We were recently asked by a client how best to master search engines and ensure a high ranking that will guarantee business…

When we told them that such a thing did not exist, especially with any form of guaranteed condition or with such straight forward simplicity, their reply was a little insulting but an honest mistake made by most:

“Can’t you just create some new Meta-Tags for us?”

Fortunately for us, there is a little more to it than plain old meta-tags…

The secrets to good search engine optimisation actually stretch right through into the realms of marketing as a complete package that requires the development of the following key-components:

By properly utilising a precise combination of the above components, whilst at all times considering the relationships between them and how each element interacts with the other, one can certainly experience an increase in customer awareness.

However, services such as these take a considerable amount of time to see through to fruition, ranging anywhere from between 13 to 18 months.  In addition, none of the strategies mentioned above come with guarantees directly related to increasing search engine placement or future business.

This is because there are hundreds of variables that search engines consider when ranking websites, and each search engine uses different algorithms that reward and penalize for various reasons.  One may even award a higher ranking for the very same thing that another could handicap people for.

In addition to this, if Company “A” is ranked at number 1 and Company “B” is ranked at number 2; Company “B” may employ strict marketing strategies with the intention of increasing their ranking, but at the same time, Company “A” could be conducting similar strategies, in which case, both parties would rise simultaneously.

Furthermore, search engine algorithms are constantly being altered and updated, and in most cases, this occurs as frequently as every six months.  Running parallel to the ever-changing internet technologies and black-hat (back-door) strategies that hackers and spammers continue to wreck havoc with, the fostering of both internal and external marketing strategies needs to be just as consistent.

With that said, search engine placement is only a single component of the overall marketing strategy that should be applied in order to better promote one’s business and increase sales.  The only thing that search engines can do is bring people to websites.  From that point on, those visitors need to be converted into sales, and as such, they must be genuinely interested in the services being provided.

In addition to this, and in the majority of cases, search engines are only capable of providing casual interest from those who are usually researching a particular subject or comparing vendors for future use.  As such, the promotion of services directly distributed to a specifically intended audience can provide increasingly valuable results when they are managed, analyzed and in-turn exploited by professionals.

Brand Management represents the application of definitive marketing techniques, which revolves around a central theme that in the most successful cases must be iconic, or at least have the potential to become.

A brand name is the first step towards success and should be legally protectable, easy to pronounce and remember, as well as being relevant to the business that it represents by having a suggestive nature that personifies its core competencies.

Search Engine Optimisation is a complex subject that no one other than the creators of the search engines truly knows the precise answers to.  It can take a series of intricately executed plans to reap noticeable rewards.

Properly utilising popular OpenSource blogging platforms such as Wordpress through professional blog management provides a cost effective way to ensure immediate recognition by search engines.

Expanding upon this recognition and in-turn increasing popularity and rankings can be achieved by creating relevant up-to-date content.  The more content, the greater chance of increasing position within search engines becomes.  When the content is augmented by an increase in the overall social attention and significance of the information that is being provided, the algorithms become much more manageable.

In the past, there were several computer programs that automated directory listing placements, meta-tag management and various other search engine optimisation techniques at the click of a button, but with the expediential growth and exceedingly rapid expansion of the internet, the number of directories available has reached new heights.  In addition to this, their popularity, replication and modes of delivery are just as unstable as any other internet presence.

Hand-picked submissions are now essential, and some directories charge premium fees for allowing entry and (or) reviews of the services listed.  Nonetheless, we would suggest a sensible combination of unpaid and subscription based placements.

As mentioned above, other than relevant content that is up-to-date, the popularity of the information becomes the next most important facet of any web-presence. The most efficient way to validate popularity is through recognition of the matching in-bound and out-bound tagged hyperlinks between different online entities.

In much the same way as directory listing strategies work, there are automated link exchange platforms that work best in conjunction with professionally brokered and personally approved affiliations.  In addition to this, (just as social networks can perpetuate themselves as directory systems of their own) the design and deployment of one’s own link exchange mechanisms could ensure search engine popularity if they were working in alliance with the relevance and popularity of the intended market.

Google call them “Ad Words” and Yahoo calls it “Search Marketing”, but Microsoft provides the definition by calling it “Digital Search Advertising”.

The end-result (and general process) is the same, providing an opportunity to not only perpetuate premium (unguaranteed) placement within their search engines, but also market directly on other websites that allure to relevant convertible visitors whilst allowing for a versatile choice of budgets and media. As such, we always suggest that individuals or organisations set their own value and expectations and allow us to strategize upon confirmation of these facts and figures.

With target audiences defined by varying factors, it is clear that there is potential for both domestic and international marketing campaigns that are propelled online via pre-existing advertising networks and professionally brokered strategic partnerships or custom designed long-term personalised relationships through both relevant and popular websites, as well as published media providers and audio and video broadcasting specialists.

In much the same way as other components of an overall marketing strategy can be produced and managed via premium services requiring on-going subscription fees or ad-hoc promotional investments, there is also the opportunity to participate in freely available campaigns by in-turn offering something free in exchange.

Freely available international marketing campaigns and cross promotions are in most cases unattainable without a celebrity stature of one’s own.  Web-based digital media broadcasting is the only choice for international advertising should the need for justifying costs and evaluating saturation rates be a requisite.

In several ways, this particular strategy can also be provided by the unified presentation and management of “Search Engine Advertisements”.

However, in order to achieve maximum potential (and be classified as a campaign), it is necessary to design a strategy specifically tailored to the advertising message that one may wish to convey.  This can be done by incorporating visual imagery to the delivery methods, syndicating the content or allowing for self-replication of the processes whilst providing enhanced features or functions, as this will encourage others to freely distribute the information.  This is known as viral-marketing, which is personified by the modern-day widget and has become the most cost effective way to reach international markets and otherwise impenetrable social networks.

Affiliate Referral Partnership Programs can be promoted and managed in several ways that range from widgetised content (relying upon functionality for other advertisers rather than the features designed for audiences) to customised data-management solutions working together with personal commission based referrals.

In the same way that viral-marketing techniques that focus upon features can surpass international boundaries & exceed expectations of brand-awareness, localised widget-based reward schemes are more cost effective than traditional forms of partnership programs that rely upon the time-consuming techniques of real-world social networking and personal referrals.