Search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t just about optimizing your web presence for search engines (that’s important of course!); it’s also about optimizing for your human readers and understanding how humans use your website. Or, what I like to call, “HEO” – Human Experience Optimization. Wish I could take credit for the coined phrase; alas it’s been used before.

Here are Five Things You Need To Know or Do Before SEO

1. Know Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP). According to Wikipedia, “a value proposition is an analysis and quantified review of the benefits, costs and value that an organization can deliver to customers and other constituent groups within and outside of the organization”. In other words, your value is what makes you relevant, worthwhile, and beneficial to current or potential customers. Additionally, it can explain what sets you apart from your competitors and why customers should pick you over the competition.
2. Know and Own Your Message. Choose a message and stick to it. Don’t waffle. The message will, naturally, convey your UVP. But it is a brief statement that says “This is who we are, what we do, and why [you] should pick us.” The message needs to be clear and understandable to all who read it. Don’t weigh it down with jargon or fancy words. Uphold that message – in your branding, on your website, off-line – everywhere!
3. Know Your Target Market. This seems like a no-brainer really. But it’s super important to know WHO you’re talking to and cater your website’s content and offerings to them and their expectations.  This is actually where Social Media is becoming handy. Social Media is allowing us a unique opportunity to listen to our marketplace in real time. Check the pulse of your target market by listening on Social Media channels such as Twitter or on blogs.
4. Be Real. Today’s connected consumer is as savvy as ever. They can spot a scam or a bogus website a mile away. You don’t have to be over the top to get your UVP or message out there. You also don’t need to be wordy – give people what they want or need, in a genuine way, without wasting their time!
5. Install Google Analytics on your website. Believe it or not, we talk to new clients who don’t already have Google Analytics installed on their websites all the time. You don’t need to be an advanced analyst to understand Google Analytics. Reviewing your analytics regularly can provide insight on how viewers are getting to your website and how they are using it. This intelligence should help shape how you change and/or optimize your website in the future.

In summary, don’t get caught up in “Marketing Tactics Gone Wild”. Stay true to yourself and your customers – give them what they need when they need it and you’ll see good results from your web efforts.

Need to HEO your web presence? Contact us today.

Marilyn Moran is an Internet Marketing Consultant for Dinkum Interactive. With more than 15 years online experience and over 10 years in developing & marketing websites and Internet communities, she has spent the past 4 years focused on Web Strategy, Search Engine Optimization, and Social Media Marketing.  Additionally, she is an officer in the Philadelphia Chapter of the Social Media Club and sits on the Board of Directors for Philadelphia Area New Media Association. You can reach her at Marilyn@dinkuminteractive.com.

Kelly Dunning is a Sales Consultant for Dinkum Interactive. With 10 years experience in sales and marketing, she keeps Dinkum’s new accounts, and Rick, in tip-top shape.

Google Maps

There are a million things that can affect the sales of a brick and mortar business. Area competitors, availability of complimentary services and traffic sources are just a few. Google Maps is a great tool to help traditional businesses improve their understanding of what is affecting the business.  Competitors, access to public transit, complementary businesses and public attractions can be easily added to a private map with just a couple clicks of a mouse.

Online Surveys

Every business needs feedback. Online surveys can provide a quick and easy way to ask existing customers and prospects their opinions on a variety of topics. With services like SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang, it can be cheap too. Furthermore, online surveys don’t have to be complex as long as you follow a few online survey tips.

Website Research Tools

Whether a business is developing its own website, creating content or investigating its competitors, there are and endless supply of research tools that can be used to provide insight.  Here are a few:

SEOMoz Term Extractor – Want to get an idea of which terms your competitor is targeting? While you can start by looking at a web page’s Title Tags and Meta Description, the SEOMoz Term Extractor will offer some helpful advice.

Yahoo Site Explorer – Many consider links as a form of web currency. Businesses interested in who is linking to their competitors can use this tool to identify competitor linking strategy and even find a few link candidates of their own.

SpyFu - Pay Per Click marketing can be very productive and understanding what keywords are being targeted by competitors can offer some valuable insight. SpyFu is a tool that can do that.

Website Analytics

It only makes sense to understand what a business’ existing website visitors want, so using a website analytics package is crucial. Website analytics packages like Google Analytics, Clicky, Mint or one of the many other analytics packages offer businesses the ability to get a better understanding of their users at very little cost. In addition, it’s equally important to spend the time to translate the data generated by any package into useable information. Just as Avinash Kaushik, he’ll tell you.

Twitter

While Twitter may not be the right tool for every business’ social media marketing efforts, it can be a great research tool. A quick search of Twitter using keywords and themes can uncover a great deal of information an opinion on a given topic. For those companies that actively use Twitter, asking Twitter Followers is a great way to quickly get opinions on products, company performance and many other areas.

In conclusion, these are just a few low/no cost online tools that I feel can be useful to businesses. What tools do you use for market research? Please share them in our comments section.

Bill Rowland