Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of structuring a web page so that it is found, read, and indexed by search engines in the most effective manner possible. In the past, we've shared tips on how to optimize your website and its content to make it more attractive to search engines and discussed why SEO is an important tool for any company with an online presence. However, many website owners are still doubtful of the benefits of optimization, asking, "How do I know that SEO even works?" As luck (and some hard work) would have it, we've got some proof right here.

A Case in Point

Imagine you're in a room with hundreds of other people, all wearing similar clothing and all shouting a similar message. How could anyone possibly hear one voice over all the others? This is where Dave's Christmas Store, located just outside of Buffalo, NY, found itself in 2008, when they teamed up with 360 PSG to redesign their existing e-commerce website into the online destination Christmas store.

The resulting effort, www.christmascentral.com, offers everything needed to decorate the inside and outside of your home 365 days a year. While Christmas Central carries decorations for every holiday, including Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter and St. Patrick's Day, they wanted to target their online efforts towards Christmas related products. In an effort to increase sales and conversions in a very competitive market, Christmas Central launched an aggressive SEO campaign to increase brand visibility and drive traffic to their new website.

Along with standard meta data techniques, the SEO specialists at 360 PSG utilized other on-site techniques, creating targeted landing pages for specific key terms such as "artificial Christmas trees," "Christmas yard art," and "Christmas lights." Each of these specific landing pages contains keyword rich and relevant content (text, images, callouts, and internal links to other related page) that have been optimized to be easily read by search engines.

The Results

Christmas Central's SEO efforts were extremely effective, with Google ranking the website in the top results for more than 1,000 keyword phrases, including #1 rankings for both "glass ball ornaments" and "Christmas supplies." Christmas Central also achieved a top 15 ranking for the popular search term, "artificial Christmas trees," which produced more than 15 MILLION results.

Due to the strength of their SEO campaign, Christmas Central has been able to sustain similar rankings to those above for the past three years. Now one of the largest retailers of Christmas supplies online, over 50% of their new visitors come directly from landing pages developed by 360 PSG. How much traffic is that? Analytics reporting shows that the number of visitors to the site during the holiday season has nearly tripled over the past three years.

Staying On Top

While an aggressive SEO campaign can provide dramatic results in a short period of time, maintaining the top positions in a search engine in an ongoing process that requires regular attention. Consistently updating your site by adding new information, pages or products tells search engines that your site is constantly changing and to check back frequently for new information. Additionally, If this information references common keywords and topics directly related to your industry or purpose for you site, you can gain relevancy for the search keywords you are targeting by simply keeping your site up to date.

Updating news articles, events, and portfolio pieces also gives your visitors incentive to return to your site more often to see what's new. Constantly adding and updating relative content will bring more new and return visitors and will give you a better chance at earning higher rankings for relevant search engine inquiries.

How to Get Started

By performing an audit of your existing website, our optimization specialists can recommend and implement changes that can dramatically improve your site's chances of being found by search engines and ultimately search engine users. Gone will be the days of feeling lost in the crowd.

Contact an Account Manager today at 716.829.7373 to learn more about the optimization services offered by 360 PSG or visit our new SEO site at www.fissionseo.com.