12-Month Schedule of SEO Services

Yesterday I posted our 5-year plan. If that post was the one that made people think, “WTF, why in the world would I hire that company?” this is the one that will make them think, “WTF, why haven’t I hired this company yet!!!” At least, that’s how I’m picturing it!

While this post doesn’t go into detail as to how we do what we do, it does provide insight as to what we do for our clients and the schedule in which services are performed. Here is the breakdown:

MONTHS 1-3
Reports and research to be completed and provided to client 10 weeks after contract signing.

• Keyword Research for 12-month campaign
  This is an interactive process with the client as we do in-depth research on the client, their competitors and keyword usage. This information is then taken to the client for feedback, additional insight and direction. After a few back and forths we then organize the keywords into groups that allow for natural on-page placement and maximum effectiveness.
• Full site architectural & usability analysis and structural change recommendations
  This is where we study the current condition of the site. We analyze on-page usability, content, internal linking structure, code structure, etc. This information goes into a report for the client with recommendations to immediate, secondary and long-term changes that should be implemented.
• Competitor analysis
  A detailed look at the competitor landscape. We see who the competition is, study their strategic positioning, back link structures, etc. This gives us a clear picture of the intensity of the competition and what it will take in time and resources to overcome them.
• Current link structure analysis
  We analyze the clients current back link structure, finding weak points, identifying strong points and using this information to develop a plan for the link marketing campaigns.
• Site optimization analyses and creating 12-month campaign framework
  Using some of the information gathered above we are able to analyze the current performance of the site and develop a 12-month framework for moving forward with a successful optimization campaign.
• Branding and reputation management strategy development for next 12 months
  We develop ideas for a 12-month branding and reputation management campaign. Each client is different and some need more reputation management than others, but we get a clear picture of the client’s online reputation and seek ways to improve that reputation while employing branding strategies at the same time.
• Viral / buzz marketing strategy development for next 12 months
  We develop a plan for a 12-month viral and buzz marketing campaign. Some might call this the link baiting part of the strategy but we prefer viral marketing.
• Link marketing campaign development for next 12-months
  In conjunction with the research above we develop a strategy for link marketing. This is part of, but slightly different from the viral / buzz marketing. Viral / Buzz is more about PR while link marketing is more focused on obtaining specific keyword textual links.

In these first three months no actual optimization to the site is performed. This is the part that most people tend to question, especially those who want to be optimized NOW! Its tempting for us to want to start optimizing the site ASAP but we’ve had to resist doing that.

We look at the optimization and marketing of a website to be similar to building a house, or perhaps building an addition to your house. Before you can begin building there is a lot of work that must be done: permits need to be gotten, plans need to be developed, approvals and so forth, and then the foundation must be built. Skipping these steps might allow you to build your addition more quickly but you’re going to find that by skipping these crucial steps that you won’t get full enjoyment or satisfaction from it. Problems will arise that were not foreseen because planning was overlooked, and perhaps you might have to tear the whole thing down and start over. This is no good for anyone.

Before we begin doing any work on a client’s site we want a clear plan in place. That plan can only be developed after we have done extensive research and analysis. While three months may seem like a long time to wait, the client is better positioned for optimal success. We don’t do half-assed SEO or marketing. We don’t want to put a band aid on a situation, instead we want a finely tuned, high performing website. Cutting corners wont’ make that happen.

After we have prepared these reports the campaign goes on hiatus. We give the client time to review the information and have it implemented. For some clients these changes will be minimal and for others it may require dramatic reprogramming of the site and/or back-end. We have taken the client’s goals into consideration here and make change recommendations based on how best to meed those goals. We don’t care if the client has us implement the recommendations or they have their own team do it, provided that we all work together to produce the desired outcome. Should the client decide not to implement the changes we can still move forward, though it may not be in our best interest to do so. The client has the option here to buy out of the contract for a set fee and move on. In any case, the information provided to them is well worth the money already paid.

MONTHS 4-6
Optimization to be completed and implemented 10 weeks after beginning of fourth month. Implementation of other strategies to begin immediately. Note that some recommendations for viral and buzz marketing strategies may require additional marketing dollars to create and implement. These strategies, along with their estimated costs will be brought to the client to review and approve. Client has the option not to implement these strategies.

• Optimization of first set of keyword phrases on a predetermined set of pages
  We are not so concerned with the number of pages optimized here, or even the number of keywords, though we typically do 15-30 at a time. Ultimately the optimization of pages and keywords is determined by the clients goals and how we determine the best way to achieve those goals are. Optimization of pages and new keywords is a continuous process, but we want to ensure that work is done in manageable chunks that can be supported by the other marketing efforts.
• Implement brand / reputation management campaign.
• Implement viral / buzz marketing campaign strategies.
• Implement link marketing campaign.
  Not much to be said here other than we begin implementing the strategies which we developed in the first three months.
• Complete analysis of traffic patterns over past six months.
  When the contract is signed metrics tracking strategies are put in place. In the fifth month we being analyzing the data collected giving us a firm understanding on past and present performance issues. We offer an extensive suite of ROI metrics so as this information is gathered it is put into a calculator that provides a number of important performance and conversion reports.

MONTHS 7-9

• 100% focus on viral / buzz marketing and link marketing strategies
  For these three months all of our time is dedicated to viral/buzz/link/link bait strategies. This allows us to spend dedicated blocks of time developing and implementing unique strategies that we otherwise might not be able to if our focus (and time) divided with other things being implemented. We continue to provide reports and we also continue to analyze past work. We also want to give the optimized pages time to bet established in the search engines and begin to achieve results as we build links.

MONTHS 10-12

• Optimization of first set of keyword phrases on a predetermined set of pages
  Another round of keyword page optimization to broaden search engine traffic reach.
• Evaluate/revise link campaign.
• Evaluate/revise viral marketing campaign.
  We take a look at our current strategies and make corrections to improve results.
• Review optimization of previous group of pages/keywords. Adjust as necessary.
  Aside from simply optimizing new pages we revisit the optimization of previous pages. Check performance review the pages to see if any changes are warranted and make those changes as necessary.
• Complete analysis of traffic patterns over past six months.
  Again, re to a compete review of the metrics over the past six months and compare that to the first six months. This allows us to see progress in traffic, usability, conversions and provide a success report to the client.

MONTHS 13+
At this point the official contract is completed but clients have the option of continuing on a month to month basis indefinitely. After the 12-month report is delivered we rarely have clients choose not to renew as we have outlined growth and the results of our work via statistics.

The plan for each following year is largely the same as the first year. We completely re-analyze everything which allows us to fill any holes or adjust anything that may be going in the wrong direction. We continue to measure performance of every aspect of the campaign, including conversions and overall business performance while continuing to optimize the site for more keywords.

There is no limit to the number of keywords that we’ll optimize. In fact, so long as a client is with us it is our job to find and optimize keywords that will bring in targeted, high converting traffic. Should the pool of keywords every run dry we then look for keywords that build brand recognition, fill information search queries and so on.