Effective Atlanta Search Engine Optimization Brings Returns on Investments

Atlanta, Georgia - April 19, 2010 - A focus on Google search engine optimization in Atlanta can produce a significant gain in traffic and return on marketing dollars spent, according to local company Vayumedia.com.

Specializing in providing affordable Atlanta-area search engine placement for companies both new to the online market and those looking to generate more traffic, Vayumedia.com knows that "you can't take your eyes off your business to manage online marketing," but that you need online traffic to grow your business.

Vayumedia.com has seen businesses come and go, and knows that simply focusing on keywords will generate a spike in traffic, but not the "conversions to leads and sales that grow your business." They've learned through experience that the best Atlanta search engine optimization derived from a multi-step process, which ensures that a business not only achieves the top ranking in its category, but that visitors to the website are interested in buying products.

The first step in this process is data collection, including a "deep analysis of business needs," which allows the optimization company to set reasonable goals for progress and return.

Next, detailed website analysis must be conducted. Websites with little or no content that generate traffic will not, in turn, generate sales. This analysis helps ensure that a website meets the "quality, technical, design and content guidelines from the major search engines," which is essential if it is going to be highly ranked.

Keyword research is essential, and after the first steps have been completed, can begin in earnest. This is based on the needs of the business, its clients, and its products, to ensure proper placement in search engines to deliver maximum results.

At this point, the creation of "high quality and unique content, including the defined keywords" will occur, as will the submission of the newly-designed website and sitemap to all major search engines.

It is the combination of all of these techniques which enables companies such as Vayumedia.com to give businesses in Atlanta guaranteed search engine placement that will generate not only traffic, but conversions to sales as well.

The key thing to understand about how search engines work is that they index pages, not websites. In that regard, every page rises or falls on its own merits. On-page search engine optimization is an important factor for every single page on your website. So too is off-page optimization or link building.

That means that any inbound links you have pointing to a page are going to be considered by the search engine algorithm for the purposes of PageRank and ranking. While inbound links from other websites will carry more overall weight, if they are good links, you can't discount internal links. Those will often be your first inbound links to every page. But the most important inbound link to your website (indeed, to every page on your site) is that first inbound link from elsewhere.

No web page at all will get crawled and indexed without at least one inbound link. If your site is up and ready and has a great internal link structure but no inbound links from anywhere else then you all you have is a great site in a vacuum. It won't get crawled. You need at least one inbound link from somewhere to any page on your site. Then, that page will get crawled and every page on your site linked to from that page will get crawled as well as any pages linked to from those pages.

Once you get that first page indexed then any inbound links from within your site will get crawled and the other pages indexed. That doesn't mean you should build one inbound link from somewhere else then stop. But it does illustrate how critical that first inbound link is to your website.

After that first link, your internal site navigation links are pretty much like any other inbound link. They'll be judged on anchor text, link age, domain age, page age, relevancy, and all the other factors that every other inbound link is judged by. Do they pass PageRank? Yes. Do affect PageRank? Yes. But if you're sitting at PR 0, how's that going to help you?

When it comes to link building, you need to think long term. Build a diverse link portfolio, but don't count out your own website

In the past, business used the Web  primarily for Brochure Web Sites. These are  simple web sites which provide information about the business, its products and services.

Even in those early days of the Web, having your web site found and visited was a significant obstacle due to the number of web sites online. Thus the advent of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Today, the user generated content of Web 2.0 has caused an explosion of content on the Internet, making it even more difficult to "Be Found".

Why Search Engine Optimization
Search, using Search Engines, is still the most popular method to find the products, services and information required by Internet users. Therefore, if your web content is to be discovered by Internet users, obtaining good visibility in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) is imperative.

What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search Engine Optimization is the process of fine tuning web sites, Blogs and other online content to achieve visibility by obtaining rankings in the first three pages of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for a particular keyword or keyword phrase.

