From an article by:
Judith (Ms. eMannaers)
With all the talk in regard to SEO (Search Engine
Optimization) one could come to the assumption that all you have to do is
optimize your pages and Shazam! your site is in the Top 10 and the
orders/contacts/conversions will flow in!
I believe this comes from a desire for that hype to be true. Many feeling
that by just optimizing their site, then crossing their fingers
or wishing on their lucky search engine rabbit foot, that rankings
and therefore orders or conversions will happen.
Now fast forward to the reality of now and optimizing is one of the most
talked about silver bullets. Just optimize — that’s all you
have to do! However, all too often critical considerations
are being ignored or flat out disregarded before “optimizing.”
Here are just a few:
- Do you having a quality, consistent design to
optimize?
- Did you investigate if you are entering an overly
saturated market?
- Are you continually adding new unique and valuable content
worth linking to?
- Is your pricing competitive?
- Do you have a USP (Unique Selling Proposition)?
- Is your shipping and handling overpriced?
- Do you have a strategy, methodology or business
plan?
Need I go on? Without the above, optimizing is a waste of
time and the site owner’s money.
Regardless of what Spam or the Black
Hat SEOs want everyone to believe, optimizing is futile without
having your ducks in a row on these important issues first.
Optimization is an important part of getting rankings — but not the
end-all-be-all.
Not the silver bullet, not the magic pill, not the
miracle cure to getting solid rankings for a poorly conceived Web
site. Just a piece of the puzzle that includes well written optimized
content catering to site visitors first, then search engines, while
making sure all the other important variables are also in place.
Yes, optimizing your content is a smart thing to do. But you
can’t optimize your site to the point where the text is no longer readable to
human beings and expect to get orders, contacts or conversions. You can
optimize your site to death, however, if you have a product or service that
is not in demand, or at the wrong price on a poorly designed site — you’ve
just optimized a site that will not produce regardless of its rankings.
Optimization is only part of having a comprehensive
marketing program — not the Holy Grail as so many would have you believe! You
need to look at your overall site marketing strategy, which should include
all the tools available to you to market your interactive site for best
network exposure.
From Blogs to Social Networks to autoresponder campaigns, to content that
grows like a corn stalk; without these added to your program, you can
optimize until the cows come home but the fat lady will never sing.
Don’t optimize before you strategize!
At your service,
Judith