SEO Six Sigma: 5 ways to scale your enterprise operation
What is Six Sigma, and what does it mean for marketers? Originally developed by Motorola in the 1980s, Six Sigma is set of techniques and tools for process improvement, conceived as a means to improve production and ensure that everything remains high quality. It has since been used to help companies in dozens of industries, from the military to IT, improve their efficiency and optimize how improvements and progress are made. The principles that make it successful can even be applied to SEO and can help drive you and your organization forward.
The Six Sigma uses a DMAIC methodology — Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control — to provide a framework that will help you improve your processes and see strong returns. Define During the definition stage, there are three main things you need to identify: Your main problem, your main audience, and the demand for your products and services. Your existing customers. Speak with them and learn about their pain points, budgets, motivating factors, and why they choose you. Market research. Uncover the types of people most likely to be interested in your industry and brand.
Measure Once you have finished your definitions, you need to look into your analytics to see exactly where you currently stand. Note your current rank for big keywords, your share of voice, your positioning against competitors, and other metrics that will help you measure your goals. This information will provide you with your baseline from which you can then improve. You will be able to use these numbers to measure your growth and judge the success you are having.
Analyze Now it is time to move into the analysis stage. Brands must now uncover the problems that have caused their shortcomings. For example, a content audit might reveal that you have significant content gaps and that your material is not effectively moving people from one stage of the buyer’s journey to the next. You might also find that your material has been poorly optimized or that your domain itself does not carry the authority needed to achieve the highest rankings, for example.
Improve In the fourth stage of this Six Sigma model, it is time to improve upon your initial measurements and take steps towards your goals. Take the information you learned during your definition phase about who your target audience is and what their intent is, what they want to see, and what you want to accomplish. Use this information to begin improving your current SEO strategy.
Control Once you begin to see results, you then want to use measurements and analysis to gauge your progress and ensure that you stay on track. You will be able to use numbers to guide your outcomes, rather than hunches or guesses. Implementing these more efficient policies will provide you with more control over the outcomes.
Final thoughts ď‚— As the digital marketing industry and SEO become increasingly competitive and saturated, brands are going to be forced to improve their processes and maximize their efficiencies. ď‚— The Six Sigma method can be an excellent way to handle this problem and help brands find their way forward.
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