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
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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
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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.
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