unpublished) algorithm
to analyze the meta tags which further complicates the
optimization process.
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What is a Doorway page?
A Doorway Page can be any HTML page designed specifically
to rank highly on search engine results for a particular search engine and a particular
phrase or keyword. Their high rank on search results gets them found by search
engine users, who, upon clicking the link, enter your site. Many search engines
disapprove the use of doorway pages. Consequently NetLiance does not utilize them.
A Landing page differs in that it is page linked to a promotional offer to track
responses either from online or offline advertising.
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What do I need to know to do SEO
myself?
To do SEO in-house will require knowledge
of the complex and rapidly changing search engine environment.
The skill set for this type of work is quite different
than that of the average web designer, webmaster, or marcom
specialist. Our staff, for example, have backgrounds in
mathematics and data analysis, and are familiar with data
visualization tools.
Consider,
also, that training your own staff has a significant
monetary cost, as would the purchase of the various
software you will need. By outsourcing your project
to NetLiance, you receive the benefits of these investments
without the high costs. Additionally, you will get results
that only come with experience.
Without the right skills an in-house effort will certainly
be expensive, and most likely produce disappointing
results.
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Search engines are always updating.
Don't you have to submit frequently?
You need to update frequently for
several reasons. Because there are millions of other
sites being submitted every day, search engines are
constantly re-indexing their listings. That means your
ranking can change overnight. Secondly, many search
engines do not want to see any more than one page per
site per day submitted. Otherwise your site will be
penalized for spamming.
The NetLiance
Search Engine Submission Service takes all these
various factors into account so that your site gets
submitted on regular basis within the permissible limits
of the respective engine.
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I already have good rankings.
Can you make them better?
Although it is very likely we can get you better
rankings, remember that SEO is only one component of
your E-Marketing program. If you're not getting desired
results from your SEO activities, then an assessment
of your overall plan is in order.
NetLiance
can conduct an evaluation of your existing E-Marketing
Program utilizing sound, proven marketing activities;
Drive 'Qualified' traffic, Capture leads, Convert to
repeat buyers, Measure and Revise. Additionally, you'll
find our 'stepwise' approach is not only most cost-effective,
but often can be self-funding.
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How long before I see results?
The length of time varies
from engine to engine. Bear in mind these search engines
are indexing millions of new sites every day, as well
as checking the integrity of sites already listed. In
our experience, this means it can take from one to 12
weeks before a newly submitted site shows up in the listings.
Expedited service is available on a fee-basis for several
search engines, and in many cases is a worthwhile investment.
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What is Pay Per Click (PPC)?
Pay Per Click is an arrangement
where an advertiser only pays for clicks (on either
links or banners) based on a prearranged per-click fee.
PPC is a great way to further leverage your investment
in keyword research. In fact, by by using the NetLiance
Pay-Per-Click management service, we will set up your
account, review keywords monthly, bid on targeted keywords,
and make sure your site is in an optimum position within
your monthly budget.
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Why do prices vary so much for
this kind of service?
Like other professional services, prices will tend
to vary for the same reasons. Experienced, talented staff
require higher salaries. Sophisticated software is costly.
This overhead is naturally passed on to clients as are
the fruits of these investments. The old caveat holds
true that the bitterness of poor service lasts much longer
than the sweetness of a good price.
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What guarantee do you offer?
We don't make promises we can't keep. Because every
search engine makes its own decisions about what pages
to index and how to rank and display them, it's both
impossible and unethical to guarantee specific results.
Services that make such promises are either being untruthful
or using methods that search engines prohibit, such
as "cloaking." These tactics can get your
site blacklisted.
That's
why we don't make specific ranking guarantees. Our optimization
program is based on extensive, up-to-date information
about the search engine industry and professional optimization
techniques.
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Will you work with my competitors?
We will be glad to add a No Competitors
Clause to our proposal if you request it. It will be
effective for the term of your service, and be applicable
to companies that you have previously specified.
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