The Black and White of SEO
Search Engines have "Terms of Service" which outline the techniques which are acceptable to improve the visibility of web site content in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

Black Hat SEO are the techniques used by unethical companies and consultants to trick the Search Engines into giving web content high visibility in the SERPs, when in actual fact it has not gained the required relevance and authority for inclusion. Black Hat SEO can actually get you unlisted and banned from major search engines like Google.

White Hat SEO are the techniques used by ethical companies and consultants to improve the development and quality of web content so it will obtain high visibility in the SERPs within the guidelines set out by the Search Engine's "Terms of Service".

The Search Engine Algorithm

An Algorithm has been defined by Princeton University as "a precise rule (or set of rules) specifying how to solve some problem".

Although the Search Engine Algorithms evaluate numerous On-page (located on the web page itself) and Off-page (not located on the web page itself) elements to determine SERPs placement, the two primary elements of the Algorithm's evaluation are Relevancy and Authority.

Topical Relevance
Search Engines determine Relevance by evaluating the keywords and phrases used in the Search Query and comparing those keywords to web pages indexed in the Search Engine's database.

On completion of an analysis process which evaluates numerous On-page web page elements, the Search Engine delivers the results considered to be most relevant to the searched topic.

Topical Authority
In addition to Relevance Search Engines also factor in how authoritative the web content is perceived to be.

The Search Engine Algorithms evaluate numerous Off-page elements to determine how authoritative an item of web content is. The two primary factors determining authority are the number of links leading to the web content and the age of the Domain Registration.

On-Page Optimization
The purpose of On-page Optimization is to develop web content that is highly relevant to a specific topic through targeted keyword use.

The fundamentals of On-page Optimization are Keyword Research and the integration of keywords into web content in a Search Engine friendly manner. Although you are developing content which is Search Engine friendly, the first consideration must be for the human users.

The principle of On-page Optimization is the development of high quality topic relevant content which captivates the web site visitors' attention.

Off-Page Optimization
The purpose of Off Page Optimization is to increase the Authority of your web content. Increasing the Authority of your content is much more difficult and time consuming than optimizing for Relevancy. The primary technique used to improve Authority is developing a network of inbound links to your web site and content (Backlinks).

Search Engine Algorithms view Backlinks as a vote of confidence in the web site and its content. Similar to an election, the more votes, the more perceived confidence in the candidate, which in this case is the web site. In many cases the content with the most Backlinks has the highest visibility in the SERPs.

Search Optimization - Process Outline

A brief outline of the major considerations of any Search Optimization Program includes:

Web Site Analysis: A review of the web site's development code to ensure web sites are easily accessed and indexed by the Search Engines.

Keyword Research and Analysis: Research into the terms used by Internet users to find products, services and information. A couple of tools you can use for this are WordTracker and Google Insights for Search.

Keyword Research and Analysis also investigates the competitive environment surrounding the keyword or phrase such as:

How many web sites are targeting the keyword and phrase

The strength of the currently ranking web pages

Content Development: Developing well structured, keyword rich, content is a primary function of Organic Search Engine Optimization. The On-page Optimization of your web page with topical well integrated keywords is the most powerful Search Optimization technique you control.

Link Building Program: Link building is one of the most time consuming Search Engine Optimization tasks. However, it is a task you cannot do without. A Link Building Program includes numerous methods to obtain inbound links to your web site:

Giving other web sites a reason to link to you is imperative to the success of your Link Building program.

Web sites link to good content which is relevant and beneficial to their own web site visitors.

Developing high value, highly relevant content in Blogs, Online Press Releases and Article Submissions is the most effective Link Building technique available.

Other Link Building techniques include:

Directory Submissions

Social Bookmarking and Social Recommendation Sites

- Digg
- Stumbleupon
- Delicious

Request links from complimentary but non competitive web sites

Naturally, you want to link your Website to your Blog and your Blog to your Website. In fact, you want to link every element in the Web 2.0 marketing graphic to every other element possible building a spider web of links and cross-links.

