SEO and Internet Marketing

Many business owners and executives understand that "if you build it, they will come" is a myth. Having a gorgeous, functional, useful web site is always a priority, but that alone is insifficient for bringing customers and users to a site. For that, it takes marketing. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important part of that marketing; it aims to raise a web site's positioning in search results, which leads to more traffic, which leads to more conversions, which results in greater profitability. We accomplish this using all of the methods recommended by Google itself, many of which are enumerated below.

Typical SEO Initiatives

Array Web Development's SEO work typically includes the planning, implementation, and/or management of the following:

  • On-site work may include:
    • Domain name research — usually for newer sites and/or sites esepcially for SEO
    • Keyword research to determine the best target keywords and keyphrases
    • URL optimizations (using search engine friendly URLs, converting ID-based queries to keyword-alias-based, etc.)
    • SSL implementation
    • Mobile / responsive design improvements
    • Pagespeed (load time) optimizations (a faster site is better for SEO and conversions)
    • HTML optimizations (e.g., proper tagging, alt and title tags, canonical tags)
    • Proper meta-tagging (descriptions, keywords, Open Graph, geo-tags, other relevant meta tags)
    • Other markup optimizations (e.g., structured data / schema.org integration)
    • AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)
    • Removing older / outdated technology (Flash, etc.)
    • Optimizing robot instructions, implementing sitemaps / feeds, TOS, privacy policies
    • Installing Google Analytics
    • Strategic out-bound links to relevant content
    • Optimizing article length and keyword presence
    • Ongoing content creation campaigns (FAQs, SAQs, articles, blogs, etc.)
       
  • Off-site work may include:
    • Establishing inbound links from directories and other sites
    • Establishing off-site blogs and/or or social media channel to drive traffic to the web site (generally integrated with content creation campaigns)
    • Optimizing business profiles on Google and other similar profiles
    • Optimizing video descriptions, keywords, and link-backs from sites like Youtube
    • Social media marketing, social media enggement, and internet marketing (see below)

Typical Internet Marketing Initiatives:

    • Email marketing — list building strategies and follow-up marketing campaigns (auto-responders, etc.)
    • Brand management — establishing and maintaining your brand online
    • Social media planning — determining the best approach for your business with respect to social media, mobile platforms, and related marketing technology.
    • Establishing a social media presence — getting your business on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google Maps, etc.
    • Expanding and utilizing social media — growing your base on those sites / engaging more with your base, engaging / commenting on other sites
    • Video marketing — getting on board with video marketing
    • Directory listing — establishing profiles for your business on web directories worth getting on
    • Mobile marketing — ensuring that you can be found on mobile devices
    • Customer retention strategies — implementing effective ways to automate the process of keeping customers engaged and returning to your business
    • Data gathering — getting names, emails, and phone numbers for people from web sites and social pages
    • Blogging and content creation — generating content for your web site, blog, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, LinkedIn, etc.
    • Marketing strategy — reassessing language on your site for proper CTAs, etc.
    • Reputation management — better managing how your site solicits and engages with Yelp and other online review sites
    • Online promotions — paid online advertising on Facebook, Google, and other platforms, as well as various marketing campaings and promotions
    • A/B testing — improving conversions based on usage analytics

Further Reading from Array Web Development

SEO is a vast topic. The rabbit hole runs deep, which explains why budgets for SEO can range from almost nothing to unimaginably high. As such, it's a topic we return to occasionally in our writings. Here are some relevant pieces written by Jim from Array Web Development's Web Designer / Web Developer Magazine.

From Jim's Web Designer / Web Developer Magazine blog:

Articles will open in a new window.    View full archive of Web Designer | Web Developer Magazine.   See also: Other tech articles by Jim Dee, published by Hacker Noon.