Internet Marketing – SEO Services in Nashville, TN

Website Development

Planning

Content

SEO

Project Management

Design

SEO or Search Engine Optimization = SEM or Search Engine Marketing

…and starts on Day One of a Website Development project

SEO = SEM semantics

Some “experts” differentiate Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Don’t worry about it…Like most others, I use the words (and acronyms) interchangeably. SEO or SEM is anything that you do proactively (whether you pay or not) to increase your “organic” (so-called “free”) rankings or pay (AKA PPC or Pay-Per-Click) rankings on search engines – and in particular, the biggies like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Search Engine Optimization can make or break your business success online.

SEO Prerequisites

Nashville SEO As discussed in the Location, Location, Location section SEO is intertwined with your other website content work, and so it makes sense to weave that work together starting on Day One. Your website audience is most critical, but with your words you are also talking to search engines. You can do both – IF you know what you’re doing. That why Ranseen Marketing starts with a Marketing SWOT (including SEO analysis) to quickly understand your business and customer groups on the front end of a website project.

How would your customers find you on Google and other search engines?

Do you know what search terms (AKA “keywords” they would they use? There’s a LOT of good information out there to help you. Right off the bat, Ranseen Marketing investigates these (and other) search engine marketing questions:

What would you type into a search engine to find your various products and services (and not just your company)…if you were in a customer’s shoes?
What do your current customers say that they would use as search terms (why not just ask a few of them)?
And then, where do you rank now, especially on the big engines for some of those keywords (do some searches…or there are tools to help)?
If you have a site already (and a tool that monitors your web traffic) how do surfers find your site now (you may have some good data to give you some hints...)?
How much traffic (at least in relative terms) do your likely important keywords get (and yes, this can be estimated e.g. with Google’s External Traffic Tool, Wordtracker etc)
What keywords do your competitors use to get high rankings (and what are they doing on their respective website to get those rankings)?

A few very basic SEO keyword hints:

Most searches are typically phrases…not single words...and the order of words actually is important.
Getting started, you need to be realistic about your niche(s) and geography and try for achievable rankings.
You need to take a look at dozens or maybe even hundreds of keywords and prioritize your list(s).
You may need to build whole sections of your site around good keywords (especially if you are a decent size e-commerce site).

Ranseen Marketing’s SEO/SEM Approach
…the right stuff without any tricks

The initial SEO Analysis work that is part of the Marketing SWOT and then flows into your Website Content is part of every Ranseen Marketing website development project. Minimally (and depending on your type of business and site) Ranseen Marketing helps build the right keywords into the content/copy your new website at the right places:

Title Tags (what appears at the very top of your browser)
H1 Headers (basically your headlines)
Site content (especially toward the top of your pages)
Meta Description Tags (behind the scenes html code, succinct description of your business, products, services that can vary by page)
The Interrelationships of these 4 key SEO “content” categories to one another

Others not to forget:

Meta Keyword Tags (behind the scenes html code that lists of keywords...on every page)
Site Map (which is as much for search engines as visitors; and you need a Google XML sitemap as well)
Page Names (the actual names of the page “urls”)

The SEM work during your website development project will focus on building a foundation for solid “organic” rankings over time (but is only the first step). Then comes “The Rest of the SEO Story” AFTER your site goes live. The good news is that the knowledge is leveragable and builds on itself, and Ranseen Marketing is there to help as needed. And with no tricks…which are all too common in the area of SEO – and can get you in a lot of hot water down the road.

Contact Ranseen Marketing