Back in October 2004 I launched a series of articles outlining the ten crucial steps to a well optimized website. The steps were:

1.Keyword Selection
2.Content Creation
3.Site Structure
4.Optimization
5.Internal Linking
6.Human Testing
7.Submissions
8.Link Building
9.Monitoring
10.The Extras (all those things that didn’t fit in the first 9 steps)

Well in case you’ve been asleep for the last few years on in case you’ve just recently joined us in the SEO-realm, I – along with some of my good friends in the web marketing world – have decided to re-write the series with new information and new perspectives.

The New Series

In our updated series we’ll be dropping some of the articles and adding others to account for changes in the industry. Another major change in this series is that we’re going to compliment it with a weekly segment on Webmaster Radio’s Webcology (http://www.webmasterradio.fm/Search-Engine-Optimization/Webcology/) on Thursday afternoon at 2PM EST where we’ll be conducting interviews and discussing tools with their manufacturers to help our readers and listeners make the most of this information. If you miss the show, you can always download the podcast free of charge afterwards.

The 10 steps covered in this series will be:

1.Keyword Research & Selection
2.Competition Analysis
3.Site Structure
4.Content Optimization
5.Link Building
6.Social Media
7.PPC
8.Statistics Analysis
9.Conversion Optimization
10.Keeping It Up
Step One: Keyword Research & Selection
There are two times in a site’s life when keyword research is conducted – when researching a site to rank in the organic results on the search engines and when researching keywords for a PPC campaign. In our article today we’re going to focus on the former and save the research involved with PPC campaigns for step seven in this series.

So we’ve got the topic down to “just” keyword research and selection for organic SEO campaigns – from there the topic once again gets split into a variety of areas. Those that we will cover here are:

The raw data
Studying those who’ve gone before
Understanding your choices

The Raw Data

The raw data is the raw estimated searches/day that you can expect a phrase to get on the major search engines. There are a number of tools you can use to compile this information. Here are some of the more commonly used:

Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool (http://inventory.overture.com/)
Yahoo!’s keyword suggestion tool. It’s fast and it’s free but it has some serious drawbacks. The tool often mixes singular, plural and common misspellings into one so it could lead you astray (admittedly it’s gotten much better lately but still far from perfect).

Is a bed and breakfast in Banff, BC better to target “banff accommodation” or “banff accommodations”. How about the very common misspelling “Banff accomodations”? That said, it’s based on easily the largest pool of search data made available in this way which gives it a huge edge in accuracy based on the pool of data it’s collecting from.

WordTracker (http://www.beanstalk-inc.com/resources/recommended/wordtracker.htm)
WordTracker is easily one of the most popular of the paid keyword research tools. It solves the problem with the singular vs plural vs misspellings however the data it accesses is from a few meta engines and is not as comprehensive as one might like.

They offer a free trial and have options to pay for just a day or up to a year so they provide options for people who simply need it for a quick round of research on one site to SEO firms who need it on a daily bases. It sells for $59/mth.

Keyword Discovery (http://www.beanstalk-inc.com/resources/recommended/keyword-discovery.htm)
This tool is very similar to WordTracker in the advantages/disadvantages category. Better specification of keywords, lower pool of data to base them on. I personally prefer Keyword Discovery simply for some of the features and the ability to export data for clients to view easily. Of course, that could well be due to my increased experience with it.

They have a free trial as well and it sells for $69/mth.

Aaron Wall’s Summary (http://www.seobook.com/archives/001013.shtml)
Noted above are some of the most popular tools and the ones I’ve used the most. There are some other tools definitely worth taking a peek at. Aaron Wall did a great summary on his site of the major tools, their pros and cons, etc. Definitely worth taking a peek at. Admittedly it’s a couple years old so some of the features have changed a bit but most of it is still valid and accurate.

Now What …

Now that we’ve looked at the tools, let’s take a look at what we’re supposed to do with them. As noted, we’ll cover how to use these tools when launching or updating a PPC campaign in a future article, however there are still a few areas and considerations that we need to consider here.

So let’s get started …

In case no one told you – size doesn’t matter. It’s not how big it is, it’s who’s using it. Let’s use as an example a phrase we at Beanstalk targetted and that’s the phrases “search engine positioning”. At first this was our big phrase which now gets 7,689 estimated searches/mth (a bit higher than it was back then). “search engine positioning services” gets a lowly 2,636 searches/mth. Of course we should be targeting the one with the higher number of searches (or so I thought).

Once we have attained top 3 rankings for both I started looking through my stats and setting up filters for conversion (forms filled out and visits to our contact page). People who entered “search engine positioning” were sure interested in our blog and articles but only those who added the word “services” contacted us. And so the big phrase was abandoned as a target and we began focusing on what I refer to as “buy phrases”. So bigger isn’t better if the people you want are searching using phrases with a lower search volume.

