Web Content Plays A Significant Role In Search Engine Marketing

Most business owners know that they need an Internet marketing strategy, They just don’t know how to do it. Web content based on keywords and a well thought out search engine marketing program may be what most sites are lacking.

For some time we have known that approximately 80% of all the traffic goes to the first items on page one of a search result and your placement also influences how Net surfers perceive your name or company, according to an IAB Nielsen/NetRatings report.

Now a new study by OneUp Web gives quantifiable data as to what the average Web site can expect to achieve by appearing in the top ten of a SERP (search engine results page). When a site enters Google's top natural SERP for the first time they can expect an exponential increase in traffic and double the number of conversions.

According to the study in the first month a site appears on Google's first SERP, its conversion rates rise 142 percent. The second month, conversion rates nearly doubled (194 percent). In terms of unique visitors, the average site appearing in Google's top natural SERP could expect a 337 percent increase in traffic in its first month and a 627 percent increase in the second month.

“Web content affects SERP,” says Internet marketing strategist Sally Falkow of Expansion +, an Internet marketing and PR firm based in Los Angeles “Too many business owners and executives have no effective enterprise wide content strategy in place. Web content is added 'on the fly' and by different departments and it affects your search engine marketing results.”

“Well written web content based on researched keywords that your target audience is actually searching on, or using in chat rooms, forums and blogs, will produce remarkable results. Targeted, branded niche website content differentiates you from your competitors and will produce the search engine marketing results you want.”

Power PR, a marketing publicity firm in Torrance California, implemented a website optimization and Internet marketing strategy that paid off in search results and increased traffic. “We did a very expensive redesign of our website a year ago that produced absolutely no results,” says John Elliott, founder of the firm. “We had never been in the top 1000 and had pretty much accepted that we would never make it to page one in the natural search results.”

“Then a month ago we went through the process again with Expansion Plus. They put together a search engine marketing strategy and based all the changes in our web content on researched keywords.”

The week the new site went live it showed up at number 267 for their best keyword. In that first week they put out optimized press releases, which created increased search visibility and links to the new site.

Ten days after going live the site was at number 21. “We now get leads directly from the site,” says Elliott. “ That never happened before.”

“Using in house resources to produce your web content is not always the way to go,” says Falkow. “They have the knowledge and familiarity with your product or service, but they don't have the skill and the focus of someone who does only content. When you retain a website content strategist who devotes all their time to the nuances and new developments in technology - like blogs, RSS news feeds and how to get your information into the News Search Engines, you're way out in front of the pack.”

An effective Internet marketing strategy is a prime business asset that pays dividends.