While online presence can be shaped to help small businesses, too many companies just aren’t taking advantage of SEO. Search Engine Optimization allows your company to be found on the internet. Having a strategic SEO campaign can make the difference between showing up in search results or being buried on the 10th page of a search.
Search engines have tools called web crawlers that go through and index every site in order to categorize it. This is what allows search engines to return such fast results.
When users search for a service, their results are often catered to their local region. If you’re not getting the results you want from a local customer base, follow these 4 steps for a successful SEO campaign.
You need to start with a strong idea of what kind of growth you hope to see from your SEO campaign. If you haven’t already set up a Google Analytics account, set one up so that you can track your growth.
Think about which customers you’re trying to reach that you haven’t quite gotten to yet. Define their characteristics and think about how what they want when they visit your site.
Make a list of achievements you want to see so that you can start to see how SEO can help.
Start by searching how you think customers would search for you. See where you are in the results and compare it to your local competitors. Look at the metadata and keywords for their sites and be sure you’re including those on your site.
See which keywords perform the best and which don’t give you the results you want. Adjust accordingly and be sure that you’re using local and neighborhood-based terms in your SEO campaign. Instead of just “taco restaurant DC”, try “taco restaurant Capital Hill White House” to target your customers.
Try Google’s own keyword tool to take advantage of search terms.
When web crawlers index a website, they take into account the hierarchical design of the site. If your site is a mess with broken links, duplicate content, and dead ends, clean up your site.
A site that’s easy to crawl will be rewarded by crawlers that index all the content on your site.
Take a look at what your competitors are doing to create unique content. Be sure that you use original images whenever possible. Again, avoid duplicates.
Think about adding a blog to your website. This not only gives you the opportunity to use keywords in a manner relevant to visitors, but it also shows off your expertise.
Brand loyalty is an important sales strategy. By giving away a few of your secrets or a list of helpful hints on how to use your product, you show confidence in your brand to your customers.
As most people are finding the services they need over the internet, being able to be found first means that you have the first crack at the overall customer base. Don’t blow it. Have a simple and elegant website that wows them on their first visit.
If you need help forming your company’s SEO campaign, contact us for more tips to build your stake in the market.