Word of Caution: Beware of so called "SEO Experts" that promise you hundreds of links in a short period of time. Although they do exist and can get you short-term increases in the SERPS, "link farms" can get you unlisted and banned from major search engines like Google.

The Search Engine Optimization Program

The Search Optimization process is complex and time consuming. How you approach your business's SEO Program will depend on the human and financial resources available to your company.

Out Sourcing SEO
Out sourcing your Optimization Program to a Search Engine Optimization Consultant is often the most cost efficient and productive method to achieve your desired Online business objectives.

There is no denying Search Optimization is complex and ever changing. SEO Consultants work in the industry on a daily basis, noting the changing search environment and developing the experience and knowledge to recognize the problems and opportunities for business web sites.

It is this experience that only a SEO Professional can offer, the average business owner may have the will to develop, initiate and complete an Optimization Program, but rarely has the insight into the industry to ensure a positive result for the time and resources required.

In House SEO
In many cases the expense of a SEO Consultant may be beyond the budgeting constraints of the business. In these cases completing the SEO program In House or using a Hybrid In-house/ Outsourced combination may be the solution.

Before you initiate an In-house solution consideration must be given to the human and financial resources required. Do you have the expertise? How will working on a SEO Program affect your ability to complete the core business tasks required to keep your business running?

Should your business opt for an In-house solution it is imperative from the outset to identify goals and develop a step by step program to assure all elements are investigated and tasks completed in an organized manner.

The Last Word
Search Engine Optimization is an important aspect of your business's online activities. SEO cannot be overlooked and regardless of your circumstances if your content is going to be viewed by the public some form of Search Engine Optimization is a prerequisite.

Contact today Jennifer Dunphy, Vayu Media LLC, (800)-456-1563 , info (at) vayumedia dot com to get more information on our full service SEO services.

E-commerce applications for Web sites can take thousands of hours to build, and require patience and determination on the part of the organization awaiting its "new toy." The end result of such a project can be beautiful, much like a custom motorcycle or hot rod may look to an owner once completed.

Unfortunately, these product-shuffling and category-dealing applications can also wreak havoc for automated search engine crawlers out to index sites leveraging these applications. This can lead to less-than optimal performance for the site's pages within search engine results for related queries.

As with large-scale Web site designs and redesigns, putting SEO off until after the fact can be a costly mistake. An internal case study showed an example where a site owner could have saved in excess of $100,000 by incorporating SEO into the interactive design plan instead of going back and making changes to an existing site to implement SEO best practices.

Over the past few months, our SEO team has worked on redesigns of three sites using IBM Websphere Commerce for e-commerce functionality. We've also advised on Microsoft applications being developed for clients, in order for the end product to be "SEO-friendly."

It's important to clearly delineate between "SEO-friendly" and "optimized," because statements of work have to be explicit in describing the final product. Typically, SEO-friendly means that the application will be scalable should a full SEO initiative be launched in the future. Optimized means enterprise-level SEO was performed during the development of the application, and the finished product is more likely to rank within search engines.

Let's look at three high-level topics to consider if you plan to include SEO in business requirements for the development of an e-commerce application: internal process, out-of-the-box functionality, and content equity.

Internal Process

Unique teams from our Java/IBM Practice and our Search Practice work on all three of the Websphere Commerce Projects, with a little overlap at the management/executive level. Naturally, it's difficult to easily transfer learnings and experiences from one team to another in real time, but the common SEO bond has helped speed up some of this sharing. Post-project feedback sessions are crucial to for future efficiencies.

Each of the project teams has slightly different internal communication dynamics, but one common bond is the use of tracking tasks and their corresponding owners.

Some businesses rely on documentation of business requirements clearly explaining the "what" prior to getting to the "how." If there's no smooth system to ensure that issues are being resolved, it could be a nightmare for a project manager to stay on top of things and properly prioritize. Without this order, it would also be difficult to work in the SEO requirements and best practices because developers who don't have the skill set may overlook SEO ramifications.

