SEO, Content Marketing, and Technology in EB-5 hese days, a high-quality, responsive of these changes. Search engine optimizers website is not just an additional way to spend countless hours studying analytics and drive web traffic but the bare minimum comparing search results to learn what SEO Tneeded to stay competitive. Today’s websites techniques work, what has stopped working, need to offer unique and compelling content, and what actions could actually penalize your delivered consistently in an easy-to-read site. format, and they need to stand out from the crowd of other sites doing the same thing. That BASIC SEO: is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Using keywords, adding alt-tags to images, combined with a user-friendly site experience, and including proper headers and footers are can help companies direct the right traffic to all basic optimization techniques. They are all RICHARD KRISTOF their sites, find the right audience for their CEO, Investor Services Company of America good things to do, but technical optimization content, and convert that audience into leads alone will not necessarily be enough to stay and investors. at the top of the search results. Your compet- What is SEO? The short answer: it is a way itors are also working on revising their sites, of building your site’s content to ensure that improving their keywords, and generating when your target audience searches for rele- new content—all things that affect rankings. vant topics on the leading search engines, your Staying on the front page requires staying site shows up in the top results. informed about the newest changes and addi- tions to the leading search engine algorithms. How do you optimize your site? That is a bit more complicated. Imagine SEO as a game One of the biggest challenges in EB-5 SEO is of football, only the end zone keeps moving making sure the target audience is actually able around on the field. Today, your site may show to find your site. Many countries use Google up as the number one result for “Regional for their primary search engine, but some MARIE STEEL Centers in Sacramento”; tomorrow, you may current EB-5 markets, like China and Russia, LEAD WEB GURU, INVESTOR SERVICES be on the second page. Google and other rely on their own engines. COMPANY OF AMERICA search engines keep changing the algorithms China, the largest EB-5 market, has built its they use, and do not release the full details Internet usage around Baidu. The good news VOL. 5, ISSUE #3, OCTOBER 2017 IIUSA.ORGIIUSA.ORG || 6565 SEO, CONTENT MARKETING, AND TECHNOLOGY IN EB-5 Top Search Engines by Key EB5 Country current algorithms. Being seen as a target for EB-5 rely primarily on mobile reputable and dependable source of devices. China Baidu 74.59% useful information is key to becoming a Vietnam Google 93.26% highly-ranked site, especially in highly Now that you are finding your audience, how South Korea Google 65.29% competitive searches. Content marketing do you keep them engaged? Taiwan Google 87.01% has become inseparable from SEO, and Your images are tagged, and your regular- video and other media have become Brazil Google 96.98% ly-scheduled content is engaging, relevant, and critical components of a well-rounded India Google 96.64% keyword-rich. Authoritative sites have started digital marketing platform. linking to yours. Now what? What else can you Venezuela Google 96.09% offer your audience to convert your visitors to Russian Federation Yandex RU 47.87% • Quality content: Having high-quality content is essential, and that counts for leads, and your leads to investors? Unfortu- Source: Stat Counter: GlobalStats visuals as well as text. Avoid relying on nately, there is not a “one-size-fits-all” answer is that from a base functionality perspective, stock photography, and consider using to these questions; your core audience may Baidu has many of the same features as Google photos of your team and the projects have a unique set of needs and expectations. Analytics and the same basic procedures you are working on as well as your However, here are some questions to keep in for integrating tags. Using Baidu Analytics, successful completed projects. Showing mind to help you get started as you review you will be able to keep an eye on your site’s who you are, and what you have done, your site: performance, goal completion and traffic flow builds credibility with your audience. 1. How are you measuring your traffic? Do as well as measure your site’s performance (Take care, however, to avoid inappro- you have Google Analytics or another against specific keywords. The hard part will be priate content such as the DHS logo, comparable system implemented? Figur- selecting appropriate keywords. If you are tar- representations that look like guarantees, ing out the flow of traffic through your site geting China, it would be beneficial for you to and project information that could be is a critical first step. You need to know become familiar with Baidu as a search engine. interpreted as general solicitation.) Web where you are losing viewers, and how It offers an impressive set of tracking features, audiences are more tech-savvy than ever, you can improve their experience to lead including current overall search trends and and have high expectations for their to conversions. search trends by interest. Like Google, Baidu online experiences. In fact, most visitors tracks trends, so you may not get exact results to your site make the decision to stay 2. What features can you offer? What infor- unless you are specifically measuring keywords or leave in under fifteen seconds. First mation do your clients request most? How for your site, but tracking is a good place to impressions matter. Content also matters can you improve on delivering this infor- start your keyword refinement. When select- to regulators, who routinely access public mation? How can you provide existing ing keywords, it’s important to not only use sites to check for violations. clients with updates and relevant news in a the dominant language of the targeted country way that also builds your brand? but also to double-check context. Certain • Social media integration: Social media terms like “EB-5” may only be found through visibility continues to integrate further 3. How do you keep track of your leads? Do alternate variations such as “EB5” or by using a into your digital marketing strategy, as it you have an easy-to-use database of leads different term altogether. provides new ways to find your target au- and current clients? Can you easily locate dience and direct attention to your con- all their associated files? Other factors that can benefit your site’s over- tent. Without a well-thought-out strategy seas performance are having a local domain, for creating and deploying content, as 4. How are you communicating with your hosting close to your target audience, and well as maintaining new relationships leads and clients? There is an art to paying close attention to the design aesthetics and engaging with the new community emails—too many words, or too few, will of the country you are targeting. Site speed you are building, you may see a limited either be caught in spam filters or cause matters for both user experience and SEO return on your social media investment. the reader to unsubscribe. Providing rankings. If you plan to host in China, you There is an ever-increasing variety of information without a clear call-to-action will need an Internet Content Provider license social media platforms, and they might may not help convert leads or provide (ICP License) issued by the Chinese Ministry not all work for your message and overall value to your company. of Industry and Information Technology. You marketing approach. It can be helpful to To be on the cutting edge of SEO and Content can apply for the license directly if you have work with a social media marketer who Marketing, and to integrate the latest technical an office in China, or indirectly by partnering can help your team filter out the noise, solutions, regional centers need more than just with a local third party. and help build a network that contributes a marketing company or an off-the-shelf CRM to your messaging. ADVANCED SEO: solution. They need to understand what drives • Once again, know your audience. If traffic to their EB-5 site based on their target 2017 has seen a greater focus on the following you are working in China you must use audience and the goals of their web-based elements: WeChat. However, WhatsApp is the presence. We deal with different cultures, and what is appealing to us may not resonate with • User experience: Context, readability, world’s most popular messaging platform with 55.6% market share. These plat- the intended audience. Do your research and and overall user experience are key make your technology investments count! factors in the leading search engines’ forms become integral to your commu- nication strategy, as most countries we VOL. 5, ISSUE #3, OCTOBER 2017 IIUSA.ORG | 66 .