Behind the scenes: SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process by which you can use techniques to improve rankings on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). This can be done through a variety of tactics --some more effective than others. When implementing SEO for a website, it is important to understand your desired audience. Strategically choose what tactics you implement and make sure that your campaigns, blogs, social media, and advertising drive traffic back to your site. If your marketing efforts are integrated in this fashion, you will have a greater impact overall.

Search engines produce web links on their results pages by combing the Internet, looking for key words that relate to a particular user's search. After noting which sites embrace those key word concepts, as well as other characteristics of the websites, search engines classify them for future searches. Depending on the value of the content, the search engine will rank the site for that particular search on the results page; this is called the page rank of the site. Page rank is not set in stone and can improve with good SEO and popularity of the site (i.e. user traffic). SEO provides webmasters and marketers the opportunity to equip their sites so that they will come out on top for related search engine results. The challenge with SEO is to make sure that you are targeting the right audience, so that your site gets traffic from users who are actually interested in your content and may later be turned into loyal customers/patients, etc.

To establish good SEO, it is critical that you build on-page and off-page SEO in order to drive traffic to a website and increase visibility. On-page SEO includes content, code, and site architecture. Strive for well-written content that is concise and comprehensive. Keep your site fresh and up to date, but also comprehensive. If you are a site that offers articles or lengthy blog posts, consider posting only 2-3 times per week, instead of every day.  According to DiTesco, " Google, is now looking for “fresh” content. Obviously, if you are talking about something that is “hot” or trending, the more updated the information is, the better." (1) Also, make sure that you are giving users what they want. Think about answering their search question directly -- if you envision your website as the top result in a search for a new medical procedure, make sure that the story about that procedure is featured front and center on your site.

Make sure your code is clean. Code is really just the signals that a programmer establishes to ensure that a site is optimized for the search engines that crawl the web. Meta tagging and keywords can help search engines find your info. As Erin Everhart says on Mashable Tech, "People search in Google because they have a question. Anticipate those questions — whether about the best style of yoga pants or where to get the lowest mortgage rate. Your keywords and the content on your pages should reflect the answers to those questions. Keyword research is tedious, but it’s arguably the most important aspect of SEO." (2)

You also want to think about the design of your website and the navigation path that you have set for the user. Is your site navigation intuitive? Can the user easily find his or her way from one page to another? User-ability can play a key factor in capturing the attention of a user and not immediately boring your audience (this would result in a high bounce rate for your page, if everyone who arrived immediately left the site).

Off-page SEO ranking can play a much bigger role in influencing the success of your website. Build links into your content, highlighting keywords that will take the user to another part of your site or to an external site of relevance (make sure that the link opens in a new window, so the user does not leave your site in the process!) Breadcrumb trails or anchoring text are other ways to show people where they've been and to allow for the user to orient him/herself. Form relationships with other like-minded organizations and host referral links to each other's websites. If the other site has a good reputation, their referral will give your site increased legitimacy and it will also improve your Google Page Rank.

If SEO is done right, it can greatly improve your ROI; whatever that may be. SEO can generate a great deal of revenue for websites that support a PPC (Paid Per Click) advertising method. As stated in Payperclickuniverse.com, PPC ads are display or bid-based ads that appear only on high ranking webpages or search results pages. PPC metrics employ a quality score, determining which ads should appear. As advertises pay for the placement, the ads are certain to appear instead of having to compete with other search results, as can sometimes happen with SEO (3). Advertisers pay the publisher (website owner) when the ad is "clicked." The more a website leverages SEO, the more traffic will result. Advertisers will then be attracted to sites that are well-built, with good user friendly interfaces, and a high volume of traffic. A happy user is more apt to click on an ad and linger on a site; therefore, revenue potential is high.

Social media is another area of interactive marketing that should be directly tied to the SEO of a website. Use your company's social media platform to help your website's page rank, start a dialogue, and build trust with your audience. A recent article by Ragan.com states that Google search (debatably the best and most popular search engine out available) is now actually favoring social media activity -- "likes" and tweets -- over key words and other more traditional aspects of SEO. (4) Social media can be the perfect place to tie together your website, media coverage in the news, advertising campaigns, and blog posts or reviews. Share these things with your audience and keep a close eye on your analytics for your website. Trial and error is often the best approach when crafting a message, as the audience is different for every brand. Test it out to see what works. Sometimes something as simple as the time of day that you choose to post can slightly alter the demographic of your viewers.

SEO is only one piece to the larger puzzle of what is called "inbound marketing" for a brand or company. If you take a look at this Infographic on hubspot.com, it is easy to see the strong relationship between SEO for a website and the overall ROI for a marketing strategy. The Infographic "helps inbound marketers understand the entire inbound process from start to finish -- from getting found online, to converting visitors into leads and customers, and then measuring the entire funnel." (5)

After considering all of the points made above, it is critical to remember that like most things on the web, best practices for SEO are forever changing. It is important to update and freshen up SEO periodically, staying abreast of the latest developments. As DiTesco says on his iBlogZone, " SEO is not dead as many would like you to believe, but it is constantly changing and as new factors come into play, others go." (6)

This article is the part of a series of posts that I will make throughout my graduate studies in Marketing and Communications. With a focus on both healthcare and interactive marketing, I hope to gain a better understanding for effective health messaging--which I think plays a key role in a happy, healthy society. Please leave your comments or write to me: camorous@gmail.com.