Out-of-the-Box Functionality

Some e-commerce applications developers actually pause to consider SEO, and they're often rewarded when they find that many systems, including Websphere Commerce, have some additional functionality that they describe as "SEO-friendly." Using these out-of-the-box (OOTB) features can certainly be very helpful when it comes to designing a more search-friendly application. However, they aren't silver bullets. Our technical engineer has openly questioned some of the OOTB recommendations of some applications as being potentially more harmful than helpful.

If you plan to use the OOTB SEO features of any e-commerce application, run the ideas past an engineer with deep and current SEO technical knowledge. Although many features are helpful, some are potentially risky from a Webmaster guidelines standpoint. Websphere Commerce has an OOTB URL rewrite that, if done properly, makes the URLs look much cleaner than most WC sites. However, in terms of a continuum, the OOTB rewrite is still several stages away from the optimal optimized URL.

Content Equity

Content is still king, albeit sometimes ruled by his queen, linking. At the root, many e-commerce applications simply collect and distribute related products onto a dynamically generated page. Often, there is no consideration made for HTML content that describes the particular product other than the database-driven short and possibly long descriptions.

Unfortunately, in many cases this content is essentially "stock," and already has been published on countless pages across the Internet. Taking the time to create unique product descriptions can be very valuable.

At the category level and higher, place additional descriptive content on each page. This should help you gain traction within the search engine results for category-type terms.

Content equity is an idea I use to describe how this content actually ends up on a page. Most would think that every bit of content should be able to be controlled (as in the physical placement of the content on the page) by one system. Although in some cases this is true, there are often multiple areas on the backend that could be used to enter text onto the page.

Without getting into the technical specifics, it's important to understand that not all content is equal, and that it may need to get on to the site through a CMS or be coded into the page through a developer.

There are hundreds of considerations when building an e-commerce application, and SEO should be on that list, if you plan to rely on search engine-referred organic traffic. Ideally, the application should be at least SEO-friendly, if not fully optimized, when it comes off the showroom floor.

About Vayu Media:

 

VayuMedia.com

 

Vayu Media is the premier company for local internet advertising using search engine marketing and local search engine optimization. Vayu Media is taking advantage of the consumer shift from traditional media to internet based marketing.  The company's focus is local online business marketing and web design services. The company's strategy to get out into the market place and consult with local businesses face to face has allowed it to make local business owners aware of the opportunity that exists online.  In order to stay relevant in today's market every local business must have an online marketing strategy and Vayu Media can help.

Media Contact:

Jennifer Dunphy, Vayu Media LLC, (800)-456-1563 , info (at) vayumedia dot com

 

Bankrate's CEO invested in search engine optimization to bolster revenues and profits. Wayne Gattinella, WebMD's CEO and president, values SEO as a key driver of his internet marketing strategy.

There's no question that Bankrate and WebMD live or die by their Internet strategy. What about more traditional companies? Does SEM make a big impact on businesses with a strong brick-and-mortar presence?

Let's look at three companies with varying degrees of digital presence: La-Z-Boy, D&B, and UTI. Each CEO took time during recent earnings calls to discuss their digital strategies with Wall Street analysts.

President and Chief Executive Officer of La-Z-Boy, Kurt Darrow, reviewed his company's initiatives to leverage the Internet during the F3Q08 (Qtr End 01/26/08) earnings call.

As is the case with most savvy companies, Darrow understands that SEM requires continuous improvement. He spelled out his initiatives and backed them with hard data. One measure of his success? Traffic to the site increased by double digits during the past several months. Online registrations also increased dramatically during a two-week period.

"First, we are increasing our traffic to our Web site through improved search engine optimization and paid search marketing. These actions, combined with our new marketing campaign, have increased unique visitors to our site over the last few months by more than 35 percent. Second, we are implementing tools that will encourage our customers online to provide us with their contact information enabling us to regularly send them information on La-Z-Boy products, services, and sales via e-mail.

