Monday, July 4, 2016

SEO Analysis

The firm I have been analyzing this semester does not have much in the way of SEO efforts because it does not make sense as part of our marketing efforts (see other posts about segmentation, etc.). One of the two people on our marketing team recently moved on after a couple years in her entry-level marketing role, since her college studies specialized in SEO optimization and she didn't get to use any of this valuable skill at work.

However, I have done SEO optimization for my mom's law firm http://www.joannhoffman.com a few years ago when I was right out of college and they transitioned to a vendor to provide the service for them when I left to work full time in HR and hospitality. 

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Keyword Selection: What are the keywords used by the firm? Do they have one, overarching keyword, or do they instead develop keywords for each revenue driver?  Analysis: How effective is this keyword approach? Is (are) the keyword(s) specific enough? Are they too obscure? 

     


The company did not appear at all when I put in terms such as, "best places to live in boca raton," "best country clubs to live boca raton," and similar terms I thought relocating families would search for, including "best communities for families in boca." To be fair, competitors did not appear either. What did appear were articles from magazines reviewing communities n the area and the quality of life in the area, so it is probably more important to get featured in these specialty magazines and get listed with realtors. The company only appeared when I specifically searched for the company's name:



Backlinks: What tactics is the firm using to generate links into its site? Analysis: How effective are these tactics? Are they establishing credibility for the firm? Does the firm largely rely on its own social media, or is it making efforts to attract links from other credible organizations?


The firm's site is for people who already know the firm exists. The website has an active member-only page of its website where once members log in with their username and password, they can find all the activities and information going on at the Club, which is highly convenient and effective. But those members are already customers. From the perspective of a potential customer, this is someone who has probably been shown the property by a realtor and is going to learn more about it, see what others think, or get a refresher on what the property offers. So the non-member pages that can be accessed offer a beautiful overview of property and the facilities.

Content Generation: How is the content geared toward keywords? How regularly is content updated? Does the firm's Web site use blogs or some other approach in generating content? What other forms of content does the firm upload? White papers, podcasts, videos? Is it evident how this additional content is aligned by keyword? Analysis: What would you recommend to enhance the firm's approach to content generation?

Content on the public side of the website is updated only if facilities are renovated. In that case the new information had to be added to the pages and the photos uploaded. This doesn't draw in any new web-hits, just gives accurate information to those seeking an overview (see Backlinks). The members only pages are updated constant to be relevant and useful to the members. These are not searchable to accessible through a search engine.

I think having a "In the News" public page that lists the most recent mentions in magazines, articles and the local paper would be a win-win. It links back to new content so the page stays updated and "fresh" in the mind of the search engine and shows off to visitors that we always have the latest and greatest. Winning awards and getting renovations often get mentioned, even if just small blurbs, in the local paper at least.

Conversion Tactics: How does the firm generate leads from their Web presence? How do they follow up on those leads? What kind of information do they have on customers before they contact them? How tailored is their messaging when they follow up on a lead (i.e., how do they exploit customers' evaluative criteria)? Analysis: What would you recommend the firm do to improve its Site's ability to generate leads and convert customers?

Our website had built-in management software to see where visitors come from. This information is controlled by our marketing department so I am not able to comment on it. Our membership department tracks this as well, but in our segment it is important to look at internet-based leads data net to leads from magazines, realtors, etc. to look at overall marketing efforts. This is very different than most businesses today, where almost all new clients are internet-referrals.

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