SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a Very Important Points

SEO Investment - Important Points

Do not waste money on marketing! 7 Important Points You Must Know Before Investing In SEO

SEO vs Adwords vs Social Media, Gorillas, Rabbits, Google, SEO "Experts", and SEO Consultants

About 90% of all business owners I talk to say that they have paid for SEO services, or other forms of marketing on the Internet, without getting a red ear back. Often this does not only apply to small change but huge sums without creating any value for the company.

(Truth be told, this does not only apply to Internet marketing. Did you know that telephone directories still require HUGE amounts of advertising, which will not help you become a victim of telemarketers?)

I know of several companies that have paid thousands of dollars for search engine optimization (SEO) without even coming close to the first page of Google. I've seen companies pay a small amount of money for a service that does not provide any value - this is very common. I have also seen service providers claim that they will perform a whole range of services so that they look good on the surface… without these services resulting in any extra revenue. There are so many ways to spend money online if you are not careful.

I do not like to see this happen to anyone! It can even make a company go bankrupt, by blocking their income, which is critical to keeping the business going. It bothers me to see high-quality companies, which offer valuable services to their customers, disintegrate because they are tricked into buying the "latest and greatest" technology that will increase their online something or something or that they buy SEO Services from a Company that… either is not able to deliver quality services or does not care how good results they deliver.

I understand why most business owners are very skeptical when it comes to so-called "SEO experts." You have to be skeptical! You are often contacted through various channels such as phone, emails, text messages, faxes, etc. by salespeople who claim that they have the latest technical solution to market your business online. The amount of conflicting messages is overwhelming. If you are like most business owners, it will feel like you are being jammed down the amount of information.

You have a lot at stake… Your business… Your financial future… All the hard work… out the window. I understand. And I feel for you. Do not let that happen to you. I'm a complete SEO Nerd. The first thing I do when I wake up and before I fall asleep is thought about SEO. Even when my wife talks to me, I think of SEO… Maybe I should do something about it.

Please, PLEASE read through this shortlist so you can protect yourself and your business. Even if you do not want lokaliser.no's services, it's great if I have helped you check if other SEO companies are professionals... I have already saved companies in your area valuable money by helping them from a supplier who does not offer a valuable service to a provider who knows what applies in SEO.

1. Exactly What Your Customers Are Looking For - Keyword Survey

This is a very critical point that needs to be carefully considered to find all the opportunities available to your business. However, most SEO performers select only the 5-10 most searched keywords and are satisfied with this. ERROR! As a result, approximately 90% of companies that follow the same keywords, in reality, compete for only 20% of customers. This does not mean that these twenty percent are not valuable. No, that means you should rather go for the last 80%, which few or no other companies go for. We at lokaliser.no are specialists in exploring large amounts of valuable traffic for which there is little competition.

What's the point of ranking high in something that no one is looking for? Well, from a corporate standpoint, there is no point.

I see a lot of people who (to begin with) are overjoyed because they have been given 1st-page rankings for things that no one is searching for. So, two months later, when they find out that no new customers are coming anyway, they start thinking, “but, but, but I'm on the first page of Google! Well, your SEO Consultant forgot to review the most important, most basic exercise in Internet marketing.

Google's search information is free. They tell how many people are searching for… anything. The information is far from perfect (they hide low volume traffic, which accounts for over 50% of total traffic!), But it's a great start. You need some form of proof that the market is searching for your products or services.

Tip: Always ask if what they publish is "Broad Match Searches" or "Exact Match Searches". The exact match is much more conservative and will help you focus on very accurate searches. Broad Match also includes searches that are related to the words being searched for. Exact Match only gives you results for the specific phrase that is searched for.

 2. Does your business need search engine optimization?

Once you know what your market is looking for, it's time to rain. Yep! Mathematics! I know, I know, you LOVE to count. Well, at least you did not go down without explaining yourself first and foremost. All serious SEO Consultants will help you with this evaluation.

Take a look at 3 different numbers to see if you should use Search Engine Optimization:

1. Average customer value

2. Approximate size of the search volume in your market

3. The cost of using SEO

If you could be number one for all your keywords, would you be able to earn significantly more than the cost of SEO? The answer is not easy, but based on the 3 numbers above you can get a good estimate. There are also other factors such as website conversion rate, the lifetime value of a customer, etc. but you make an estimate this way first.

If you only earn $ 100 over the next 12 months by ranking # 1 for everything, then SEO is probably not worth the cost to your business! But, if the numbers were to show that you, with an average ranking of # 3, could earn 10x more than what SEO would cost, well then you know what you should do.

If you did not do step 1 (keyword inspection), you can not calculate this.

Because it is possible to calculate in this way, I like SEO better than Social Media. Social Media is unpredictable. Therefore, it becomes even more difficult with an approximate calculation. There are many services offered through Social Media but without measurable results. These are some of the most wasteful money you can spend on internet marketing. You are sold a whole bunch of extra aspects, which do not result in any kind of increased income.

