How to Craft an Effective SEO Strategy

SEO Strategy: How to Succeed Search engine optimization (SEO) can be quite a complicated machine. Not only that, but it is one that is constantly evolving and that has tons of moving parts. Thankfully, even if you do not have a large budget to outsource SEO services to someone else, there are a few basic principles that you can stick to in order to at least capture the low-hanging fruit when it comes to SEO and in turn to drive some traffic to your website.

As with most important things, the first step in creating a successful strategy is to create a plan- namely to set goals on what you would like to achieve. Remember to keep them SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-based) though as dreams are not the same as goals! From there, it will be much easier to see results as you aim for your defined goals.

When it comes to implementation, it is important to stay focused on current strategies and not the past. Things like an over-emphasis on keywords are really a thing of the past and may even harm you in today’s climate. Keyphrases or long-tail terms are really a better way to think about things as those are what people are searching for. They also often appear a lot more naturally in content and sound better to visitors too. It is important not to focus on these too much too and to keep content are genuine and real as possible, but keeping keyphrases in the back of your mind certainly won’t hurt.

As you develop your content, always keep the end user in mind and you will already place yourself a couple of steps ahead of the game when it comes to doing well with Google and other search engines. Aside from killer content, do your research on everything relevant to your website as possible. This includes keyphrases that people are actually searching for and competition analysis. Incorporate this into your SMART goals and subsequently into your plans to achieve those goals and you will realize some synergies in your strategy.

In addition to on-site changes, it is important to stay on Google’s good side and to provide it with certain information that may help you. Keeping profiles on relevant Google websites (such as Hangouts and if you are a local business filling out local listing details and claiming your business) as well as notable social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter is important as Google derives a lot of information from these sources and growingly is placing more emphasis on them in generating search results.

Once you have a solid social network presence built around a site that has strong content and has some sort of online presence via backlinks (tread lightly and keep the links believable and relevant to avoid getting dinged), it is time to do some research on your competitors and to really see what is working in your niche and what isn’t. From there, see how you can incorporate these ideas into your website strategy in order to improve SEO and drive rankings higher.

If you follow the information in this post, you will have a solid foundation on which to build your search engine strategy. Good luck!

If you have any questions in regards to the SEO optimization for your website please contact us for a free consultation.

Image credit: Robert Churchill

Expanding Your Social Media Presence For SEO

Expanding Your Social Media Presence For SEOSocial media and social networking is how business is done nowadays. Without a presence, without acumen in how to do things, you’re going to be so far back of the pack that you might as well not even exist.

It’s not a philosophical issue, but one of the reality of today’s marketing. Without a social media presence you’re not going to get far especially if you’re selling your services and goods.
Clients are always looking for the best fort he lowest cost. That’s it in an nutshell. If no one knows you exist, you could have the next best thing to sliced bread and it wouldn’t do you any good.

It’s a nightmare if you don’t know how to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the rest. You’ll need to hire a social media marketer and they can cost a fortune. These experts charge a lot and for good reason, they usually get results, but the field is chock full of scammers and other criminals who promise to make you a viral sensation overnight but all they do is take your money and either don’t do a thing or do a superficial showcase of their own ill gotten links, trades, shares, that makes Google boil with anger and will get your site penalized or beaten so far into the ground reputation-wise that it would take a miracle to pull you back.

You can study up on how to do social media marketing but by the time you get the course or instructions, the information inside is so old it’s no longer effective. The pros aren’t going to display their secrets, no, they’re going to hog them to themselves because they know there’s no shortage of ne’er-do-wells just waiting to take their place and squeeze them out of the market.

So how does one battle these obstacles? By first realizing that it takes patience. It takes planning and follow up. You’re going to get people to pay attention to you and then your business. Make sure your website or blog is up to snuff. Meaning, it’s professional, with proper spelling, well tagged and relevant pics, good to great copywriting, a sitemap, NAP (Name Address Phone) in prominent placement and engaging presence so that people will show up, convert, and retain. That’s it. That’s your goal and a few simple steps can get you on your way.

First of all, get yourself your personal and business accounts on these social media networks. Once that’s done, become friends with those in need of your services and products. If you’re a pet grooming service then look for people in your area who have pets. Look for the fan clubs of those pets too. Share their pictures and videos and validate them for their posts and contributions. People will grow toward you and when you speak, they’ll listen. Don’t spam them, don’t overwhelm them, just keep conversations natural and never, ever get into a fight or debate.
Soon, you’ll see your influence grow. You’ll be in contact with people who are organically interested in what you do. When that person shows off the horrible haircut their prized poodle got, you dive right in and let it be known that your company would never allow such a thing to happen and how you will offer to fix the problem for free. The person will almost faint. A free doggie do? Others will notice the generous offer and when you’re done and the job is spectacular, you have a legitimate claim to fame that you can milk for years to come. Opportunities like this are what make or break you. Let’s say a comparative photo shows what the poodle looked like ‘before’ and ‘after’ with your URL at the bottom of it. It’s going to be posted on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and the rest for a long, long time, ever driving more traffic to your social media pages, websites, and blogs.
See how simple it is? It take patience, it takes some good old fashion good communication and showing off what you do best.