For example, during our recent armchair quarterback national sales event we had more than 60,000 register online during the two weeks of that promotion. The third piece is to ensure the experience we provide to our consumers on the Web meets their expectations."

Consumers are looking for more than Flash animations and pretty pictures. Online retail consumers want value. They want information on the products they're researching.

"We are working on a strategy to leverage our site with online pricing and sales capabilities. With more and more consumers using the Internet to either look at furniture before purchase or to actually make a purchase, we are excited about the prospects of ecommerce and believe it will not only increase our visibility, but make it easier for the consumer to do business with our company."

Other companies are turning to the Internet for key acquisitions to drive their digital strategy. For example, D&B recently purchased AllBusiness.com after the successful acquisition of Hoover's.

The President and COO of Dun & Bradstreet, Sara Mathew, cited Hoover's as a model acquisition during her Q4 2007 earnings call. The reason she's bullish on the AllBusiness.com buyout has more to do with search marketing than almost any other factor.

Hoover's has proven to be a model acquisition for us and we will apply these lessons to ensure similar positive results from AllBusiness.com, which we acquired last month. As a reminder, AllBusiness is an online media and e-commerce company that operates one of the premier business sites on the Web. It leverages a proprietary publishing platform and a broad range of content to help users run their small businesses better.

And it brings a number of exciting new capabilities to D&B, including expertise and search engine optimization as well as search engine marketing. With the combined power of AllBusiness, Hoover's and First Research, we are confident in our ability to continue to drive strong double-digit revenue growth from our Internet segment in 2008.

The President and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Technical Institute, (UTI) Kimberly J. McWaters highlighted SEM during her recent Q1 2008 earnings call. As a business that relies on the Internet, UTI targets a young audience and measures daily unique visitors and site traffic. She stated:

In late December 2007, UTI launched a new Web site, UTI.edu, designed to relate to the critical Gen Y audience and key influencers on a more contemporary level. Early indications are optimistic, as traffic is up 104 percent versus a year ago in terms of visits during the month of January. Unique visitors are up 85 percent. This growth is attributed to a complete Web site redesign supported by a national advertising campaign promoting the URL, UTI.edu.

More important than traffic, though, is how UTI is driving visitors to their flagship site. Again, search engines play the key role. In fact, Ms. McWaters describes "natural search" as a "critical area" of her business strategy.

In the critical areas of natural search, UTI site visitation is up 800 percent versus the same period in the prior year. Given the reliance on premium price lead vendors, the success in obtaining free visitors to the site has the potential of growing into a competitive advantage for UTI. The growth in natural search visitation is attributed to the new SEO strategy employed at UTI.

About Vayu Media:

VayuMedia.com

Vayu Media is the premier company for local internet advertising using search engine marketing and local search engine optimization. Vayu Media is taking advantage of the consumer shift from traditional media to internet based marketing.  The company's focus is local online business marketing and web design services. The company's strategy to get out into the market place and consult with local businesses face to face has allowed it to make local business owners aware of the opportunity that exists online.  In order to stay relevant in today's market every local business must have an online marketing strategy and Vayu Media can help.

Media Contact:

Jennifer Dunphy, Vayu Media LLC, (800)-456-1563 , info (at) vayumedia dot com

While Google offers advice on hiring SEO consultants, there's not much information about how to get the most value afterwards.  There's an impressive amount of information and resources for webmasters on SEO related topics, but I'm pretty sure Google as a company has never hired a SEO agency and therefore isn't in the client/vendor relationship advice business.

The SEO client/vendor relationship must be a win/win or it will go bad/bad.  For some companies it's not enough to get the results expected (or more) but to receive a certain type of service or support as well. For others, education to bring SEO work in-house is most important.  Some companies want to outsource the whole thing with little or no involvement and others want the agency to justify and build a case for each specific code/content edit or inbound link.

