SEO is a very process-driven activity – you can’t do everything at once, yet you have to do enough at the onset to help push the bar. One thing we have learned over the years is that, as with anything, continual modification and tweaking can usually help improve a process. This month, we will focus on how Rosetta sets up the optimization workflow of a project based on the unique needs and circumstances of each client. Over the next few issues of Acquisition Marketer, we will complete the series.
Every organization has a variety of products and services. This is most evident in the financial industry, which has distinct lines of business that vary from personal banking products, to business banking, to investing and liability protection. In order to ensure that each line of business (LOB) is given equal attention, we work closely with the client to assign priority and resource focus when evaluating the unique attributes of each product or service.
The discovery phase is very important in the overall design process of a Web site. When Rosetta performs SEO in conjunction with site design or redesign, the SEO team will gain significant insight into the primary goals of the client by studying and participating in the research that the site design team performs. In fact, when we work together, we can gain efficiencies since we typically look at keyword research to determine how people refer to, and are searching for products or services. As the SEO team strategizes, and the design team comes up with creative concepts, we ultimately bring the best of both worlds together by weaving the most relevant and highly searched keyword phrases into our onsite optimization and design efforts. Once the site goes live, we launch the offsite portion of our optimization strategy, which is critical to support the ongoing ranking performance of targeted search terms.
However, not all projects involve design or redesign. During standard SEO engagements, it is up to the Search & Media team to invest the time to discover and understand client goals. Once goals and success / measurement metrics are established, the process by which we will perform content optimization is often driven by client prioritization.
Thus, in the case of the financial industry example referenced above, the strategy for SEO efforts are broken down into LOB-focused deadlines. We work on one LOB at a time, ensuring that the strategist can spend his or her full time concentrating on a particular topic, and then hand off the strategy to the content specialists. Once the content is underway, the strategist can begin to focus on the next LOB, and the process repeats itself. Naturally, the strategist is a very important piece of the puzzle when it comes to ensuring that the process flows smoothly, since he or she has to continually coordinate between strategy, content creation and client reviews for multiple LOBs.
The SEO manager also plays an important role in this process, since he signs off on all content prior to client delivery and assists in the iteration process, especially if the changes requested by the client are counter-productive to SEO efforts. The content development and optimization specialists need to be very adept at understanding a variety of project elements, primarily the client’s brand, style, and intentions, as well as the strategist-dictated keyword focus. Fortunately, we have a very skilled team handling SEO content development here at Rosetta.
It is important to note that this proven process spans across all of the industries that our team has experience in. Sites that are eCommerce-focused typically have a number of general categories, which we also effectively impact with the same type of approach. Healthcare, hospitality and manufacturing companies tend to have primary products and services of focus that allow for ideal optimization opportunities. In the cases where our clients only offer one or two products or services, this process is similar, but not as segmented in the delivery phase.
As members of the Rosetta and client teams work together, the content optimization is finalized and the next phase in the process can begin: offsite promotion and ongoing optimization.
