First SEO Completed - Now What?

Ok, so you've completed the first round of your Search Engine Optimisation. You have made your site comply with all the current SEO knowledge and now you can just sit back and watch the traffic roll in, right?  

Wrong.

There is still plenty to do, because unless you're ranking at #1 position for every keyphrase you care to associate yourself with, there is always more to be done.  

There are things you can do (some of them unassisted) that can maintain or improve your Search Engine Ranking Positions.


LINK BUILDING

Inbound links to your website make Search Engines consider your site to be more of an authority and therefore of higher importance than other sites, pushing you up the list of results. The more links the better.
If you know of any online industry directories or resources that will be happy to add a listing and link to your website, go ahead and submit your URL to them.  
If there is link text to specify, use keywords. If your website promotes Joe's Milkbar in Sydney, make the link text read “Sydney Milkbar”, or “Cheap Gobstoppers” not “Click Here” or something equally useless.
You also may know someone else with a website who wants to link to your site. George's Hardware around the corner might be happy to put a link to you on their site. Be aware that they'll probably want one back.
Contact Melbourne Online if you would like us to arrange links for you.


FRESH CONTENT

Search Engines love new content. Update your page. Add a blog to it and write frequently. Keep your product information fresh. Put up new images, new pages, new links, new everything! Use your keywords everywhere you can, but make sure it belongs there, don't just pack irrelevant keywords into a page.
If you have a Content Management System, editing your site will be a breeze, but if your site is more customised then you may need to contact your designer to add content. 
Contact Melbourne Online if you would like a blog or content created or edited for you.


BLOG COMMENTS

Find blogs relating to your business. Comment on those blogs. If you are Joe and own Joe's Milkbar in Sydney, use the following info when commenting:

Name: Sydney Milkbar – Joe
email: joe@joesmilkbar.com.au
Link: http://www.joesmilkbar.com.au
Comment: Insert relevant comment here, something other than “Good blog.”

Make sure your comments are highly relevant to the blog. Add ideas, information, oppinion, even get controvercial if you like, but make sure your comment adds value to the blog, not just a boring post for the sake of it.


Ongoing SEO

Regular SEO work means constant analysis, modification and improvement. We look at your site content, the content of your competitors and then we modify your site to get the best possible results. Ideally this should be carried out monthly but quarterly can suffice depending on your requirements.
Contact Melbourne Online to arrange monthly or quarterly SEO updates for your site.

Visit Melbourne Online for more.

Recession – Sink or Swim

The word recession produces different reactions in different people. There is no doubt that times are hard and they're about to get harder, but is it the end of the World? Is it the end of your business? For some it is. I put it to you that there are four categories business operators fall into at this time.

1) The Over-extended
For these folk their business was already walking the thin line between operation and insolvency and any downturn in income would have tipped them over the edge. A recession is truly insurmountable for them. By now these businesses have probably already failed.

2) The Oblivious
These people have businesses which could, with a little effort, survive or even prosper in a recession. The problem is that the people running these businesses have not planned or prepared for a recession. They think that by not acknowledging the economic downturn it will just go away. These businesses will probably fail in the coming months. If they do manage to survive they will come out the other end much worse off.

3) The Overly Cautious
We've all worked for or dealt with one of these companies. These are the ones who, at the first mention of economic hardship, pucker up so tight that not a single cent gets spent. These are the companies laying off workers, slowing production, stopping advertising, canceling orders and, in all ways possible, feeding the recession.
Sadly they do this because they know it means they will survive the recession. They will worry later about the hits they've taken in the process – lost market share, lost suppliers, lost skilled employees and lost brand confidence.

4) The Opportunistic
These people don't see recession, they see opportunity. These people find a way to not only survive the recession, but to come out on top. They find a way to pick up the business lost by other companies; they take advantage of cheap advertising rates to build their brand; they forge new corporate relationships with like-minded companies and together they move forward. They know that any weakness of others can be a strength of theirs. They know that it is easier to implement a new idea now than ever.

This is a sink or swim moment for businesses. New businesses are at an advantage, not having the investment of established companies.
The Internet holds great potential for new and expanding businesses to cheaply build their brand, their customer and supplier base and to establish themselves as leaders in their fields.

Take advantage of great opportunities.