Is Your Search Optimization Strategy Working?

You may have heard a lot about SEO. (I've written about it before a couple times on this blog.) It stands for "search engine optimization" and is important to the algorithms that can put your resume writing website at the top of the search results page on Google or Bing or leave you at the bottom. Here are some ways to measure if your efforts are getting noticed.

You first need a basic understanding of SEO. When people search the Internet, they use keywords or phrases to find what they are looking for amongst the hundreds of thousands of web pages that have been created. If you've ever looked in the upper left-hand corner of your search engine results, often certain words return millions of results. For example, this search for "Resume Writer" on Google returned 3.8 million results. Yikes!

No one bothers to go through all of those. They rarely look beyond the first or second page. So that is where you want your web pages, content, videos, and blog to appear, in order to be found by those who are looking. (And here's another trick: Don't try to rank nationally for "Resume Writer" -- instead, try to rank for "Resume Writer (Your Area of Expertise or Geographic Area)" -- i.e., "Resume Writer Baltimore" or "Resume Writer Elementary School Teacher.")

You have to do some work first. SEO is not an exact science. But, you can use keyword programs (for free) to help you find out which have the highest amount of competition and which are underused. From there, the trial and error begins. Some recommend using one keyword per web page to see which ones are drawing the most traffic for you. Also be sure that your website is registered with the major search engines.

Some Ways to Measure SEO Success:

• Backlinks. These are the external links that link back to your website from other places. You can create backlinks by using the resource box when submitting content to article directories, bio boxes when guest blogging, as well as signature lines on forums and places like that. (You can also get a backlink by becoming a member of BeAResumeWriter.com -- there are two member directories on the site -- one for free members, and one for paid members -- that can provide a backlink with high authority.)

• Traffic metrics. How many unique visitors do you have compared to returning visitors? What you want are unique visitors because these are new faces that are being drawn in by your marketing strategies. You can also look at revenue generated against visitors at any given time. You can find out your traffic by using Google Analytics. This free program gives you lots of information to calculate your SEO success. Test your keywords for at least three months to get an accurate picture of whether or not they're working.

What you ultimately want is for people to buy from you. You want that conversion from casual visitor to customer. It is essential that you include a call to action on your website pages that will compel the reader to make that conversion. You can track this metric as well.

Help your prospective resume clients find you online by maximizing your efforts at "Search Engine Optimization Success."