How Your Search Data Can Make You Look Like a Star
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In many respects, search engine marketing is a late-bloomer in the online advertising industry. In the early days of web development, it seemed much more important to build a website for your business or product and just get in on the whole cool “Internet thing” than it was to figure out how to get people to the site. Back then we talked in “eyeballs,” not impressions and clicks. Buzzwords and trends were plentiful (as they are today).
Demonstrating Success Through Ranking
Not everything has changed when it comes to search engine marketing. In the early days of SEO (back then, there was no paid search), it was a struggle to explain to clients exactly what it was and why they needed it. I tended to boil it down to the bottom line. I’d basically explain it in terms the end user could get.
Me: You know how when you go online and type a word into the search box in Yahoo or AltaVista (again, no Google in the old days) and you come up with a list of websites?
Client: (head nodding) Yes, I do that all the time
Me: Well search engine optimization is the process that gets your site to show up in that list of results.
Client: Ok, where do I sign?
The problem with that very simplified explanation was that when the client’s site was not number one in Yahoo the very next week after they signed the contract, I had a lot more explaining to do. Luckily, these days most clients are somewhat savvy about the process of SEO. There is no lack of information on the topic and SEOs often approach clients who have a good understanding of what the service is and why it is not a quick fix.
All clients are excited about seeing their website show up in the search results; there is value in that to be sure. That’s understandable. If a client spends $100,000 on building a website, they want people to find it. This is the first and most basic way that SEO can help a client look like a star to his or her manager, senior manager and (most importantly) company president. After all, if the president types “blue widgets” into her search engine of choice, she is delighted when her company website comes up #1. If she doesn’t see her website, she will most certainly communicate her displeasure to the overworked internal eMarketing Manager whose job is loosely defined as, “in charge of the website.”
Next: Going Beyond Ranking - Other Success Metrics >>
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