By: Chad Bell
….and so goes the process of SEO. I emphasize process, or journey, when speaking of SEO, because it is not something that can be done and over with. For many individuals and small/medium size businesses owners, they build a website, launch it, and wait patiently or impatiently, whatever the case may be, for visitors to start arriving. Anxiously checking Google analytics its painfully obvious that no one on the crowded streets of the Internet has the time or inclination to stop by their site and look around. So, what do you do if in this position? Well, before doing anything at all, especially spending time and money to get people’s attention on the information super highway, start by setting a GOAL for your SEO campaign. Yes, your first step on the SEO journey is setting a goal, not creating a blog, selecting keywords, meta tags, link building, social media, etc. Why? Because, if you don’t know where you are going any road will get you there and some of these roads can be quite expensive. A simple acronym to remember when setting goals, S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely) is a useful tool to help develop goals and develop a strategy and tactics to achieve those goals. Setting a goal to be on the first page of Google search results is specific but its not very realistic or timely. However, a goal of increasing traffic to your site from referral sites by 20% over the next month is definitely a S.M.A.R.T. one. The concept of having clear goals is not unique to setting up an SEO campaign, it can and should be applied to every aspect of business. So, take a quick look around at your business and ask yourself, “Have I created S.M.A.R.T. goals for my various business processes?”