With recession and (ROI) return on investment looking each other face to face, being completely honest about the profit and return on your search engine optimization campaign has never been more necessary. It is no surprise that times are tough and the dollar doesn’t stretch as far as it used to.

For those who may not have noticed, various industries typically replete with activity in the market-place are experiencing arrested development as result of inflation and the value of the dollar plummeting due to the state of the economy. As a result, the trend for consumers to spend less on impulse items, auxiliary products or services and more on “bare essentials” continues to escalate as a result of prioritizing available funds.

Off-line markets in addition to on-line sales are both experiencing decreases in sales as the sales cycle and the consumers within the cycle are looking for deals, bargains and more value for less. Needless to say, due diligence has taken an entirely new definition as the business with the best offer, sale or SEO promotion gains favor of the masses.

Companies how insist on high pricing structures are losing their audience to less competitive rates or firms are moving their SEO in-house to compensate for the time and effort required to execute and manage an online campaign.

For savvy businesses who understand the laws of being a loss-leader, the focus has shifted to appeasing value-conscious consumers (20% of something is better than 80% of nothing). Needless to say, companies who mastering the art of the deal and deal-making to provide the most compelling value proposition to prospects are positioned to appeal to a larger audience to supplement slouching sales and traffic(less available money in circulation equates to less spending).

Despite this economic recession, observing the latest trends in competitive vertical industries while forecasting demand in niche markets has become as much of an art as a science when converting new prospects into customers.

Incentives and promotions for cross-market exposure are just one example of businesses with larger budgets attempting to infuse and find the ideal hybrid shopper and capitalize on the vulnerability of other markets. Sign up for Product A (from one market) and receive a free 30 day trial period, or get 15% off your favorite movie, etc. from Industry B. In summary, the emotional triggers that encourage consumers to purchase are evolving as well as those who are crafting the offer.

Tact and value are the new metric and performance holds the key to this balance.Tactics that may have worked 6 months or a year ago online or promotional methods based on years of success and stability from traditional off-line channels no longer hold their sway over the masses as value is subjugated to the rules of survival of the fittest (and may the best offer win).

Is it that A) the market is evolving, B) that consumer spending has decreased C) that online consumers are savvier than ever or and have greater access to options or D) a combination of all of the above? Typically, those with larger budgets (like a publicly traded company) wields the spoils of massive cross-promotion advertising and marketing campaigns across multiple niches. This is known as piggyback marketing where they piggybacking promotions on industries with less favorable returns (much like trickle-down theory and trickle-down economics).

This is not to suggest that smaller more nimble businesses don’t stand a chance, it is merely that the scalability of an advertising campaign designed to optimize 10,000 keywords for example vs. a smaller company who may only have the budget to target 10 leaves a margin of opportunity and exposure that unfortunately provides advantages that the smaller firm may not be able to grasp due to budgetary constraints.

Now is the time for smaller firms to embrace narrow-casting instead of generalized broadcasting your message to reach the audience with the most likelihood for conversion. How many sales leads and sales a day does your business need to thrive, there is no gray area, it either produces results or it does not and any dead weight that lacks performance is headed for the garbage bin.

The rules of business remain the same,opportunity leveraged by aggressive lead generation and sales garner a larger piece of the market and market share. The fact that opportunity and expression determine the course of action for websites that need to produce a profit to survive. While being a highly trafficked site may be great for the ego, having a highly trafficked site that sells thousands of products, generates dozens of sales leads a day or has viral appeal to social networks is even more ideal.

In summary, it is important to refine your marketing and identify your audience (which is evolving). Growth is nice, but stability amidst crisis is even better. Looking for greener grass instead of tending the yard you have can leave your marketing plan depleted and out of focus. It is better to be safe than sorry, so make sure before you extend the scope of your advertising and marketing to reach new prospects, that you reap the equity of the presence you have developed in your primary niche.

