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You might be the king of your field but if you are invisible, your kingdom simply won't see you.
Similarly, Elekta, a Swedish company with US base in Atlanta that specializes in clinical oncology solutions had a great business, but not one that was getting found in search engines. "A lot of our smaller competitors were beating us," Elekta's Andrew Rodgers said.
Elekta recognized this problem, and took a series of steps to fix it. The results were significant; in four months they move from a PageRank 6 to a PageRank 7, in a industry where most companies are stuck with PageRanks between 4 and 6. The company also saw an increase in traffic globally.
Here's exactly what they did:
(1) Deleted Duplicate Content
Elekta deleted duplicate content from its site. The easy "cut and paste" was no longer an option. On the contrary, production of unique and regional content was necessary.
(2) Followed Up on Inbound Links
The company monitored the sites linking to it. Elekta compared inbound links and used alt tags for those with higher ratings. Following up on inbound links helped it build great SEO authority.
(3) Stopped PPC & Ad Words Campaigns
Elekta canceled its paid ad campaigns because, as Andrew noted, they "were just wrong." The company was losing money investing in campaigns whose analytics it didn't really measure. Soon Andrew realized that he preferred to be seen in organic search rather than in paid content. "We are getting more clicks from organic search than we ever did with PPC," he said.
(4) Started a Blog (3-4 times/week)
Andrew took much of Elekta.com's great content and "blogofied it." Elekta's blog turned out to be a great channel for event information and direct communication with customers. It covers industry-specific news, not product information.
(5) Created RSS Feeds
RSS feeds enable people to get in contact with Elekta without visiting the site. Now that everyone has BlackBerries, Andrew suggested, it is easy to push information anywhere and keep people informed on-the-go. "Our syndication has gone from several people to several thousand people per month," he said.
(6) Created Twitter Profile
Elekta uses Twitter to publish RSS feeds, comment on industry-related news and build networks. Thus, it brings up relevant questions to hospitals and engages them in conversations. On Twitter, Elekta also monitors its competitors' performance.
(7) Updated Profile in Online Directories
In order to keep its site consistent and correct, Elekta updated its profile in many online directories. The company also keeps track of the accuracy and appearance of its Google images. In short, it has made it a priority that company information -- web addresses, logo, SEO links, etc -- is correct everywhere.
(8) Bought Relevant Domains
As an international company, Elekta has created satellite sites (.com, .net, etc) and regional pages with local languages. These pages feature in-depth content and point to landing pages.
When it releases a new product, Elekta also creates a domain name for it. Multiple relevant domain names enable the company to track what gives it the most inbound traffic.
(9) Created Well Structured Landing Pages
Elekta created a set of enhanced landing pages. As Andrew said, he wanted the new pages to be "short and sweet, and to the point." The landing pages got customized to different audience segments -- health care professionals, patients and hospital administration. Thus, they offered critical information for targeted buyer personas.
(10) Checked Analytics
Elekta has been regularly monitoring its data -- comparing web pages, following site traffic, and evaluating customer engagement and keyword performance. Andrew found out that what works in America might not work internationally. "We try something, look at the results and if the results don't work we go back and change it," said Andrew.
(11) Added, Updated, and Archived Content
As accuracy of information in healthcare is crucial, Elekta keeps its content fresh. For instance, Andrew suggested, nothing was worse than reading X-Ray was the best tool to use today. In order to feature the most up-to-date content, Elekta plans on adding a content timer of six months. Thus, authors will receive email alerts to check the accuracy of their six-month-old content.
In addition to adding and updating site information, Elekta is also archiving some of its old content. By archiving content as opposed to deleting it, the site keeps its inbound links.
(12) Optimized Keywords
Instead of targeting just oncology, Elekta investigated what people were actually looking for when they think of oncology. "Let's use the stuff that not many people are searching for," said Andrew. Thus, the company went for the long-tail keywords and improved its SEO strategy.
(13) Increased Activity in Social Media
Andrew noticed that visitors were coming to Elekta.com not only via traditional channels like Google and MSN, but also through Twitter and Flickr. In order for people to stumble upon Elekta's brand, the company became active in the social mediasphere.
As a result of these 13 steps, Elekta increased its traffic globally. Now its kingdom is listening and the inbound links are there to show it.
Photo Credit: Jim Linwood
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