Search engine optimization, otherwise known as SEO is one of the most cost effective methods for marketing your business online. It’s cheaper than traditional print advertising and if done correctly, you can reach a much wider audience. Not only that, but you will be putting your business and services in front of highly targeted traffic. In other words, these people are already interested in what you have to offer, which means significantly higher conversion rates and more leads and sales for your business.

But as effective as SEO is, it only works if it’s done correctly. Here are the three key steps to running a successful search engine optimization campaign:

1. Create. Every SEO campaign revolves around the creation of content. That content, whether it is articles, blog posts or videos absolutely has to be high quality, informative content. Remember, the goal of your campaign is to introduce your business and products or services to your potential customers. The last thing you want to do is make a bad first impression by cutting corners and publishing low quality content.

2. Publish. Once your content is created, you have to get it out in front of your audience, and that means publishing it online. But don’t feel like you’re limited to publishing content on your company website. You can also publish articles, videos and other content in article directories and video sharing sites like YouTube. You can even publish your content through social media sites like Facebook.

3. Promote. Even though your content has now been created and published, your search engine optimization efforts are only just beginning. Keep in mind that there are millions of other businesses out there, all competing for attention, so it’s not enough to simply slap up a few articles on your company blog and wait for the leads and sales to come pouring in. To maximize the value of your content, you should promote it by:

Building backlinks – In order to increase organic traffic to your content, you need to boost the ranking of your articles, videos and blog posts or other content in the search engines. Content with high quality backlinks will be given a higher ranking in Google and the other search engines, making it easier for your potential customers to find your business when they search for key terms that are related to your company and products or services.

Sharing with Social Media – Another effective SEO strategy is to share your content on Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites. High quality, engaging content can quickly "go viral" as it is shared between friends and contacts. Your content may also be linked to or republished on other related websites and forums, further boosting your content’s search engine rankings and leading to a flood of new visitors, leads and sales.