Search engines are a key resource for individuals to find businesses, products and services online. With the growth of search engine use, the use of other traditional marketing tactics has reduced. For your business to grow, you should strive to adapt to the changes in the ways customers search for you.
Savvy businesses use search engine optimization plans as a roadmap to reach new customers and attract them to their website. A good SEO plan involves keywords, quality content, trustworthy links and incorporating other online marketing avenues such as social media.
An effective SEO Plan can help you get found with keywords.
Many SEO plans focus on keywords, but it’s important to remember that there is more to SEO than words. Consider “match types,” which are the different categories of keyword SEO. These include exact keywords, phrases, broad match and negative keywords (where your ads don’t show for specific keywords you indicate.) According to Google AdWords, no matter which of these match types you use, try looking for keywords/phrases that rank low for competition but fairly high for consumer demand. Your plan should allow for periodic testing and opportunities to change your keywords.
Focused SEO Plans use quality content to engage customers.
Consumers are highly interested in content that they find valuable. They hope your website is not a virtual brochure of your company, detailing everything from how your business started to your plans for growth. Instead they want to see how your business is ready (and able) to help them solve a need or problem they have. They want to see your expertise through photos, videos, customer testimonials, engaging articles, anything as long as they find it valuable. They are interested in lists of “top 5,” or “best of.” If content is provided in a quality way, they are more likely to turn to you when they make the decision to purchase.
Incorporate website links in your SEO Plan to rank higher in search results.
One of the many things search engines look for when ranking your site in search results, is your sites’ link profile, which are inbound (links from other sites to yours), outbound (links from your site to other sites) and internal links (links that allow users to navigate within your site.) It is important to make sure all of those links are relevant and trustworthy to users.
To link from other sites to yours, contact your vendors or some of your customers who have websites. Ask them how you might work together to help promote each other. Then provide them with your logo image, link and online copy you would like them to use on their site.
Include other online avenues in your SEO Plan to reach new audiences.
Social media is now a major part of many businesses SEO plans. If your business is not involved with social media it could mean you are leaving new traffic on the table. Make sure social media is part of your SEO plan especially if your target audience is heavily involved in it; say the 19-35 year-old population. Make it easy for new users to navigate to your website easily from your social media sites. That said, making sure you link to your site consistently helps build inbound links (see above) and can increase your SEO.
By understanding the value and proper use of keywords, content, marketing and links, you can easily create a site-specific SEO plan that search engines and your audience alike will notice and appreciate.
What is the No. 1 thing you’ve done to improve your SEO? Let us know, we’d love to hear from you.
