If you’ve never heard the term SEO or Search Engine Optimization this is going to become a very familiar term that you will come across as an aspiring internet marketer- it will come in various forms i.e. companies trying to sell it to you to make your site perform/rank better or bundled within various marketing packages.
SEO is basically the process of improving how easy it is for search engines to find your website or web page in their unpaid (organic) results. This is very important for any online business startup with no funds for advertising costs ( I don’t spend a single dime on advertising because it’s not necessary).
Our ultimate goal when creating content for our sites is to achieve a first-page ranking within the search engines i.e Google, Bing, Yahoo etc because this is where the majority of our traffic will stem from. More traffic equates to more potential revenue for your business.
SEO is targeted at various search results such as a web search, a video search, an image search, a local search. But you already knew that! So how does all this SEO talk affect your website and online business?
SEO focuses on the mechanics of search engines, in other words- what online users are searching for and the specific keywords that they are using within the search engines.
Optimizing your website means that whilst creating your content you will be increasing its relevance by including specific keywords to ensure that the search engines consider your content to be of a high quality and index your pages accordingly. It not very complicated and that’s all there is to it.
Dont be fooled by various companies trying to sell you something that you can easily do by yourself.
Below are a few helpful tips to achieve effective SEO, if you get into a good routine of implementing these strategies from the onset then you will effortlessly get rankings and visibility every time.
Can Your Visitors Navigate Your Site Easily?
Your site should be a joy for the visitor to navigate and content should be laid out in a readable format to keep the visitors engaged. Ensure that your layout and menus are not complex as this will discourage your visitors from staying long.
Test your site to ensure that all your links and pages are working if you want to be successful at SEO.
Your site should also be good to look at- use the same font throughout your site and include relevant images within your articles. We are all visual by nature and good use of images breaks up your content and is easier on the eye.
There’s no point generating traffic if it doesn’t stay around for long. Good design and navigation is necessary- keep these a priority when building out your site and you are likely to get repeat visitors that would have bookmarked your site or recommended it to their friends.
Is Your Content RELEVANT?
I explained this briefly earlier on and would like to expand on what relevant content actually entails. If a visitor were to search for “places to travel with the best beaches” and they landed on your site only to find a list of beach names with no description or imagery, they are likely to leave your site without a second glance or at best use your list to get better information elsewhere on other sites.
The best approach with content is to provide your visitor with the information they seek by being as descriptive and original as possible. You or somebody that you know might have even visited a spectacular beach whilst on holiday- you can explain your experience, how it made you feel whilst there, were the people by the beach were friendly? Did you take any pictures of the beach? Then you could include them as well. This example shows the basis of relevant content.
How do you find Keywords that rank like HOT CAKES?
When researching your content it is vital to use a reputable keyword research tool to help put together your article in a way that it can get discovered by search engines. Here is how my research process usually begins-
- Brainstorming my topics by jotting down a list of my ideas. My preferred keyword tool has this feature inbuilt.
- Search for powerful keywords for each of my ideas.
- Save a list of the best keywords that I can refer to later.
- Structure my article by drafting out my headings i.e introduction title, paragraph title, paragraph title, concluding title.
- Include my keywords in the title and first paragraph of my article.
- Write out my article in a natural engaging way.
The above process consistently ensures that I create my articles in the most efficient time-saving way.
Be Precise
Once you have a solid keyword research and content creation process you should make sure that the theme of your site is obvious to the visitor. They should know what your site is about within a few seconds of landing on your site. Ensure that your Logo, Slogan and site title reflect the message that you are trying to put across to your audience.
Don’t overload your article with keywords as this will affect the quality of your content and inevitable your site will get the boot from the search engines. The best approach is to act as though you are having a conversation with your audience as you write out your article.
You wouldn’t start a conversation like this “destination with best beaches 2015″ unless you want to sound like a robot. A more natural conversation would be “Lanikai beach was an awesome discovery whilst on holiday in Hawaii this year because of its stunning views and soft powdery white sand”.
Conclusion
The above suggestions have worked for me and are an effective formula in producing top-ranking pages that convert.
Remember to write your article with a view of helping your audience first and the rest will fall into place.
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