Here are a few tips on finding and engaging SEO consultants for the long term:

1. The first thing is to find a good agency team. On the surface, this looks easy since just about every agency in the interactive-PR-advertising-webdesign-ITconsulting-marketinganything space also happens to "do SEO".

If you've worked in a particular market and industry, chances are you've already established relationships with various consultants. Word of mouth referrals are often times the best for all when it comes to search engine optimization or digital marketing work. Personal experience with a company is important, but it's worth noting that not everyone in a position to hire a vendor is capable of managing them. The same is true for people calling themselves consultants and their abilities to deliver services. Word of mouth referrals deserve some level of qualification.

Getting a new job or project that requires outside expertise often drives the search for new consulting resources.  This is a scenario where it pays to be networked.

Obviously, a company shouldn't just hire whoever gets recommended to them. There need to be criteria and objectives, which I'll describe further in tip #3.  Some companies like to use a RFP to describe the nature of the engagement and to define the specific criteria/expectations for vendor selection. RFPs for SEO with the expectation of being able to make apples to apples comparisons are tough since there is no "one right way" to solve every SEO problem. Regardless, the word of mouth referral from a credible source as well as fundamental expectations and goals should be enough to find a good agency in most cases.

2. Remember the Golden Rule.  Consultants should be respectful and honorable to clients/prospective clients and vice versa. There are many reasons why people act abusively or rudely to consultants when they're trying to outsource.  Sometimes corporate staff carry a bit of "baggage" from a past bad experience or they're simply annoyed at having to outsource at all. In other situations certain people become used to abusing vendors to look good to their superiors. Regardless, a client/agency relationship needs to be mutually respectful.

In the current economic environment, it's pretty amazing what some companies will do in negotiations for services. The video below makes a bit of fun of that:

Let's be clear that agencies are not immune to bad behavior. I've heard stories of SEO companies that develop networks of sites to boost client search rankings and then take all those links or micro sites away when the client disengages.  Still other situations involve consultants that employ risky tactics without informing the client or never really disclosing what they're actually doing or reporting on what the company is paying for.

Besides holding one's own behavior and intentions to a higher standard, the way to ensure equitable treatment is through a structured agreement. A proper scope of work and project plan should be in place defining expectations and roles for both client and agency as well as mutual respect for expertise and meeting/exceeding customer expectations.

3. Think Through Your Objectives and Resources. Many companies don't have a great understanding of the mechanics or even strategies behind successful SEO or social media programs, which is understandable because that's why they need to hire an outside consultant. A clear set of internet marketing goals is essential for getting the most out of an agency engagement.

Many digital marketing agencies are certainly capable of engaging in a discovery process with companies to determine what goals are realistic.  But reacting to the competition, acting on a CEO's whim (aka "ego search") or as a result of a well oiled pitch by a consultant are not great reasons to start a search engine optimization effort.

Understanding what business goals are to be reached is critical for a successful search marketing program. This means more than measuring rankings, traffic and sales because holistic SEO can both increase revenue and decrease costs in areas such as Customer Service, Recruiting and Public Relations.  SEO isn't a "try it and buy it" situation. It takes a commitment in time and resources, especially content creation, promotion and analytics.

When a company can communicate objectives and has an understanding of resources available, a good consultant will have the information they'll need to leverage analysis for project recommendations. It's a lot harder to "score" or win the game if you don't know where the goal is.

4. Honesty Trumps Hiding SEO Skeletons and Abilities . Some companies have been left with bad decisions in the past ranging from hiring a lowball fee SEO consultant that "guarantees" specific search visibility to instances where certain SEOs used questionable tactics to shortcut results only to end up losing the value of those efforts or worse, being penalized.

