To all writers and non-writers out there, now is the time to start digging up those creative writing skills.With modern communication technology comes the popularity of information-based marketing, which is one of the oldest and most effective techniques in getting targeted prospects to sites and converting them into buyers. This is

I have been reading a blog post recently about how SEO can help your business.

Now to be honest the blog article is just surface noise in my opinion - it starts off well enough, sounding out that the creation of a site alone won't get you found in your niche. Then begins to wobble some when using an example of a website selling 'shoes' and stating that:

... when there are 558 million pages resulting from a search for shoes in the UK.

That's an illusionist talking. Making the competition sound more than it is. That figure is showing how many pages are indexed by Google containing the keyword 'shoes' within its body text. If you wanted a true sample of competing web pages that are within the 'shoes' market you need to be more specific with your search function in Google.

To simplify things good search engine optimisation is the process of having your search term, in this instance 'shoes', found in three main areas: the Title, the body text and within the anchor text of inbound links pointing to that page.

Now, once you understand this you can get a better assessment of competing pages that have been optimised for the search engines with the keyword 'shoes'.

Our search function looks like this : intitle:shoes; intext:shoes; inanchor:shoes

Now it returns 1,360,000 pages that have the keyword 'shoes' in the Title, in the body text and in the anchor text of inbound links pointing to the site. 1,360,000 pages is still a lot but compared against 558,000,000 in the original article we can start to see past the smoke and mirrors spiel.

If anyone is interested in using the above function but want to use it for 2, 3 or more keywords then wrap the double quotes around your keyword phrase as follows in this 2 keyword phrase example:

intitle:"blue shoes"; intext:"blue shoes"; inanchor:"blue shoes"

My take on SEO nowadays is that it reaches far beyond getting a site to rank for numerous keywords. Its more about conversion and return of investment. Being ranked number No.1 is not the be all and end all. Never mind the fare share of tyre kickers or time wasters that will frequent your site.

A quality SEO Company goes beyond just ranking, especially if your selling on-line.

Marketing an e-commerce site is a black hole in itself but there are some good guidelines that you should be following and also questioning your SEO company about. Here are just a few:

• Data Feeds, easy to build, easy to submit, the good ones are optimised of course
• PPC - never take your finger off the button when it comes to Pay Per Click advertising, just because your running SEO shouldn't mean that any PPC campaigns get binned - SEO & PPC together are extremely effective
• Understand that people who buy on-line do research first, they may visit 5 - 10 sites including yours before they purchase - if your price driven then no matter if your prices are cheaper than everyone else - if your site looks cheap or unprofessional and doesn't build consumer confidence you still won't get a sale
• Unique Selling Point - if you don't have one then get one - could be special offers, free delivery, returns policy etc ...
• Allowing those that purchase to leave feedback against your products - also gives you unique content on your product page
• Do not copy products descriptions from other sites - its just lazy and unprofessional will also get your page tagged as questionable for having duplicate content
• Site navigation, probably just as important as your look and feel
• Site statistics, so your SEO Company sends you though a monthly report on your keyword positions, big deal. How is that supposed to show how your site is performing? Where are the top exits points in the site is one I would be interested in straight away, just for starters ...

These are just a few guides and questions that you can throw back at your SEO Consultant / Expert next time you hear the "Shoe Competition" story on how SEO can help your business.

To be successful in selling on-line you need to make sure that every factor is covered or being looked at because if your not then your competition is just going to take your sales even if your in the No.1 position.

Think beyond rankings because if that's all your SEO Company has to offer then think about getting a new one.

Paul Steven writes for North South Media a Scottish based SEO Company that also offers Internet Marketing Services for e-commerce websites.