IS YOUR COMPANY READY FOR SEO?
It's been a few months since you launched that brand spanking new Web site that was going to get a world of business beating a path to your door.
The new site caused all kinds of excitement in the office, and everyone you know thinks it's wonderful, but perhaps the ripple effect that was supposed to reach out to the wider world actually doesn't seem to have extended much beyond the car park.
You're the Marketing Manager. What are you going to do about it?
You ask a trusted friend in another company with a Web site that's bringing in more than half their business. "You need SEO, Search Engine Optimisation", he says. "You've got to get the search engines on your side. Without search engine promotion, launching a new Web site is like displaying all your print advertising in the stationery cupboard. Nobody's going to see it".
He gives you a list of SEO firms and some pointers about choosing the right one for your business. "But what's really important", he adds, "is understanding what YOU need to do for THEM".
That may not be quite what you had in mind when you asked for advice, but he's right. An honest search engine optimisation company will tell you from the start that a successful promotion needs your co-operation on a list of things that you need to have in place for the beginning of the campaign.
Web Site Access
Although you might be ready and willing to do whatever is necessary to help with the promotion, it's probably your IT team that has ultimate control of the Web site - and they might not be happy with the idea of outside tinkering.
That's not unreasonable: an internal IT team that controls the site knows its wrinkles and foibles and doesn't want anyone breaking anything. But any SEO campaign will almost always require at least some changes to the site - and you don't want that to be a problem when you bring recommended changes to the IT staff, or ask them to give your search engine optimisation company some access. Make sure you have an understanding with the team who control the site now, and do it before you bring the SEO firm on board.
While you're having that discussion, ask your team about the site's log files, or get access to whatever else is used to record the number of people visiting your Web site. Before an SEO company begins work, it's important that you have a baseline record of current traffic referred by search engines. Without it, you'll have nothing to gauge the level of improvement that search optimisation will deliver - and no way to hold the promotion firm accountable if results are below your expectations and much less they promised.
When choosing your SEO provider, ask if they provide regular search engine ranking reports. You want to be able to see the exact positions achieved for your Web site across all the major search engines for a range of keyword phrases or search terms, but you don't want to spend hours typing dozens of variables into search engines yourself.
Web Site Copy Control
If current office politics make it necessary to consult with a number of different people in your organisation before you can get Web site copy changed, it's vital that you have this process streamlined before the search engine optimisation company starts work.
There are good reasons why several departments may be involved with any changes to the content of your site. Financial and medical companies and investment firms, for example, will all typically need to run copy changes through the legal department before they go live on your site. And every company has departments with policies and procedures that can be affected by what customers might read on a Web site page.
No matter how your internal politics work, make sure all the people involved in the copy approval process will be ready to fast-track SEO recommendations requiring text changes as soon as they arrive.
Coding Limitations
Your prospective search engine optimisation company will want to look at how your Web site is constructed and let you know if the coding that holds it together imposes any limitations on the kind of recommendations they are likely to make.
Many CMS (Content Management Systems) and e-commerce packages simply do not allow some of the changes that can be made to improve a site's prospects of achieving well positioned search engine results.
Some systems are 'SEO friendly', some are not. Of course, updating your CMS or e-commerce system to one that allows changes for maximum SEO benefit can mean additional cost. But if your SEO company knows its business, they will be able to steer you in the right direction and even help your Web design team to switch to a more compatible platform.
Any kind of change can be unwelcome in some quarters - and sometimes can be difficult. It's important that everyone in your organisation who will be affected by it should understand why it is happening and share in the commitment to improvement that search engine optimisation will bring.
Make Time for SEO
The one thing that most company directors and marketing managers do not have to spare - is time. With numerous spinning campaign plates to keep running already, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that outsourcing SEO to a specialist search engine promotion company will take the job completely off your hands.
But they will need your help. A good SEO firm will want to learn as much about your business as it possibly can, and nobody knows your business as well as you do.
This means that you should be involved in the promotion of your site from the outset - and ready to stay the course. If you can't set aside at least a little time - say one hour per week - to provide the SEO team with feedback, approve changes, and make sure that all the work they suggest is consistent with your brand and company message, there is sure to be a build-up of increasing delay in the project.
If SEO is relegated to the back burner after you employ a search engine optimisation company, you will not only lose money in missed opportunities, but the overall project cost will be higher, since SEO is usually charged for on a monthly basis. Setting aside one hour per week to make sure everything is running smoothly will pay real dividends.
Bottom Line
If you have everything in place to help make their work successful, the search engine optimisation company you choose will pull out all the stops to maximise your site's Internet exposure and achieve your online goals.
But before you sign on the dotted line, you can ensure the best return on your SEO investment - and save yourself a lot of headaches - by being prepared.