If a past SEO consultant has been hired and performed questionable tactics, it will save a lot of time for everyone involved, if those efforts are shared up front. Most, if not all, of such tactics will be discovered by the new SEO anyway. Informing a new consultant of past efforts will speed the work it will take to employ any fix efforts and if necessary, steps towards reinclusion.

On the topic of honesty, it's even more important that internet marketing consultants be up front about their capabilities.  Remnants of software companies selling "vaporware" still exist within many tech and IT focused SEO consultancies. However, saying yes to every project results in "over promise and under deliver" situations. Delays, miss-communications and overall dissatisfaction inevitably result.

It's better to be fully aware of capabilities and be open about what can and cannot be done at the service levels required. Doing so allows the consultancy to do their best work for clients that expect exactly that.  Internet marketing agencies with a good grasp of their areas of expertise decline many projects that require services outside their specific areas of expertise. In some cases, the situation can be solved by partnering with other agencies. In others, it simply makes more sense to recommend another agency with the specialization the company requires. The goodwill generated pays dividends many times over in the long run.

5. Win or Lose with Implementation. One of the most common issues in the SEO industry involves situations where SEO recommendations are not implemented as intended , not completely or at all.  This is a bit ironic, since, companies pay for the advice but there are many reasons why it happens.  Some companies cannot justify the expense of making major changes to their content management systems or the potential effects do not justify the changes in content creation processes.

In other cases, the nature of the SEO engagement is structured as an audit and delivered as a report of recommendations to the client. Implementation is up to the client's web development staff or agency, copywriters and other marketing personnel without SEO consultant oversight.  Some companies do this to save money or more often, because they see SEO as a web development/IT project and not as a marketing project. Client side staff can easily get tasked with many other responsibilities and the SEO recommendations may not all get implemented before other projects take priority.

Link building and content promotion are the most common victims where there is a lack of ongoing SEO consulting.  In fact, many SEO companies are not particularly skilled at ongoing site marketing and link building let alone companies who do not market web sites as a specialty.  On top of implementation issues are training and staying current with SEO best practices. As staff within an organization change, knowledge of SEO goes with them. New staff need to be trained or they will not continue with the ongoing content optimization and link building necessary for maintaining and improving search engine visibility.

 About Vayu Media:

VayuMedia.com

Vayu Media is the premier company for local internet advertising using search engine marketing and local search engine optimization. Vayu Media is taking advantage of the consumer shift from traditional media to internet based marketing.  The company's focus is local online business marketing and web design services. The company's strategy to get out into the market place and consult with local businesses face to face has allowed it to make local business owners aware of the opportunity that exists online.  In order to stay relevant in today's market every local business must have an online marketing strategy and Vayu Media can help.

Media Contact:

Jennifer Dunphy, Vayu Media LLC, (800)-456-1563 , info (at) vayumedia dot com

The more I perform search engine optimization tasks for myself and my clients the more I realize just how important keyword research is. It is so important that I wouldn't think of doing anything online until I have performed thorough keyword research and I'm satisfied that after having done this step of the process that I can settle on a particular niche or sub-niche based on my findings. Just to be clear, I wouldn't go any further into the marketing process until I was sure that I had done enough keyword research.

Whether you are going to use your research for search engine optimization or pay per click advertising campaign, it is a vital step in the process. Even if you are conducting social media marketing, keyword research can be helpful. You don't want to leave it out.

Here are some of the things that keyword research can help you make decisions on before you even start your marketing:

-The specific niche you want to serve

-Are there any lucrative sub-niches within your niche?

-What the most powerful and profitable keywords within your niche are

-What keywords your competitors are focusing on

-Keyword trending over periods of time

-You can identify keywords that are not useful to you at all

-Potential negative keywords for use in PPC

-How much you can expect to spend on your marketing efforts with the keywords you are planning to target

-Which keywords can easily be placed into groups for more effective management

As you can see, identifying the right keywords is very important - and, I might add, profitable. This step of the marketing process is so important that I wouldn't even think about marketing online until I've done it to satisfaction.