Healthy margins are the bottom line, so if you have them, then this message is not nearly as crucial as it is to those who are feeling the impact of a languishing economic crisis in their industry. SEO is a valid solution, but also being aware of the trends and circumstances that impact everyone in an economy can shed some light on why some periods are more fruitful than others. The key is not to get flustered and diversify your tactics to spread the risk and reward for your online campaign.

When I started doing search engine optimization, the term had not even been defined. Before intuitive search engine spiders employed filters with AI (artificial intelligence like prowess), the semantic web and phrase based information retrieval were only concepts in the minds of fledgling engineers.

Now, the reality is, SEO (an acronym for search engine optimization) is the culmination of testing, analysis and conclusion through heuristic trial and error.

Instead of gibberish, thats to search engines like Google, you can find relevant sites on any topic by just adding a few keywords in a search query. This is not magic, just layers of layers of theory, programming time and intention from some of the brightest minds to deliver such a simple solution to those in need of information on a topic.

The good news is, through assessing the variables through a battery of tests, certain components to the ranking algorithm leave traces and trails behind that reveal insights to the form and function they serve.

As a result, SEO’s involved in search engine optimization are able to align content from existing or new pages in a site to have greater appeal to the functions of the algorithm, as a result the target pages rank higher than unoptimized content (which can be nebulous, off topic or not structured properly to reach maximum impact).

For example, aside from content, which is the first aspect of optimization, chronology plays a major role in who, what and why a site ranks in the top 10. Timing is one of the more advanced techniques in SEO, using geriocracy (the component that assesses seniority of content)one can elevate fresh content indefinitely through leveraging it with authority links from established (top 10 ranking content).

Although many search engine results gain immunity from being grandfathered into certain results (since they made the cut when the 1.0 version of the algorithm was intact). From time to time search engines assess the gap between the old and the new content, shake things up a bit and restructure their index to provide the most relevant result.

If you understand this, even through a group of search results may seem beyond the horizon or out of reach to your existing scope of relevance, you can in fact chip away systematically to achieve a high ranking position (particularly if the results at the top have their guard down).

The reason being, quality is the crowning achievement or relevance. If you have 100 pages on a topic and your competition only has 10 and the quality of information on your pages has greater depth, more reach, additional uplinks to other sources, such a wikipedia, [dot]govs (government sites), or edu’s (schools or institutions of knowledge), then your content will secure a higher relevance score.

Relevance score is what determines who remains in the top 1000 searches and where they land when the query is done fetching results from the bin (the storage cloud containing every update from your and well as thousands of domains on the topic).

Your quality score impacts the relevance factor, the thoroughness of the content, the link popularity and collective value others attribute to the page “folksonomy” (how others see your content).

If the page in question still measures up (based all existing semantically related sites in the niche, then the site or page in question maintain visibility in the search engines first top 3 pages. To make it to the top 10, it’s more about refinement and finesse for more competitive terms, for less competitive terms it is like plucking the low hanging fruit and accruing top 10 after top 10 to make your traffic more robust as a result.

Competition is always present, if there is demand attached to the query and keywords (which is nearly always the case), then you can rest assured that until you reach the summit of the keywords a gradual decline of ranking is natural.

After your page and site gain enough internal link weight (relevance through interlinking your pages and context using modifiers and keywords) then it can defend itself from fluctuations that are constantly assessing each search result.

This constant flux known as the “Everflux” or “Google Dance” is responsible for ensuring that the content indexed in search engines still holds weight and relevance in the present tense.

Understanding how this component of the algorithm functions, what it looks for (trust, age, authority, link popularity, etc.) is one of the most important components of search engine optimization.

Without understanding why functions exist, you are just using a shot in the dark approach to optimization. On the contrary, through due diligence and a penchant for research, you can uncover traces and trails of raw data based on the top 5 competitors in the top ranking results.

Trails like the age of their site, when it was registered and where, the age of the page that ranks well, how many internal links the page has from your site, how many supporting pages the site has on the topic and numerous, who links to the page, the site and with what keywords? and through assessing various other tactics you can reconstruct an SEO campaign.

