SERP Dominance Online

Building Virtual Barriers to Entry on Google SERP Dominance Through SEO, PPC, Microsites, Landing Pages, Blogs, Personal Branding & Press Releases. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has long been known as a powerful yet affordable way to increase traffic to a website. Dot Coms have known this for over a decade. However, over the past 18 months I've noticed the buzz of SEO spreading to large, midsized and even small brick and mortars with varying degrees web sophistication. It seems everyone wants to be number one on Google. That's great, but is that truly the finish line for SEO? Ninety-nine percent of the agencies providing SEO services will say, "yes, getting their client to number one on Google equals success." Probably all but a few clients would be happy with those results too. However, the number one position is only one link out of dozens that could point to a web page. The goal should be complete Search Engine Results Page (SERP) dominance. What if every link on the first page of Google pointed to a web page that represented your company? What if the client that was happy with the number one position on Google had a competitor with every other position (organically, paid and maps) filled with their links? Which one would garner the most traffic? Some would say that SERP dominance is merely a pipe dream, but with the right planning, execution and tracking you can come pretty close to total SERP domination. To accomplish SERP domination it is important to realize that it cannot be done with one website alone. The web provides for dozens of platforms that can be utilized by businesses to inform and communicate with current and prospective customers. In fact, many of these platforms allow for the execution of Unique Value Propositions (UVPs). Coupons are a good example of this. Below is a list of online platforms and tactics that should be considered when developing a SERP dominance strategy in order to build impassable barriers to entry for virtual competitors. SEO - Search Engine Optimization should extend to everything you do on the web. This is the most important aspect to successfully appear in multiple locations on the first page of Google. PPC - Pay Per Click is typically set up under one management account. This method of PPC management will only allow you to choose a keyword once. Consider creating 10 Website Design ● e-Commerce ● e-Marketing ● Spam Blocker ● Custom Programming Confidential

or more PPC accounts and building your campaigns around a small core of keyword combinations. That way, it is possible to own all of the paid real estate on Google. This method can be costly so make sure a proper return on investment analysis is done. Microsites - A microsite is merely a website that sits on a separate domain from a company's main domain that is generally more focused on a brand, specific service or geography. For example, a web development company may consider creating a microsite for each service they provide (i.e. SEO, Social Media Marketing, Web Software Development, etc.). Because the web development company's core competency is web design it should be fairly easy to optimize each microsite for "web design" and the specific service chosen for the site. Landing Pages - There are several types of landing pages that can be utilized in a SERP dominance strategy. These include long, short, offsite and onsite landing pages. Offsite landing pages have a completely unique domain name from a company's primary website and deny the user the ability to "surf-around" the site. Typically, offsite landing pages only allow for one action to take place. Usually it's an "order now, sign-up now" or some type of lead capture. Onsite landing pages reside on the company's primary website. The purpose of creating a landing page within a website is to build one specific theme centered around one keyword combination for Google to index and show in its SERPs. Press Releases - Never underestimate the power of press releases on Google's SERPs. Most press release sites are highly regarded by Google's indexing algorithm and tend to show up in SERPs if properly written. Personal/Company Branding - Sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace have very high Page Ranks in Google. They are constantly being indexed by the search engines. Why not piggy back off of them by building a highly optimized company or personal fan page? With the right conversion strategy a company can easily lead the user to a desired action via those platforms. Two of the newest websites to take advantage of personal branding, social media and the power of SEO is PeoplePond.com and CompanyPond.com. These sites make it easy for a user to optimize profiles for very specific keywords. Blogs - A Blog should also be considered as a platform for SERP dominance. Consider housing a company blog on a separate domain if possible. That way, it will be indexed independently from the primary website and show up in the SERPs detached from the primary website. Blogs can also be considered for personal branding. Most employees within a company can be considered "subject matter experts" with regards to their role in the organization. What if a company offered their employees their own Blog? Since Website Design ● e-Commerce ● e-Marketing ● Spam Blocker ● Custom Programming Confidential

the company controls the platform it has the ability to set the ground rules on acceptable content while controlling UVP deployment, lead capture and all other pertinent SEO factors. This blog could also be a destination for that employee's sphere of influence. The above represent only a few of the many platforms and tactics available as tools to execute and deploy a SERP dominance strategy. Bookmarking sites, Flickr, Squidoo, and Ning are also platforms that can be used. The possibilities are almost endless. The web is becoming more and more competitive every day. Companies that embrace the SERP dominance model will eventually create an almost impassable virtual barrier to entry on the SERPs. So instead of gauging success by where a site is on Google, consider measuring success by a company's overall visibility on the first page of Google. Website Design ● e-Commerce ● e-Marketing ● Spam Blocker ● Custom Programming Confidential

SERP Dominance Online

by Mike Gingerich on Sep 30, 2009

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SERP Dominance Online — Document Transcript