References

(1, 6) Perez, Fransisco (2012). The Best SEO Practices and Tips 2012. Retrieved from http://www.iblogzone.com/2012/01/best-seo-practices-tips-2012.html

(2) Everhart, Erin (2011). 6 Best Practices for Modern SEO. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2011/11/08/seo-best-practices/

(3)Pay Per Click Universe (2012). Organic SEO and Paid Search: Friends or Foes? Retrieved from http://www.payperclickuniverse.com/pay-per-click-search-engines-articles/organic-seo-and-paid-search-friends-or-foes/

(4) Kramer, Shelley (2012). Google favors Facebook shares, 'likes,' and comments more than keywords. Retrieved from http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/45186.aspx

(5)Vaughan, Pamela (2012). How Inbound Marketing Works, From Start to Finish [INFOGRAPHIC]. Retrieved from http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31271/Inbound-Marketing-From-Start-to-Finish-INFOGRAPHIC.aspx/

Common Craft (2011). What is Search Engine Optimization/ SEO? Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF515-0Tduk 

www.what the heck am I doing.com

When working in PR/Marketing, it's only a matter of time before you will be asked to help redesign a website. If you are one of the lucky few who never has this task (not to say it's not enjoyable, it's just tedious) then "Lucky you!" You still need to understand the ins and outs of a good site, in order to strategically place ad campaigns. 


Tell the Brand Story
A website serves as the "home base" for your brand. The strategy behind a website should be to create an accessible and easy-to-use website that embodies your organization's brand and legitimizes your message. When a marketer is speaking on the phone to the media, referencing his or her company to clients, or providing feedback to a board of directors, it is important to have a website that represents the entire company and highlights the significance of the work being done. In some sense, a website should tell a story on its own -- as a website visit can be a one time chance to capture the attention of the user.


Aesthetics 
Web layout and visual appeal are key. It is important to keep the branding consistent across the board for an organization or company, so the color palette for the website should align with the logo and other existing branding. A website should also use color combinations that make the text readable and easy to recognize (sometimes dark colors on dark backgrounds can make text undetectable). Consistent branding is also important as often users visit the site after tying a keyword into a search engine, such as Google. It is important that they recognize where they are and that the site branding confirms that they have come to the correct place. Otherwise, they will immediately exit the site and, thus, contribute to the "bounce rate" in your site analytics (something you'd rather keep low - trust me!)


Navigation & User Experience 
Visual appearance is only part of the equation for the perfect website. The navigation and layout of the site are also critical to creating a comfortable, easy environment for users. The "user experience" is what determines popularity of a site, the number of page visits, and the length of time that one user will spend browsing content. If a site is easy to navigate - meaning the navigation is intuitive, well marked, and fast- then the user will be happy. From that point on, good content will speak for itself. Interesting reading, helpful material such as downloadable PDFs, and interactive video will capture the user's attention. Content should be written in plain English- no clinical jargon or academic prose.


Know Your Audience
Keep in mind the unique needs that your users may have, as well as their expectations. You want their experience at your website to be a memorable, pleasant experience. Whether that means going out of you way to make online accommodations for vision or hearing impaired users; streaming news feeds or stock market updates to maintain user attention; or providing a "one stop shop" portal for users to access a list of resources, in addition to your site, that might meet their needs if they did not find what they needed at your site.  Much of the reasoning behind choosing a site layout should be to make the user experience easy for all audiences: community members, educators, physicians, students, and patients who may be accessing the site as a resource. When considering a patient, it is important to remember that some times symptoms of an illness can make everyday tasks challenging. Just another reason to tailor your user's web experience as best you can. Enabling access for people of all abilities is key to building a sustainable website.


Personalize it!
Website personalization is an area where health communicators have to proceed with great caution. Any app or login feature would need to be highly secure in order to protect patient health information and confidentiality. A login feature gives users who frequent a site the ability to participate in multiple event registrations, surveys, or webinars without re-entering registration info each time. Instead, the form would pre-populate with their info, made possible using cookies. Personalization does greatly enhance user experience. The information that users volunteer when they login, becomes an important piece of intel for marketing strategy. We will discuss this in a future post. 


Mobile Ready
Finally, in the current times it is crucial that a website be "skinned" for mobile devices. Everyone accesses the web via iPhones, Androids, iPads, eNotebooks, etc. and a company can miss out on an opportunity to engage a user if the website shows up in very poor quality on a mobile device. Nothing is more frustrating to a user then finding a website and then realizing that it is impossible to access half of the site because it goes off the screen. 


Do the work for your user - make the content easy to access. For me, this is the real message when it comes to website best practices for websites.

References:


http://www.homebaseprogram.org/ http://ask.enquiro.com/2010/a-big-list-of-user-experience-best-practices/

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/11/best-practices-for-6-common-user-interface-elements/

http://mobilewebbestpractices.com/user-experience/


This article is the part of a series of posts that I will make throughout my graduate studies in Marketing and Communications. With a focus on both healthcare and interactive marketing, I hope to gain a better understanding for effective health messaging--which I think plays a key role in a happy, healthy society. Please leave your comments or write to me: camorous@gmail.com.