While many of the traces are valid, calculating authority (a by product of dozens of key factors) is not as easy.

Authority sites are sites that have proven their worth as a resource for that niche and have the ability to serve as hubs or thought leaders that can shape the industry (or at least how search engines gather the data about that industry).

Although this is another topic entirely, relevance is the first step, building authority (instead of just links) is the next crucial stage in maturing your site into a veritable resource that is “the go-to” site for anything related to the topic on your pages.

SEO and search engine marketing are only a means to an end, the fact is, the online experience still boils down to subjective emotion about a topic. So, if your content fails to hit the mark, it doesn’t matter how you drive traffic, the back button is always there in the event that your content misses the mark. So, SEO is great, but make sure you have something worth saying before you go invest in bringing the crux of the web to bare on your site.

Diversity is important for reaching a broad cross-segment of multiple markets. Just as people are multi-faceted, it stands to reason that through context a person who likes reggae music, is also someone partial to tropical islands, would be more susceptible to an offer to travel to an island getaway.

By combining the psychographic and demographic profiles of your target audience, you can carefully craft related content on your own site or on others sites to promote your brand.

Electing the Right Landing Page:

It is important to understand context in marketing and moreover understand the psychographic profile of your target market. By breaking the mold and seeing beyond the keywords and peering into the psyche of the target audience, this process can lend itself to leveraging multiple related markets and funnel additional revenue streams to your business model.

The first step is to remove the blinders when it comes to selecting keywords and positioning your landing pages for the greatest appeal. Seeing beyond the keywords allows you to embrace the market.

A landing page (a page designed for 3-5 keywords) is your flagship page that is typically comprised of a tightly knit group of keywords and call to action that support the underlying theme of the page.

Omitting unnecessary components like standard navigation and using a wizard (step 1 of 4), using images to anchor click triggers and strategic graphic design and text to reinforce the contextual basis of the theme.

As a result, you may in fact have 20 pages on the topic, but by linking from each of those 20 pages to the selected landing page (with a diverse array of related keyword), you create an internal link dynamo that indicates to search engines that (1) that page is significant and (2) please select this pages to delivery the most relevant traffic for this query.

Now after you have determined if any unexplored markets support your original key phrases and created content (at least 5-10 pages site wide) you are ready to build links back to your content and test the waters of conversion.

This is the most suitably method for long term success. Pages age like wine, the older they get, the more authority they amass, so chronology is important for getting your foot in the door for competitive phrases.

Achieving high rankings in search engines are a result of relevance and relevance score. Quality score is the equivalent in PPC, but for now, the emphasis of this article is organic or natural optimization.

Quality and relevance and the cornerstones of which pages are elected to represent a topic. Although that are in fact hundreds of criteria that are used to distinguish which pages have a higher propensity for success, the underlying attribute is quality.

Off page link building is next, for every high ranking position there is supporting documentation or strong links to the page to elevate its position.

The links can be either through internal links (from your own site) or external links (from other sites) but it is the combination of these two factors that determine how and where you rank (if your content is topical and on target).

Article marketing, creating software, site templates such as word press or other items in high demand are one way to link outside the box and add diversity to your off page link popularity.

The thing to remember, no matter what you do to build links, the core theme is relevance, so the closer you are to related sites that are synergistic to your content, the higher relevance score and positioning you can expect from the search engine algorithms.

As if second guessing search engine algorithms through heuristic trial and error isn’t enough, the necessity for honing your marketing to reach your target audience requires equally as demanding an agenda.

Finding the right balance of design, function and call to action to synthesize your brand is the key to mastering the soft sale.

Just scraping another competitors content or strategy still has the “me too” mentality which has a tendency to border on mediocrity. Search engines and humans tend to ignore bland content, so if you are going to publish anything, do it for the right reasons. Each thing you publish is a link back to your site and shapes the way search engines and potential customers see your site.

