So, you’ve created the perfect website. You’ve invested in a great domain name. You have a nice logo to boot. Your content is relevant and engaging, but no customers are coming through your door! What gives?
It could be that you need to work on SEO (search engine optimization). SEO refers to all of the ways that site owners can tweak their sites so they rank higher on search engines like Google, Yahoo!, or Bing for specific keywords or phrases. These tweaks can include everything from adding meta descriptions and keyword research to creating links back to your site with anchor text. It’s not always easy to work though because many people do it wrong – which means you have more competition than ever before!
Here are a few simple tactics that a lot of businesses are taking advantage of. There’s no guarantee they will work for you, but it certainly can’t hurt to try!
Create great content
This should be your first stop as it’s the foundation of any SEO campaign. You need relevant, high-quality content on your site or else Google won’t be able to tell what your site is good for and what keywords should go where.
To give an example, let’s say you have a website about yoga mats and you want customers to come to buy a mat from you. Well if all you do is list different types of yoga mats with their price ranges and little information then chances are people who run into your site don’t know how to find yoga mats and you haven’t done anything to tell Google how they should be listed.
But if your site had more information about yoga in general and customer testimonials of what makes a good yoga mat, then people searching for this information would have much better luck finding your site because you are giving them the type of info they are looking for. This will also help with conversions since all sites want to give their customers what they are looking for, so it’s an easy way to stand out over all the other various places selling the same thing.
Create content that answers questions
One great tactic is answering searcher questions within your website – especially through blog posts! Let’s say someone searches “What is a yoga mat?” then your site should have a blog post that answers that question and the keywords associated with it. If you don’t know what keywords to use, focus on asking yourself why people would search for what they do – it will reveal a lot to you about terms/phrases you should be using!
Add links to your content
Another tip is to make sure other sites are linking back to your content as well. Basically, if someone has great info on yoga mats that could help out other people looking for this information then link out by adding their site into your content. Sites like Reddit and Quora are great places for trending news stories and questions so keep an eye out for opportunities there too – it makes sense since the internet is always changing!
Content should be optimized for search engines
Titles, descriptions, and keywords are all important aspects to consider when looking at SEO.
First off, if you Google the term “SEO” then take a look at your browser bar – it says “sponsored results” next to some websites. This means that those companies paid Google so their site would show up first in the slot available for this term (and yes it costs money). It’s like buying ad space on TV or radio – but online. The sites that appear above the “sponsored results” are what we call organic results; these happen because people have found them helpful enough to link out or they were doing good content before anyone else came along.
Now that we’ve covered the basics of SEO and how our practice is so important for businesses, here’s a list of tools we use to optimize our sites:
Moz – The leader in SEO and competitor analysis. We use this site for everything related to keywords and find it extremely helpful, especially since you can play around with different variables to see what works best!
Youtube – When people search terms like “how-to” or “what is”, YouTube is usually ranked first. This makes it an obvious choice as a place to link out from as well as include relevant videos on your site. It’s free too – which gives you even more marketing power compared to other platforms!
Google Analytics – There are lots of ways to use Google Analytics, but one great tactic is using it for keyword research! You can just go into the site itself or download an extension that will pull out search terms from your website you might not have thought of. Either way, there’s no reason not to take advantage since it’s free!
Marketing Words – Whether you write blogs or make videos, this is a great app for anyone who has to write about certain topics regularly. It helps create different headlines around popular phrases and words people search online. This tool definitely helps us save time when brainstorming different ideas for our content marketing strategy!
Buzzsumo – If you’re having trouble finding competition stats since Google Analytics isn’t enough ( even available), Buzzsumo is a pretty good substitute. It’s very similar but provides access to more of the top trends and content that can help you find your audience!
So there you have it, a list of resources we like to use regularly to optimize our content and make sure we’re following along with what people are searching online!
For even more tactical advice about SEO, check out our guide on how to get started or give us a call for some personalized help today, Alignment Online Marketing is here to help.