If you’re an online business, you’re likely familiar with SEO, or Search Engine Optimization.
But what the heck is SEO and why does it matter? Well, first thing is first: SEO matters. A lot, as it turns out.
SEO is the process of optimizing web content so that you’ll rank higher on a search engine. With a higher search engine ranking comes more visitors.
And with more visitors, as you may expect, comes more revenue.
A good strategy can mean the difference between 1 visit and 1,000 visitors, so make sure you’ve got a plan in place.
But what if you’re a complete SEO newbie? Don’t worry, we’ve got your back!
Here are 7 easy strategies that you can use to maximize your SEO experience.
7 Easy Strategies To Maximize Your SEO Experience
1. Failing to plan is planning to fail
Remember that old saying? It holds true in business, and it certainly holds true in web design.
Failing to properly come up with an SEO strategy can result is a sloppy or poorly implemented plan.
Worse, it could mean that you’re wasting your valuable time.
Make sure you’ve discussed a plan for your new SEO experience before you worry about content. After all, you wouldn’t want an architect to build your office without a blueprint, would you?
Here are a few things you’ll want to consider when working on your plan.
- Who are your competitors and what are their strategies?
- How long will your new SEO experience take to implement?
- What is your current SEO strategy (if you have one) and what about it does and doesn’t work?
- What does bad SEO look like to you?
- What does good SEO look like to you?
Think of these questions as a basic roadmap to a better ranking.
2. Focus on Your Content
Great SEO ultimately comes down to great content. More so, great SEO content comes down to content that feels natural.
People will be reluctant to trust you if your article or page just features your keyword over and over. But there are some easy things you can do to make sure that your content is something to be proud of.
Make sure that you don’t use too many keywords, for instance. If the content has too many keywords, Google will penalize you and lower your ranking.
If you haven’t already, register with Google Webmasters so you can check your ranking and find out if your site has been penalized.
Next, make sure that your content is easily scannable. People don’t have the greatest attention spans anymore and tend to only read a headline or highlighted bits of text.
Format your posts and pages so that they flow in an easy to follow manner.
3. Work on Your Homepage
It isn’t just blog posts that need SEO optimization. Your homepage may need changing as well.
But how are you supposed to optimize a homepage when they often feature very little text? Well, it isn’t as difficult as it may seem, believe it or not.
First, make sure that your homepage includes a good number of backlinks to other pages on the site. Linking is a critical part of the SEO experience, so sprinkle them throughout your posts.
Next, make sure that your business name and keywords are present front and center on the web page. Remember, sprinkle your keywords throughout the content. You don’t want to get unnecessarily penalized.
Think about what types of websites you visit, then focus on their design.
What is it that draws you to these sites? What about their design can you implement in your own business’ website?
4. Know Your Keywords and Know Them Well
Let’s get to work on figuring out what keywords you need to use. After all, keywords are essentially at the center of the SEO experience.
There are plenty of tools out there to help you compare and contrast keywords, including one on our own site.
If you don’t have any keywords in place, here are 3 basic steps to follow.
- Make keywords relevant. They need to pertain to your business or product
- Keywords need to be natural. You want your content to come off in a professional manner, so use keywords naturally.
- Repeat your keywords, but don’t be redundant.
5. Pay Attention to Trends and Algorithms
It’s nearly impossible to predict the Internet, as trends take shape seemingly overnight. Worse, they’ll be dead just as quickly.
It’s a good idea to find a tech news site that you trust and follow their work. Make an effort to visit their site a few times a week to keep abreast of industry news.
Google is constantly changing their web algorithms, so you’ll need to do the same on a regular basis. Did you know that there have already been 4 algorithm updates this year?
And we’re not even halfway through 2017!
6. A Quick Fix: Work on Your Site’s Speed
Speed matters, possibly more than your content. Most visitors will leave a website after just a few seconds if it doesn’t load.
We weren’t kidding when we mentioned shorter attention spans.
Here are some basic elements you can change on your homepage to increase loading speed.
- Working on your images is an easy fix, for instance. The Internet is a visual medium by nature, so it makes sense that you’d want plenty of gorgeous photos on your site. But if you have too many, you’ll bog down your page’s responsiveness.
- Find out how quickly your site loads. Once again, Google has you covered. Is there anything they don’t think of? Check how fast your site is loading. If it’s too slow, it can affect your ranking.
7. Use Analytics Frequently
Google isn’t the only company that needs to make plenty of changes. A lot of the SEO experience comes down to guess work.
If you’re already operating online, you likely know how important analytics are already. They tell us everything from how many visitors our sites get to where the visitors come from.
They can even suggest the best times to post content! Pretty cool, right?
While we’ve provided a blueprint, you’ll still want to use your analytics to make sure it’s working.
And if there seems to be a problem, it may be time to head back to square one.
So now that you know the ins and outs of the SEO experience, it’s time to get to work! If you could use some help (and who couldn’t?) we’d love to offer some assistance.
Get in touch today and let us help you create an SEO strategy that’s guaranteed to work for your online business. And don’t forget, we’ve got plenty of free resources to help you conquer the web.