Can your potential customers find you? You could buy Banner Ads, or initiate a Pay-per-Click campaign,
but those are costly and the return on investment is questionable.
One of the most cost-effective ways to drive visitors to your site is by first making it easy for the search
engines to find you. This technique, known as Search Engine Optimization, or “SEO”, is rapidly gaining
popularity because it produces results.
Marathon Consulting has developed and used a practical SEO methodology for clients who wanted to improve their website’s performance. Not only is it
practical, it also allows the client to be proactive in the management of the site and how the various search engines treat that site.
Search Engine Optimization SEO Methodology
The Measurement Phase
First, most organizations have ideas about the search arguments and search engines that potential customers utilize in order to locate the site.
Excluding the actual name of the organization and its derivatives, most organizations can list fifteen to thirty generic keywords or phrases that potential
customers might use. During the Measurement Phase, both of these questions are answered in a quantitative manner.
The Site Review Phase
During this phase the actual site code, content, and structure is reviewed to determine how well it complies with the ranking criteria
used by the search engines.
The site’s compliance with fourteen (14) different criteria are reviewed and assessed to determine if the site needs remedial coding. The
interrelationships of the criteria are considered. Such items as source language, use of graphics, headers, page content, the URL structure, page size,
and server configurations are all used to develop a series of SEO recommendations intended to improve the performance of the site.
The deliverable of the Site Review Phase is a comprehensive Assessment Report that documents all findings and recommendations in specific terms.
The Remediation Phase
During this phase, Marathon experts implement the recommendations put forward in the Assessment Report. Because site performance is typically
affected by the combination of the various criteria, most clients opt to implement the recommendations as a complete set. It is extremely difficult to realize any
significant performance gain if the recommendations are only partially implemented.
Marathon Consulting executes this phase in strict compliance with our Software Development Lifecycle procedure. This ensures that all requirements, project scope,
risks, change management, and execution plans are documented in advance and client input and approval is sought throughout the effort. Doing so means successful
projects that not only meet the specifications; more importantly, they meet client expectations.
The Re-Measurement Phase
This task validates the results of all that has gone before. Using the original search arguments and those recommended as a result of the earlier measurement,
Marathon executes the searches and measures the results. This provides the client with quantitative proof of the effectiveness of the SEO effort.
The Measurement Phase
The Internet is a very dynamic environment in which things change rapidly. Therefore, it is vitally important to establish a “measurement and maintenance”
plan. This allows the client to keep the site in synch with the various algorithms used by the search engine providers. If periodic measurements indicate
that the site is slipping in its ranking, additional analysis and fresh remediation may be needed. Diligently monitoring the site’s performance allows the
client to continue leveraging the investment made in the original
SEO effort.
Below is the link to a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) article that was published in Inside Business, appearing in the “Experts” columns.
Organic Search Engine Optimization