What are the dominant factors your brand has to offer? Identification is just the first step, it is through creating and recreating your brand, the offers and developing continuity for all of your landing pages that holds the key to user engagement and eventual relevance and success.

Rome was not built in a day, yet, it still stands as a pinnacle to behold for our present civilization. The analogy here is to focus on quality not just quantity, look for opportunity when others see mediocrity and think outside the box to constantly attract new customers to your content to see which have the highest yield and return on investment.

Who thought shopping online could be so easy, simply opening a browser, conducting a search, finding a great product online and making a purchase is nothing out of the ordinary for millions of consumers each day.

The advantages of shopping online are (1) zero traffic or commuting time (2) no need to stand in long checkout lines and (3) the ability to peruse dozens of shops to compare pricing with a few keystrokes of due diligence.

In addition, if you factor the convenience of online shopping it is a perfect synergy for savvy online consumers who maintain hectic schedules and are inclined to make the most efficient use of their time.

To capture the e-generation shopper in the competitive online shopping industry, the e-tailer requires a firm grasp of usability (to keep traffic on the site), search engine optimization (to get them there) as well as ways to to gauge trends, sales cycles, inventory management and all of the trappings that accompany e-commerce, enterprise and cycles of supply and demand.

In an ideal scenario, optimization would start with keyword refinement, on-page analysis of the content and site structure to create a laser-like focus for the site theme to appease the target audience.

Additionally, identifying which click-triggers emotionally rouse the core consumer and weaving the call to action into every page without over-selling is equally as important.

Tackling these objectives from the planning stage as opposed to trying to remedy them after the fact is one way to gain a competitive advantage and outrank a competitor selling virtually the same items.

If your e-tailing / market plan does not factor search engines as a crucial contributor to your promotional plan, driving traffic would rely on off-line or paid online sponsored advertising. Dependency on platforms such as PPC alone could erode profit margins dramatically by comparison to organic search engine optimization.

In this instance, the e-tailer is optimizing their pages for popular brands or niche or specialty items. The more mainstream something is, the more competitive the arena. It boils down to price point, value proposition and packaging for most as far as online shopping goes.

The Takeaway for E-tailers:

Having clearly delineated and optimized site architecture and enough topical content (unique product descriptions) can distinguish your site with spiders.

Use keyword rich categories instead of long CMS (content management system) gibberish URL strings such as ?973-21.aspx instead of a more suitable naming system like sitename/products/descriptive-title/. This provides a keyword-rich topical naming convention which translates as a structured and organized boilerplate to assist search engines in locating semantically related material (much like an table of contents).

A simple mod-rewrite can handle this, or some tweaking to your shopping cart are enough to overcome this obstacle from the start. Also, make sure the site map is linked to every page product page in the template (or a site map for every sub folder / section), you can use it later to tie everything together and ensure that spiders can traverse the sites vast categories and pages.

Every page indexed in search engines is another page out there working on your behalf bringing potential customers back home to your site, or helping your site gain more authority under the auspices of link popularity.

It is no secret that purchasing and the power of preference has reached new heights as e-commerce is paving the way for millions of entrepreneurs to break free from traditional brick and mortar based retail outlets.

The Additional Benefits of On-line / Off-line hybrids:

If you own a local business that features items that are in high demand, then a targeted online campaign could drive hordes of qualified walk in traffic to your storefront.

It depends on your preference, standing in a store waiting for walk in traffic as a result of location or using the online shopping hybrid and leveraging link building, content and promotion to increase the bottom line.

The idea is, to have positioning for your brand using both. In either case, it boils down to the same thing, the swipe of a credit card, a payment in cash and a monetary transaction for a product in demand.

Despite the fact that online shopping has its sensory limitations (like trying to sell fragrances over the internet) or not having the ability to physically touch the merchandise does not preclude online shoppers from purchasing online.

It’s only a matter of time before we see “hybrid retail / e-tail based stores” with the ability to order online and then simply pick up the item to go from a drive-through / delivery window.

