Search Engine Quick Start Guide
Below are the basic steps in creating an effective SEM campaign. You may want to do some of these items and have the experts at Interactive Villages handle others. Realize that your time may be better spent doing what you do best and letting Interactive Villages handle the rest.
1. Determine the pages (URLs) you would like us to submit.
You will probably want to have us submit your home page along with a few others. Content rich pages perform best in the search engines. Determine which pages offer the most information about the products or services that you offer and consider those pages. We do not recommend submitting pages that have little or no text on them, or any "splash" or "gateway" pages. Generally just submitting your home page will be fine, but if there are any special pages you would like to add, note them and indicate these when contacting us.
2. Optimize the key pages on your website prior to submittal.
When "crawling" your site, the search engines actually read the HTML code and human-readable text that makes up your web pages. This is the way they determine where to list your pages, and more importantly, how to rank your pages. Unless your pages are optimized for the search engines your site will not get ranked well! Search Engine Optimization is both a science and art, involving the analysis of your website pages makeup for keyword density, meta tag use, image Alt tag density and directory architecture. Interactive Villages staff review your site's current structure and content, then create a comprehensive report to advise you of your site's status and recommendations for improving your site's SEO content. .
3. Prepare a keyword list and description for your site's key pages.
To make this process more effective and easier for you, we have provided info at our keyword tips page . When you submit your information we will ask you for three things. It will speed up the process if you prepare these ahead of time:
Short Description - A short description (25 characters or less) of your website.
Category List - think about in what general category your business might want to be listed, such as automotive, legal, computers, etc.
Keyword List - The keyword list you create should consist of specific phrases of two or more words that you think people would enter into a search engine when searching for a page like yours. You should be as specific as possible. For example, if you sell men's shoes a good choice would be "men's imported penny loafers," but using "men's shoes" would be too general. If you need more help creating a keyword list please see our keyword tips page . Each keyword phrase should be separated by a comma and the list cannot exceed 255 characters.
Tip: It is usually easier to write the long description first and then simply edit it down to get your short description. Once you have the information noted above, click on the button below to get your search engine submission ordered.
4. Determine your PPC strategy.
Pay Per Click (PPC) services such as Google Adwords and Overture can get your company's website listed on the very first search result page -- if created and managed properly. Other factors such as your bid amount per keyword and monthly budget, how many competitors you have bidding on the same search items, and in which of the PPC services you are enrolled will have an effect of your ROI when using these services. Don't forget that tracking those leads and determining from which search engine they found you is extremely important so that you can determine the effectiveness of each service.
Once you have gotten your information gathered in the above steps, contact us or continue to the next page to get the process started. Once we receive your information, we will contact you to confirm your order and finalize a plan.
Now its time to get your SEM information submitted to us for processing. Click the Sign Up! button below to get started. Once we receive your information, we will perform the following items:
- Perform a preliminary review of your website for identifying any SEO problems with its Meta-tags, Description, Keywords and architecture
- Create a detailed report with recommendations and budget for effective SEO architecture.
- Work with you on developing a budget for SEO renovation and a plan for implementing these recommendations.
- Meet with you to discuss a PPC strategy and a realistic budget that will provide positive results and the highest result rankings possible.
Remember, many of the "do it yourself" website submission tools are just black hole services that capture your contact info to sell to spammers. Our SEO/SEM services provide your company a professionally managed program that is designed specifically for your company and intended to provide you short-term ROI.