For those of you launching a new online product, this will requires a lot more work than migrating an existing print product to an online platform. Here are a few observations based on our experience:

General strategies

• Be realistic with your forecast projections and ROI timescales. It takes time for new sites and brands to build up authority with the search engines.
• Make sure your marketing strategies are integrated and targeting all 3 traffic sources: search, referral traffic and direct traffic.
• Traditional print media sales and marketing teams may require support adapting to marketing websites or marketing for search engines.

SEO strategies

• SEO, along with search engine marketing and social media marketing, is essential for a new online brand.
• Ensure an SEO review is made of your new site proposal before the specs are given to the web design company. This will reduce costs in the long run.
• Be aware that search engines value established brands when ranking search results, which means a new brand needs to commit to online brand building efforts.
• Be wary of even reputable website design companies promising inbuilt SEO. While this may work for some types of smaller sites, large reference sites require customisation and complex content taxonomies to be successful in the search engines.
• Leverage existing company websites and site networks. Tell me how.

Social media

• Social media signals are now part of the Google search algorithm. A  social media strategy is essential to support your brand and marketing.
• Essential link building tasks can be supported by social media and corporate blogging.

Competition

• It is crucial to understand your online competition (often surprisingly different to your traditional print competitors).
• Competitor analysis can give important insights into all aspects of SEO, search engine marketing and link building.