You can do this calculation much more accurately with Paid Search Engine Advertising (PPC). But PPC is much more expensive than SEO, and the cost to business owners increases by as much as 50% -150% per year! Because low-quality SEO service providers are excluded from Google's algorithms, companies are fleeing to PPC. In addition, you are not building something that has a strong, exponential growth as SEO has.

Don't get me wrong - PPC can work very well if it is profitable for your business. But, would you rather pay more or less for the same amount of traffic?

SEO provides the best balance between predictable results and costs. Contact us to find out more.

3. What Does Google Think About Your Website Right Now?

Do they hate it? Do they know it exists? Do they like it?

You can find out what Google (and other search engines) think of you, by doing a complete On Page and Off Page Analysis.

Page Analysis consists of 4 main factors:

• Do your website titles have the right keywords in them?

• Do you have the main keywords or small variations inside your text at least once?

• Is the link structure of your website set up correctly?

• How well do people respond to the look, feel and flow of your website?

This is not EVERYTHING that applies, but it does give you a good idea. The good news is that these things are usually the easiest to fix.

Page Analysis consists of 4 main factors:

• How many websites link to you?

• What is Google's opinion about the web pages that link to you?

• How relevant are the websites that link to you?

• What kind of text do the web pages that link to you use?

Again, it's more complicated than just these 4 factors, but you understand the drawing. The bad news is that this is very difficult for you to do on your own. To be honest, even most SEO experts do a poor or mediocre job with this. And that's good news for me and my customers.

 4. Do you have control over ranking and traffic?

If you have set up visitor and ranking statistics software (there are many different ways), then this is simple and invaluable information to analyze.

You should at least have visitor statistics software because it's free, easy because you'll need data history to analyze - which you can not start receiving until you have installed the software.

With this information, you can see what Google already thinks you're relevant to (if any). Again, this is wonderful information to have. Get started and enable/install the statistics software or find an SEO Consultant who can help you with that.

 5. Has anyone copied the content of your page?

Want to find out if someone has copied your content? Upload your website to Copyscape. Did the person you hired to create content on your website copy it from somewhere else? Have you taken shortcuts yourself? This website will tell it. Hopefully, you will not find any results. If you do, I highly recommend that you follow a few steps to fix it as soon as possible.

The easiest way to fix this is to reformulate the content of your web page that appears as duplicate.

The search engines do not show results with the same content to the same search result. What usually happens is that they choose the most authoritarian side and ignore the duplicates. Even if you published the content first, there is no guarantee that your content will be chosen as the most authoritative.

It is important that you know this before you start an SEO project otherwise you may be trying to rank a page that Google just thinks is a copy of someone else's page out there! Do not waste your money on not doing this simple step (or your SEO Consultant not doing it).

(Quick note: There are some ways you can have copied content on your page that most people will not be aware of because Google's duplicate content rules are often misunderstood. Duplicate content is not automatically bad news! Call us to find out more if you get positive hits on Copyscape.)

 6. How strong are the SEO efforts of your competitors on the first page of Google?

Are you facing 250-pound gorillas that refuse to back away or cute little rabbits that want to dart away at the first sign of danger? Where your website is on the Gorilla-Rabbit spectrum directly affects how much money you will need to spend, and how long it will take before you notice results.

Do not let your SEO Consultant get away with concentrating only on your closest competitors. The focus must be on the first page of Google where your strongest opponents are waiting. Who cares about those on page 100? You do not compete with them at all.

You choose the path of easiest resistance. This is what a thorough analysis of keywords and competition reveals so that your marketing budget is strategically managed.

Always, keep an eye on your competitors. If you do not follow this step, you have no idea how much money and/or how long it will take to reach your ranking and traffic goals.

If not, in 6 months you may notice that you are facing an army of angry Gorillas who see you as someone trying to grab their bananas with a small pocket knife!

The competitiveness of the various search phrases in your market will also affect your SEO priorities. Maybe search phrase 1 is searched twice more than search phrase 2 but is ten times more competitive. Most likely you will make a bigger profit by choosing number 2 as your highest priority.

 7. Do You Know What Steps You Need to Take?

Has your Consultant given you an overview of the action plan?

I'm not saying they have to tell you everything, by explaining every little step, but they do need to give you a general plan to work on and understand that the plan should be tailored to the situation of your business.

It must also be possible to change the plan as new information is received. That's fine too. The plan does not have to be perfect from today until the year 2050.

The plan also does not have to be the same for each month. It should not start right away - it's important to gradually step up your link building. If your "SEO Expert" says that they should build 200 links for you every month from today and into eternity, then you should consult with someone else! Your link building should not be the same every month - it is not natural, and Google will notice!

 8. - Bonus! Does your company also appear in a map search for local search?

Are Google's local listings appearing in your company's keyword search results? It is important to know whether local searches are displayed with local map searches or not because how to reach these is slightly different from regular nationwide searches. Here are examples of what local SEO looks like through Local Listing, Organic Listing, and Paid Search Engine Advertising (Adwords):

To summarize, you need customer reviews, address listings, proper SEO for your Google my business page (much like SEO for website), and a domain with authority.

And all the things that are in the midst of thee shall not be known, lest thou know them.