There’s another time when bigger isn’t better. Which of those two phrases do you suppose we ranked for first? If you guessed the services phrase then you’re right. When you launch a new website (which we had) you’re likely up against sites that have been around for a while, have some solid backlinks and a good number of pages. You’re not going to want to go up against them for the top phrases out of the gate. Choosing to go with phrases that are lower in search volume and lower in competition will almost always result in higher rankings faster, put some money back in your pocket and ready you to go for the bigger phrases.

It’s here that the model we followed works well. When you’re selecting your short term and long term targets it’s wise to choose phrases with the same root keywords (“search engine positioning” and “search engine positioning services” for example). This basically enables you to work towards your long term goals during link building for your short term targets. And who doesn’t like to kill two birds with one stone? Or perhaps you have all the time in the world and you’re one of those people who likes nothing more than working on developing incoming links.

Which brings us to …

Studying Those Who’ve Gone Before

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Let’s just hang onto that thought while we research what those who are successful in your industry are targeting in order to glean some insight into what works.

I’ve recently discovered (much to my pleasure) a very cool tool that, while a bit pricey for some, simplified MANY of the processes of keyword research, tracking and competitor keyword dissection. A company called AdGooroo (http://www.adgooroo.com/) has created what I’ve now discovered to be an awesome keyword tracking tool (I’d call it keyword research but it does a lot more than list off search phrases). The tool allows you to do the generic keyword research that we’re all used to with the same limitations as the tools above (i.e. Google doesn’t hand out their search keyphrase volumes) but that’s just the first step.

They then take a look at your competitors on both the organic and PPC results, figure out what they’re ranking for and bidding on and provides some great reports on saturation levels, competition levels, and a lot more. With this in hand you can then begin to analyze how they’re ranking (that’ll be covered next week in our article on competition analysis).

The folks at AdGooroo also store historical information so you can look back over trends in the past and compare that to what you see now. As noted, a bit pricey for some but worth it for those who can afford to know this level of information on who’s doing what and what you should be doing.

I should also note that I’m experienced in their SEM Insight product which costs $399/mth. They also do offer AdGooroo Express which has a lot of the same feature (but missing a lot of the ones I personally feel can give a researcher a HUGE jump on their competitors). The Express version however sells at $89/mth so far more affordable for some. And like all my favorite tools, they provide a free trial.

But if you can’t afford that level of information you’ll want to run ranking reports on all your top competitors (you likely know who these are but if you don’t – they’re the ones who rank in the top 10 for the most competitive phrases). You can either do this manually or use a reporting tool such as WebPosition Gold (http://www.beanstalk-inc.com/resources/recommended/webposition.htm – again, has a free trail).

If you find weaker sites ranking for large numbers of phrases, you know who to watch (again, we’ll get into this more next week). The only problem with this method is that you can only think of what you can think of. The site might be ranking for phrases you never thought to look into and which, in knowing, might provide some great insight into additional targets and tactics. Of course, you might well be from an industry with very obvious and defined keywords.

Understanding Your Choices

So now you’ve got choices to make. You’ve got a list of perhaps hundreds of keywords and you need to shorten that list down. The number of phrase you target will only be limited by your site and the amount of time you have to dedicate to it.

You will likely need to pare down your choices to those that will produce the fastest and highest ROI possible. This will likely be the phrases that provide the lowest competition levels for the highest searched “buy phrases”. Once you have attained these rankings you can move on.

The alternative is to go for the gold and target the biggest phrases in your industry. This will take longer (99% of the time) but might be necessary if there are no suitable secondary phrases. In this event you have to ready yourself for a slow rise to the top and a longer period of stagnant traffic with a big return (hopefully) at the end.

Another major choice you’ll have to make (especially if you have a large number of potential phrases) is whether to start out with a PPC campaign for the traffic or to test keyword phrases for an organic promotion. While these will be covered in more detail in part 7, if you just can’t wait you can find a past article on the subject titled “Using PPC To Maximize Your Search Engine Positioning ROI” (http://www.beanstalk-inc.com/articles/ppc/4roi.htm).

More Info On This Series

As noted but worth mentioning again, this article series is being supplemented with a weekly show on WebmasterRadio.fm. Be sure to tune in or download the podcast to get the full information and hear some great interviews with the tool makers and experts.

Next week the topic will be competition analysis and will be written by StepForth, Inc. author and owner Ross Dunn. Ross will of course be on the show with us next Thursday along with some great guests.

What do legitimate search engine optimization firms charge? Like most things involving the Web, prices are all over the place but if the price is extremely low you can be assured that the quality of the service will match the price.

If you do a search for SEO pricing from reliable search engine firms you will find that although prices vary greatly fees of $2,500 per month on an annual contract ($30,000 per year) are not uncommon. Of course some firms will charge less and others will charge a great deal more depending on where they are located, the size and condition of your website, and exactly what services you want them to provide.

Are SEO Costs Worth the Investment?

