SEO Planning
A Step-By-Step Guide to Small Business SEO
In this part of my guide, I’ll be covering the important SEO planning and goal setting decisions that need to be taken before a new website launches. This article is particularly relevant to those who are planning a new internet based business, although other established small to medium size online businesses may find this information useful for reassessing targets and goals. This article follows on from Part Three: Domain Names. You can follow this guide from the start by reading my introduction.
There are a variety of approaches that can be taken when it comes to planning SEO campaigns. These can be summarised as follows:
Position Based SEO Planning
An example of position based planning would be setting an objective of 100 top ten positions on Google within 6 months. Position based planning must be combined with in-depth keyword research and competitor benchmarking (I will discuss these areas in more detail Part Nine and Part Eleven respectively). Without analysing keyword competition and the strength of your competitors’ sites, it is unlikely that you will achieve many of your planned 100 top ten positions. Small business SEO strategies are often position based as a reflection of clients’ wishes to secure specific placements for specific key phrases.
Volume Based SEO Planning
An example of volume based planning would be setting the objective of reaching 5000 organic search visitors per month within 6 months. A volume based planning model may be more suited to website owners who are looking to achieve a return on investment from 3rd party advertising or affiliate marketing. An SEO strategy based on volume can be very effective if high traffic keywords can be identified which have relatively low competition.
Outcome Based SEO Planning
An example of outcome based planning would be setting the objective of achieving 1,000 newsletter sign-ups per month within 6 months. An outcome based model may be most suited to small business owners who are looking to build a brand identity within a particular niche.
Market Share Based SEO Planning
An example of market share based planning would be setting the objective of achieving 10% of your market niche within 12 months. Small to medium size business owners are less likely to adopt this model for their SEO planning. Market share based objectives generally require a much higher level of initial investment than can be afforded by most small business owners. However, this model may work for very specific niche markets.
Cost Based SEO Planning
An example of cost based planning would be setting the objective that the Cost Per Sale must be less than £30 per item. CPA (Cost-Per-Acquisition) models of SEO Planning are most relevant to businesses that sell goods online. For these businesses it is crucial that your SEO consultancy and operation costs do not exceed your margins. To prevent such an occurrence, it’s again crucial to set realistic keyword objectives. Some small business SEO strategies may be constructed around a cost based model, particularly when a new business plans to enter a competitive market.
Value Based SEO Planning
An example of value based planning would be setting the objective that your SEO campaign must generate £50,000 gross profit in Q1 of the financial year. Value based models are again most relevant to e-commerce businesses where volume sales are key. A value based model will involve setting a specific amount of investment for achieving top ten, high intent keywords. The risk with this model is in not setting aside enough investment to achieve the target results.
Which Planning Model Should I Choose?
Personally I often find myself working on position based SEO planning models, simply because many of my small business clients are only interested in being page 1 on Google for a specific set of key-phrases. However, I try to encourage clients to set traffic targets alongside these objectives, simply because certain key-phrases may not deliver as much traffic as hoped or may have a very low conversion ratio (to sales, sign-ups etc). By combining position with volume based planning, small businesses are more likely to achieve an ROI from any of the outsourcing costs of their campaign.
SEO Planning Checklist
- Choose a relevant SEO planning model
- Be realistic with your SEO plans
- Weigh up carefully whether investment will offer return
- Avoid planning models better suited to bigger businesses
Part Five
Part five will cover the next most important planning stage in the SEO process – the design of your website. I will cover the key elements of good web design and how this can have a big impact on your success in the search engines. Click here to go to part five.
