SEO framework

[olly]

We are about to embark on heavy investment into our organic rankings for our website. Our rankings for our main terms, leave much to be desired. What I want to construct now, is an engine or blueprint that we can put together inside our small niche travel company (15 employees) to achieve our targets.

At present:
* We do have successful FB / twitter campaigns
* Best-practice SEO internally (title, meta, internal links, etc)
* We go have a blog (blog.ourdomain.com) which receives approx 4 blog articles per month
* Most of our traffic is driven via CPC
* We do have a staff member who approaches websites for links, though it is risky to do this too aggressively I think

What I am trying to establish is where we are weak. What have I left out from the list above which is crucial to success with organic rankings?

As a business owner, it is my intention to make sure that there is a sustainable plan in place, with proper allocation of tasks and expectations. I would be most grateful if the experts out there could help me connect the dots on this one!

I hope this topic is not too broad..

[freejung]

Is local search relevant to you? If so, include management of your Places page, listings in local directories, reviews etc, standard local search stuff.

How about content generation for your main site, not just the blog?

The biggest thing I think is missing is a link aquisition strategy. Just asking for links is not usually enough, you need a systematic method of gaining links. Examples would include thing like writing articles for the trade press, publishing content on other websites and blogs, giving away tools, content or other (non-monitary) considerations for links, etc.

This takes creativity and patience, and is highly niche-specific so it's hard to give specific suggestions. I would advise focusing considerable planning and brainstorming effort on developing a strategy. It can make all the difference.

I've just had this demonstrated dramatically at my job. The company I work for recently implemented a link strategy (a method of getting links from clients, so the links are genuine endorsements) and our search traffic nearly doubled pretty much overnight.

[olly]

Hi freejung, thank you for your considered reply.

- Content generation on main site
I always try align consumer needs with search rankings and I cannot figure what content would work on our site for users. Short of rehashing what is already present in an encyclopedia it would be difficult to add real value to a consumer here.

- Places
We are listed in places, how does one ensure reviews here?

- Link acquisition strategy
I understand the differentiation you have you have pointed out here. Our strategy is more centred arounded featuring supplier products on our site and securing a link back from the supplier in return. I have always hit a wall when it comes to creating "linkworthy" content. Perhaps a lack of creativity..

I have suspected a few of these areas as big weaknesses in our SEO make-up, your pointing it out has been very helpful in concluding this fact. Thanks :)

[freejung]

I'm not really a local search expert, I'm just learning about it -- I would think asking for reviews in some fashion might be a start. AFAIK there is no rule against asking people to write reviews.

Actually, your link strategy sounds good, I didn't realize that from your first post. You can probably get some very good links that way. Anything else you can come up with in this area would help, but at least you have a method beyond just requesting links.

As for "linkworthy" content, that's hard. You're relying on people to voluntarily link to you just because they like your content so much. That's kind of hit-and-miss. My opinion is that it's much better to have some system of incentive, some functional reason for people to link to you beyond just general interest.

In the case I mentioned above, we have a web application that naturally, as a normal part of installing the application, involves placing a link on the client site. It was just a matter of properly directing the link juice, et voila!

[SEO_Shruti]

What about video marketing, webinars. It will increase a lot of traffic. As you have included many thing but I thought these are missed from them.

[olly]

As for "linkworthy" content, that's hard. You're relying on people to voluntarily link to you just because they like your content so much. That's kind of hit-and-miss. My opinion is that it's much better to have some system of incentive, some functional reason for people to link to you beyond just general interest.

@freejung, I agree - this represents the moral high ground which doesn't always seem to yield results in reality, what other types of incentives have you encountered in this regard?

@SEO_Shruti, we operate in a niche travel market, what types of webinars would you suggest?

[cloudtap]

I'd focus on keyword research, content generation, on-page factors which influence rankings, link building as well as all off-page factors which constitute positive or negative changes of your rankings.

I'd also focus on localized search, universal search as well as other areas of SEO.

[edited by: tedster at 4:19 pm (utc) on Jan 11, 2011]
[edit reason] member request [/edit]

[freejung]

Link strategies that I've tried successfully:

-Release content (photos, in my case, but other kinds of content might work too) under a Creative Commons Attribution Required license. Require, as a condition of use, attribution in the form of a link. Not everyone links, but some do. If you catch someone using the content without linking, ask them politely to do so. In many cases they will comply.

-Web apps. As mentioned above, in my day job I work for a company that makes a web app that involves a link from the client site. I've also seen others using this sort of strategy with various kinds of website widgets.

-Trade associations. In one niche I work in, there are various trade associations you can join for a fee. Membership benefits often include a link from their site. I don't consider this exactly a "paid link" as the fee is for membership in general, not just for the link in particular.

I've also seen, but not personally used, strategies involving a trade of services of some kind for links. Again, it's not exactly a paid link, as no money changes hands. There are lots of possibilities here, depending on what services you are equipped to provide. Basically, you do someone a favor for free, and then you ask them, as a favor in return, to give you a link.

You can argue about moral high ground with these, I suppose. My rule of thumb is that if the link genuinely constitutes an endorsement of your content, your products and services, or your status as a legitimate business, then it's a real "vote" and ought to count.