So what do you get for your $30k ante? Legitimate SEO companies will provide things like target market analysis, keyword analysis, content massaging, code modifications, link implementation strategy, and metric analysis.

And what happens when Google changes their algorithms? Well you guessed it. You have to ante-up again and the addiction continues. Search engine optimization has become the crack-cocaine of Web-based businesses.

Keep in mind search engine optimization’s main goal is to increase your visibility and ranking in search engines which assumes more traffic to your website; but the leap from visibility to traffic to sales conversion is higher than you think. The assumption that better search engine visibility and more traffic automatically generates more sales is faulty logic.

Even if increased search engine visibility produces more traffic to your site and even if your website contains genuine content; if the presentation of that content doesn’t engage the viewer quickly and if it doesn’t hold the visitor’s attention for two to three minutes with a compelling and even entertaining presentation, then your chances of converting that visitor to a customer are minimal.

How Much New Traffic Is Needed to Pay for SEO?

Let’s say your search engine tactics actually work and they not only increase your search engine ranking but also drive tons of traffic to your site. With realistic conversion rates at about 2-3%, how much traffic do you have to bring in to actually pay for the SEO expertise.

Based on a $30K annual investment in SEO and a 20% Net Profit you must generate $150,000 in new sales just to pay the SEO fees. And at a 3% conversion rate and an average sale amount of $100 per transaction that translates into 50,000 unique new visitors per year to your site just to pay for your SEO strategy, and you still haven’t added one cent to your bottom line. You can do the math.

SEO Investment Break-Even Formula

SEO Generated Unique Traffic Break-even = SEO Cost / Conversion Rate x Average Sale x Net Profit Percentage.

Determining Your Conversion Rate

Every business has a different Average Sales Amount and generally speaking it is safe to assume the higher the Selling Price the lower the Conversion Rate. In order to figure out what your Conversion Rate is you have to do a little more calculation. Lets say a company brings in a total of $150,000 in Web-Sales and attracts 25,000 Unique Visitors per year and has an Average Sale Price of $395.95; their Conversion Rate would be 1.5%. What’s your Conversion Rate?

Conversion Rate = [(Total Web Sales / Unique Web Traffic) / Average Sales Price] x 100

To test the formula, we can check the original example where we have a given Conversion Rate of 3% to see if we arrive at the same rate:

CR = [(150,000/50,000)/100] x 100]
Conversion Rate = 3%

The Meaning of It All

After calculating your own numbers, different readers will come to different conclusions. People seem to be mesmerized by complex statistics and bean counter analysis but the hidden meaning behind all the number crunching and mathematical machinations seems clear: if you want to make more money from your website the trick is not where you appear on a search engine or even how many unique visitors you attract to your site, but rather how many of these visitors you convert into customers. If you have a marketing budget it should be spent on conversions; and conversions are not the primary concern of search engine optimization. What you really want is a strategy that will increase conversions.

How Do You Increase Conversions

MarketingExperiments is a research group lead by Dr. Flint McGlaughlin that studies and analyzes these kinds of Web-related issues. In a recent study entitled “Optimizing Your Landing Pages”, they came up with a formula for determining conversion probability. Here’s the copyrighted MarketingExperiments formula: Conversion Probability = 4(Level of Motivational Matching) + 3(Clarity of the Value Proposition) + 2(Effectiveness of the Incentive – Level of Sales Friction) – 2(Conversion Process Anxiety).

I already have a headache, but here’s how they explain it in more digestible terms: “… the highest performing Landing Pages are those that match exactly the Motivation of the customer. After Motivation, the clarity with which you express the Value Proposition is the most important factor in determining whether a customer buys from you or not.”(c) Copyright 2007 MarketingExperiments, LLC, You can visit the MarketingExperiments website for more details on their research.

I prefer an even simpler approach to increasing conversions: feature a website presentation that resonates with the needs of a qualified audience and compels action by providing a solution to those needs. Repurpose that presentation in affordable and no cost venues that drives even more meaningful qualified traffic to your site. Easy to say but hard to do, or is it?

What you need to determine is exactly what needs your audience craves and how best to engage their attention long enough to deliver a story that positions your offering as the missing ingredient required to fulfill their desire and ambition.

The Answer and The Future

The answer to delivering this kind of presentation on your website is video that features professional presenters delivering focused, well-crafted messages that motivate action and embed in your visitors’ memory. If done right, these videos will resonate with the emotional and psychological factors that trigger human desire and motivation. Like it or not, it is the future of Web-marketing.

Google, Yahoo and all the other search engines understand that the Web has become a far more sophisticated delivery platform than it used to be. Methods are in place to delivery not only video, audio, and multimedia, but also to index and tag it for relevance. For when all is said and done, search engines are in the relevance business. If they can’t deliver relevant, meaningful results they are out of business, and no search engine optimization trick, scheme or formula is going to stand in their way.

Those who truly understand the shifting momentum of this reality are already adapting to this new Web-video paradigm – the question is are you?