Shhhhh… there isn’t one.

The reality is that search engine optimisation is pretty straight forward, and if applied by a reputable, conscientious and ethical SEO specialist will almost inevitably yield good results.

Simply remember that good is good and that quality can’t be faked, it can’t be forged and paying for quality offers real and long-term benefits.

Applied well, search engine optimisation will improve the quantity and quality of your engagement with web users. It will also deliver stronger returns on your Internet marketing investment. You can bet your bottom dollar that your competition is investing in SEO somewhere along the line so invest in high quality work and you could win a vital competitive advantage.

Be suspicious of an unhealthy obsession with top rankings, and especially when accompanied by promises of achieving that for you. Without doubt ranking high on keywords and keyword phrases that your target audience use is a good thing. Rankings for rankings sake though are pointless. Anyone can get to the top of Google on obscure and uncompetitive terms. Be sure that the terms you are researching and applying make sense to your business. That’s not to say that ‘long tail’ terms offering a broader, relevant reach are not relevant. Just don’t get your long tail confused with irrelevant search expressions.

Look also for a drive towards rich content. Well written, keyword rich, interesting and informative content will differentiate your site from the competition and offer you a tremendous competitive advantage.

With search engine algorithms evolving rapidly in their quest to match user searchers with the best content providing great content is a powerful SEO technique. Not only do search engines like good content and reward it with strong positioning but visitors also respond positively. It’s the words on a website that make the difference between visitors taking action or not. It’s important that this reality is recognised. Well-applied content will have a sales angle to it, even if the pitch is subtle – good search engine optimisation must give your visitors the opportunity to fulfil a call to action.

Firstly, to gain visibility and boost profile for websites against relevant search terms. There’s little point going to the time trouble and expense of developing a website for it to remain languishing, out of site and out of mind, buried deep within the search returns on any given query. 80% of search engine users simply won’t venture beyond the first three results pages on a search engine, and the vast majority of clickthroughs occurr on page 1. This is why it is essential that your site is visible.

Of course you want to be found on terms and expressions (keywords and keyword phrases) that resonate with your audience. There’s no point in charting high on irrelevant terms. Professional SEO services take this into account and as well as identifying a target audience also identify appropriate keywords and the “semantic space” that your audience operate in. Once armed with this information you can apply the SEO necessary for your site to rank.

Off page, SEO services will develop links and profile through Social Media Marketing, Articles, Press Releases and other Internet Marketing techniques.

On page, your SEO services will look closely at meta tags, headings, subheading, structural issues such as internal linking and other technical issues including XML site maps and clean, clear spider friendly code (Spiders or bots, also referred to as crawlers are search engine tools. They scour the Internet reading and indexing sites so that their relevance can be assesses by the search algorithms). Your website content is also of critical importance; in fact in many respects it’s the site content and copy that will define your online success.

This links into the second benefit of professionally applied SEO Services – to ensure that once your site has been identified as useful, that visitors are encouraged to follow your call to action.  Compelling and persuasive copy will encourage your visitors to subscribe, purchase, download, vote, or whatever the business objective is that you have set. Why attract site visitors if they don’t contribute to a business return?

Leading Online Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation specialists, e-Strategy Ltd have joined forces with local educational establishments to help address this in the South West. Eddie Bent, Managing Director of e-Strategy Ltd added, “Despite our extensive research, we have struggled over the last twelve to eighteen months to find staff with the right experience or skills to help us drive our business forward. We have successfully partnered with the South Devon College and have already employed one of our key members of staff through their Profit by Degree Programme. Due to its success, we now firmly believe in the recruiting and ongoing training through such programmes.”

e-Strategy Ltd will continue to drive their recruitment programme in 2008 by working with institutions such as South Devon College. “We are recognised as a leading South West agency, and we strongly believe in supporting the local economy where we can. By working with regional colleges and universities, we can help increase our workforce whilst recruiting fresh people into the Online Marketing sector.”

e-Strategy was formed in 2001 and has built a formidable reputation as a proactive and successful online marketing agency gaining over 250,000 first place positions for its major clients in this period. For further information on how we can help you make your online business more profitable, call a member of our team today on 0845 838 2396 or email us at info@e-strategy.net.