If retailers wanted to add value they could create express checkout allowing the person to purchase online, the retailer would then pick and pack the items and have it available for convenient pickup (like a fast food restaurant) with the payment already processed online (while the consumer is in route).

Even if you are in the parking lot ordering from your mobile device, you can see the value of a V.I.P. elite (skip the line) shopping service that allows you to Checkout Now!

Since millions of consumers already purchase online as a result of convenience and emotional impulse, adding value to the proposition with new processes to aid the transaction process are pure win / win solutions for all parties involved.

There are three facets to consider about shopping online (1) the reason why consumers want to purchase (branding, the cycles of desire and fulfillment) and (2) the search terms one would use to find the most relevant match and (3) the landing pages ability to convert.

E-tailers not only live or die by the trends in search, but having a firm grip on the who, what, where, when and how factor when assessing a markets strength can come in handy in the event that you are interested in setting up shop.

Knowing that a profitable niche site if populated, promoted and managed properly with engaging content, give-always, incentives and the like, coupled with social media, GEO specific targeting to maximize psychographic purchasing (knowing your niche) can equal tremendous profit margins at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing.

SEO basics start with the composition of the words on your pages and what intrinsic value they offer your audience. The first prerequisite of SEO is understanding the basic correlation of content composition and the impact that content has on rankings respecitively.

Relevance is the underlying criteria that search engines reward, if your content is specific, informative and manages to acquire click through traffic, then your pages have the trappings of becoming popular which is a component to acquiring a top 10 ranking.

Aside from the title tag, (the main tag you use to describe the content of the page) and the links that endorse your content through back links (links from other sites)and the copy (which is completely under your control). There are fundamental guidelines you can adhere to that will assist you in keeping your content on topic to elevate topical relevance.

What are Search Engines?

Search engines are a cataloging system that are essentially transparent in their composition. Search engines are expected to glean information and organize data from thousands of unique industries, compile that data and then, based on the fetch command you issue as a result of you entering a boolean query in the search box are then expected to retrieve the most relevant result.

Understanding the premise of how search engines function rather than struggling to adapt and muscle your way up the SERPs (search engine result pages) is far easier instead.

Through appeasing the laws of their construction (the mathematical algorithm, teamed up with it’s ability to gain contextual artificial intelligence like phrase rank algorithm, search engines have the ability interpret the context of your pages.

Your focal point is simply to provide the ideal (relevant) result according to their ranking criteria. Which falls into three categories.

These three measuring sticks search engines use to assess content in addition to semantic synonyms and related phrases are called allinanchor, allintitle and allintext.

Talk about green widgets enough on your page, they know your page is about green widgets (allintext), placing it in the title is also a great way to signal the plane (allintitle) or get enough links from other pages that say your site is about green widgets and even if it is or not, it can potentially rank for that or related phrases (allinanchor).

That in a nutshell is how SEO basics play out according the the search engine spiders (the little programs that scour the web looking for new or exciting information to report back to the index).

The next part of SEO basics will cover how to ensure that your content is spider friendly or how to invite search engine spiders to skim, index and rank your content.

In closing, the gist is (1) make your titles unique (2) keep your writing style focused and use key words (words containing the phrases you want to rank for) as well as develop as many on topic links from other sites to cement your position in the search engine result pages.

Just writing about it on your site is not enough, unless you sites has hundreds of thousands of strong links pointing at in, in which case it can rank on the title tag alone. That is called website authority and is yet another topic we will be covering in the future.

The most relevant search result is the one that makes it to the top 10. There are no secrets involved, just logical relevance, but popularity counts so don’t just write dry content.

The whole exercise of SEO is to get traffic from people. Since people pay the bills and not spiders, make sure you have something worth saying and they will take notice and pass it along.

Otherwise, you are only helping your competition by leaving your guests hungry or thirsty for more topical information about your subject. In which case, they will simply return to the search engine and click the next result in the list. So, the bottom line is user engagement aside from topical relevance and traffic.