Having recently read Sonia’s post about the dangers of SEO, I made a conscious decision to really focus on quality rather than quantity.
More importantly, I’ve been measuring my visits using Google analytics to see where my traffic is coming from and the results have been quite interesting.
When I first heard about SEO, I was told about the importance of inbound links, article marketing, forum posting, keyword density in your content, permalinks, title tags etc of which I’m sure you probably received the same.
One of the businesses that I consult for happens to be a purely online business, and as I previously mentioned, I am an avid researcher as I am always striving to do better. Plus the fact that I provide marketing strategies to this particular business, one of the methods I advise, happens to be on the use of SEO.
Now I’m certainly no expert, but Earl Nightingale stated, “If you will spend an extra hour each day of study in your chosen field, you will be a national expert in that field in five years.” and I have definitely spent more than an hour a day on that particular topic, it just hasn’t been 5 years yet
But just the other day, something I read from Darren Rowse threw a spanner in the works about effective practice of optimising your site for search engine traffic. He said that a lot of people do the in site stuff such as the list I mentioned above, but not many focus on the off site stuff.
Light Bulb Moment
Now I may have heard this before but I accredit to Darren because it sat so well in my mind that something just clicked I went ‘Oh Snap!”
One of the key things he said was to comment on other blogs as he manages to personally comment on over 100 blogs per week! I thought to myself, no wonder he gets so much traffic.
I have certainly been tracking where my traffic has been coming from, thanks to the neat Google Analyticator plugin, and the comments that I have been making on blogs and forums have certainly been working.
I definitely need to do a lot more but it’s always encouraging to do something and see some immediate results.
If you have and tips or success with SEO using little known techniques that are not often highlighted, then I’d greatly appreciate you sharing in the comments below.
I’m not brilliant on the SEO front, as a almost 25 year marketing veteran, believe as I did when I started (when this wasn’t the industry norm) that relationship selling is the best approach. I tend to operate in tight niches, so might not have the reach others boast, but if sales are your goal, referral business still shines over all else. These come from people who feel they know and respect you.
Great point Nanette. Not only does referral business out shine other marketing strategies but it is the most valuable and therefore should be worked on the most. The fact that it can’t actually be paid for says a lot and is something people don’t work enough on.
Also having a smaller reach in tight niches should prove more profitable because you have more of an impact on those who you do reach. There are riches in niches!