SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, or in more basic terms, how you will rank higher in query results for search engines such as google. SEO iS a “free” element of your Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategy which encompasses both on and off page tactics to rule keyword rankings.

 

What Can SEO Do for Your Small Businesses?

I recently read that it your business isn’t online, it has an expiration date, and i couldn’t think of a better way to phrase that. No matter your past success; whether it’s a long standing family owned business, a personal training venture, or even a small organic farm selling at farmers markets- your competition is online and getting in front of thousands of YOUR potential customers. Search Engine Optimization gives your website a chance to rank with the big guys whenever someone is actively searching for the product or service that you offer. Let’s dive into the top SEO strategy types:

On-Page SEO Definition

Put simply, on-page SEO marketing refers to the way your website’s content is presented to search engines.  The most important tactics to boost your on page SEO rank include keyword research, your marketing copy, and detailed website coding.

Keyword Research Strategies

Keyword research is probably the best tactic in online marketing, if used correctly.  Through community involvement in your niche (a topic I discussed in this blog), you should already have a pretty good idea of what your competitive keywords are in your business.  The problem is, so do most of your competitors who could possibly have a larger marketing budget.  So the best way to compete is to do the research on the competitive keywords, the low hanging fruit that you could preform well in, and most importantly, the actionable keywords that signal that a customer is searching to make the purchase now.  By the way, in case you were wondering, yes we ARE Google Certified in keyword research through Google Ads & Google Analytics.  Check out our SEO packages if you’d like a little bit of help.

How to Optimize Your Marketing Copy for Search Engines

This step comes after keyword research for a reason, you should never write online copy without keeping these keywords in the forefront of your goals.  But the trick is  to create relevant content for these keywords.  This means you can’t just plug those bad boys in to pop you up in the SERP rankings; you need to place them within the content and show you are an authority in the matter.  You see, search engines, like Google, don’t just rank results on CPC or keyword count.  There is also the a little thing called “Quality Score” which ranks your CTR, CPC, and keyword relevance.  And yes, we ARE Certified Direct- Response Copywriters – take a look at our SEO Content packages if you’re ready to up your rankings today.

Website Coding Tactics for Better SEO

This one sounds a lot more intimidating than it actually is.  Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, H1/H2 headlines and Alt Descriptions sound like a bunch of jargon that you probably want no part in.  BUT! These are important factors that are pretty simple to implement.  To keep this blog brief, I’ll just link this article from Neil Patel, who is known to be the SEO Guru for the biggest companies worldwide.  BUT WAIT, there’s more!  You guessed it, we are Google Analytics Certified to help you navigate your Google Search Console opportunities for better SEM.

What is Off-Page SEO

Off page SEO encompasses techniques used to promote your website encouraging link clicks to arrive to your site.  This ultimately improves your website position in a search engine results page (SERP), and gives more visibility to your content.  In other words, off page SEO is basically a “popular voting” system that tells search engines that people are endorsing your content- both by creating the links and clicking them.

Link-Building Optimization

Link-building was basically the birth of black-hat SEO and spamming.  Originally people were “cheating the system” by commenting on lots of blogs or forums with links back to their websites.  But as the Google algorithm updated, this spammy way of creating links became a penalty rather than a vote for your site relevance.  The best way to create inbound links to your site is to create fans of your brand.  You can do this in two ways:

PR Pitches to Validated Websites

Perhaps the most automated way to do this is a “cold call” email.  But these impersonal templated email blasts are proving to be less and less effective.  You need to do research behind every email pitch you send, find something in common and first become a fan of their brand.  Offer to support them in some way, because karma is real.  Another great source is through the Help A Reporter Out (HARO) daily email pitches.  And guess what, we already have a HARO account set up to do your pitches for you, just check out our Content Marketing packages.

Shouldering Industry Colleagues

Follow your niche as I described in this blog, and try and find some shouldering industries.  What are shouldering industries you say?  We’ll use our client Aporei (Bridal Lingerie) as an example-  Aporei will partner with (and support) other small businesses in the wedding industry who aren’t necessarily competitors, but are most likely attracting the same clientele.  From there, they can create a mutually beneficial relationships through blog links, promotional campaigns, and cross platform marketing emails– all creating backlinks to each other’s sites.  Hey, guess what, we’ll help you do this too when we do a strategy consulting service for your business.

Social Media SEO

Lots of people forget that social media is just another form of SEO- off page SEO.  Yes, the main goal of social media is to create a community and become an advocate for your customers in your specialized niche.  But the other side of social media is obtaining those coveted backlinks to your site.  You want your community to be sharing your content, tagging you as an authority.  So, I think you know what we are going to say here– We are Certified Social Media Strategists that can help you identify the communities to be involved in, and the backlinks to target for your market.  So, let’s do this social media package.

Summary of Implementing an SEO Strategy

If you skimmed this article and are looking for a quick conclusion, takeaway this: I intro’d this article by highlighting that SEO is a “free” element of your marketing strategy- but as we all know nothing is ever free. As a small business owner your time is the one non-renewable asset that your company holds. So if you’re not ready to give up hours taking certifications and keeping up with the newest trends in Google algorithm releases or Facebook content strategies, let’s have a quick consultation and discuss how to prioritize what is important to YOUR specific business.