How your company can be found on the Internet
Some things are right in front of your face. Or, some things are right under your nose. These old adages are as true today as when they were first conceptualized. In reality, some things are so apparent, so obvious, that they get overlooked. Stated another way; some things are so simple that they couldn’t possibly be important in the minds of many people. After all, for something to be ingenious or cutting edge, it must be complex or elusive.
Throw away that thinking for a minute or two because some things that work well are very simple and seemingly insignificant. That can certainly be said of SEO. While SEO experts attempt to decipher and speculate about the existing or tweaked Google algorithm, or the algorithms of other search engines, they may miss 3 SEO best practices that may be just too obvious.
The One Constant
Great, natural, relevant content will always rue the day. It is, after all, what makes blogs and websites worth visiting and reading. It is the reason that people bookmark or favorite a website or blog. They walk away with new knowledge, good tips or new knowhow. Great content provides value to site visitors and they return for more. Better yet, they take steps to bring that content to the attention of others. This kind of content offers much to the site or blog’s owner by providing good search engine rankings and a growing army of followers.
Hear it, See it, Remember it……and get SEO benefits too
When you hear “the ultimate driving machine,” you immediately think of BMW. You may also equate “just do it” with Nike. These taglines have been the result of very effective and successful branding campaigns. Some of the best known taglines have been with us for decades. In an age when a growing number of shoppers opt for the Internet and marketing budgets focus on the Internet, a tagline must provide more than an immediate association. A great catchphrase may offer very little on the Internet.
If you were to expect the term ‘just do it’ to offer a way for a search engine to locate websites offering sneakers, and it wasn’t a world famous slogan, would it work? Most likely not. The truth is, that in a world more focused on the Internet, the traditional slogan or tagline won’t provide any SEO benefits. This needs to be one additional component to the development of a super tagline. A well-developed tagline that offers branding and emotional benefits must also satisfy certain SEO benefits. Thinking beyond print media can lead to a tagline that leads to high search engine rankings.
What’s In a Name? A Higher Search Ranking
If you do a Google search for SEO, it’s not surprising that five of the results on the first page of search results have the acronym ‘SEO’ in their title. If you were just starting a small business or any business, you would be well-advised to name your business with the Internet in mind. You might also choose a name that describes the business you’re in. Before doing this, find the perfect name using a domain registrar and purchase that domain name as a dot com along with the dot net and any other extensions available. If you have already done research into your company name and it’s availability, you are then prepared to have all bases covered.
The SEO benefits garnered from the right domain name are often overlooked. If the domain name relates directly to the product or industry, that name is worth SEO gold. Combined with a tagline, that includes keywords or keyword phrases, the two are immensely useful. Add quality, relevant content to the mix and you have the ingredients for a first-page ranking, even before you get to alt tags, inbound links, 301 redirects and all the rest.
Three Elements of SEO
Although most of the experts agree on the importance of content, fewer mention the other two. Designing a website or blog around these three elements of SEO can have many benefits. Great content will never let you down and the right domain name and tagline will help customers or clients find your business online. Your well-conceived tagline and domain name may only offer branding benefits on your business card, but they will deliver much more on the Internet.
© 2011 K Richard Douglas
