Search Engine Optimization for Your Website
SEO, search engine optimization and Internet marketing…all of these terms are now common place terms with business owners that know nothing about any of it. They just know that they need it if they’re going to expand their business online and generate more leads and sales from their website(s), which is exactly what their website should be doing — working for you while you focus on the important operational aspects of your organization.
Search engine optimization and Internet marketing are tasks best handled by a professional or by a team of professionals. In the same way a web design or Internet marketing firm wouldn’t interfere with the daily operations of your business, you, as a business owner, should focus on your strengths to lead your company in the right direction, and bring on a web design firm like Tulsa Web Design Firm to assist in areas that we specialize in such as maximizing your influence online.
Innovated Media is a Tulsa web design and Tulsa graphic design firm that can handle any web design project no matter how large or small. We provide a custom designed website concept that knocks your socks off, complete the site, and optimize it for local search results.
Search Engine Optimization & Organic Search Results
Many web developers and SEO specialists have one approach to search engine optimization, but there are simply too many factors that work together to make a well optimized website that performs well in local search results:
1. It matters how the website was built.
There are dozens of ways a website can be built. Some platforms make search engine optimization easier, and some make it nearly impossible. Platforms such as WordPress, Joomla, and Dreamweaver make SEO relatively simple, which is why Tulsa Web Design Firm’s team of developers are well experienced on multiple platforms. We do not choose a platform that is easier for us to develop a new website in; we choose the platform that will work best for our clients. It is disappointing to me that so many businesses come to us for search engine optimization work and we have to start a new website from scratch for the client because their website was built on a platform that professional web designers stopped using 5 or 10 years ago. Tulsa Web Design Firm stays on top of new technologies and software so that our clients get brand new products that search engine algorithms work well with. It’s sad to say, but this is not a commonplace practice in our industry. Web design software is expensive. I personally know of an SEO “expert” that uses software that stopped being supported and sold more than 5 years ago.
2. It depends on how saturated the market is, and how many competitors you have.
Simply put, it’s easier to obtain good search engine placement for a lawn care company with 10 or 15 strong competitors than it would be for a local realtor that is competing with hundreds or thousands of other realty firms in the market.
3. Your budget plays a big factor.
Like it or not, quality search engine optimization and Internet marketing isn’t cheap. Expect to pay between $40 – $75 an hour for custom SEO work on your website. You get what you pay for with professional web designers and SEO experts. These companies online that have out-of-the-box pricing for $49 a month and guarantee to search engine placement — I honestly don’t know how they stay in business or even come close to delivering their promises under their pricing structure!
However, many businesses need to have another look at their budget before they commit to do Internet marketing. Some companies are still advertising in dead advertising mediums such as phone books, direct mail, billboards, and print advertising. Why? It’s a waste of money! Canceling those advertising streams will free up a company’s budget to focus on an Internet marketing campaign that can be monitored with analytics, showing a return on your investment for every dollar. This can’t be done with the before mentioned advertising mediums. Throwing your budgeted advertising dollars at direct mail or print ads is like throwing it into the wind. There’s really no way of knowing where that money went or what it did for your business.
4. It depends on how large your website is, and if you have a blog.
Content is king online, and the more content that you have for the search engines to look at, the better your search engine rankings will be. Having 5 pages on your website isn’t going to get you anywhere, so adding content to your website regularly is paramount. Your website must be an evolving and ever-changing source of well optimized information if you want it to perform well in the search engines, especially Google.
Innovated Media only practices “white hat” search engine optimization techniques, which means we don’t cut corners or bend the rules that will get your site banned for trying to trick your site into top search results. Good old fashioned content that engages the reader and assists the search engines to help consumers find your website is hard work, and takes research for the keywords and phrases that you want your site to be found for.
When you are looking for a search engine optimization company, consider these points, and don’t be afraid to ask the marketer or web designer about these things and see how they respond. It will give you a better idea of who you are dealing with, and their level of professionalism. As always, feel free to contact us regarding your website — we’d be glad to give you a free assessment.
