Margie Dana

Taking on Another Acronym:
SEO …and How Your Site Can Benefit

I'm always interested in ways to make a web site more effective. I believe content is king (and queen and jack, for that matter), and that you need new content regularly. Offer something of value - articles, newsletters, white papers, reports - to your ideal visitor: prospects. If you don't, why would they return?

Then I started reading about another way to improve your web site: SEO (Search Engine Optimization). To understand it better, I talked to a professional who offers this service.

Dianna Huff of DH Communications, Inc. is a B2B marcom writer (check out her website at www.dhcommunications.com ) who's been offering SEO as a service for over three years. (Just shows you how behind I can be.) I interviewed Dianna for some basic insights on SEO.

• Dianna, what is SEO - and why do I need it?

  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a combination of strategies you employ so that your web site comes up in search engine rankings for specific keywords.

• What are the major benefits of SEO?

  If your web site is optimized for the right keywords, it drives traffic to your site. People can then easily find you, and if you've used the right words, the traffic is targeted.

• Who can optimize a web site - and how can a customer pre-qualify someone who says he/she can?

  Anyone can do it if they take the time to learn how - but it takes real commitment. SEO tactics are constantly changing, and SEO is an ongoing service. You can’t do it once and forget all about it.

  It's ongoing because search engines are dynamic - they change every day because the engines are constantly crawling and updating their index.

  You have to track and measure results. You need to continually add content because content is what's driving it.

  For example: I wrote an article years ago on Jimmy Neutron and posted it on my site. This page had tens of thousands of hits - evidently by kids looking for Jimmy Neutron game codes! Because I was measuring response, I realized the traffic wasn’t targeted – meaning, kids aren’t my target audience. So I quickly took the page down. SEO is really about increasing the number of qualified visitors, not “hits,” to your site.

• So, if my site's optimized, will I show up as #1 on Google in my category?

  Yes and no - it depends. You can be #1 for niche phrases but probably not for highly competitive search phrases unless you work hard at getting that position. Companies out there do offer what's known as black hat SEO or gray hat SEO - but they use highly unethical techniques. They'll promise you'll be #1 in the search engines for dozens of keywords, but it's very difficult to promise anything due to the dynamic nature of search engines.

• Do you have to do different things for different search engines?

  Actually, yes - it's complicated so I won't go into it here. Generally, the top search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, look at your title tags, the number of inbound links, and your content to determine ranking.

• What if your site's already written - like mine - do I have to rewrite the site to have this service done?

  Yes and no. Usually not, but the first thing you have to do is figure out which keywords people are using to find your site. If your content doesn't include your keywords, you'll need to rewrite it. And, I always recommend adding content - something you already have, Margie.

• What do you use to conduct a keyword search?

  I use "Trillion," a paid subscription tool, to research keywords for my clients. I develop a preliminary list with my clients, then use Trillion to find additional words and to ensure each word is actually used by prospects in their searches. Once we agree on the right keywords, I incorporate them into the site's title tags and copy.

• Does optimized web site copy read just like copy you'd use for your printed corporate brochure?

  Glad you asked that. Optimized copy is very different from that written for print. In optimized copy, you use the same keywords as much as possible without sounding spammy. It's quite an art - at least, I think it is!

• Why should a company go to the expense of having this service done?

  Because 63 million people were searching on the Internet in March of 2006 - all searching for products and services. You don't want to be left out.

Good point. There you have it: an intro to SEO. My thanks to Dianna Huff, who can be reached at 603-382-8093 or at info@dhcommunications.com.

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