If you’re like most business owners in the digital age, then you probably measure you’re website’s effectiveness by the number of customers that it delivers to your doorstep. The more daily foot traffic that mentions seeing you online, the more time you invest on creating a great web-based user experience. And that’s great IF your website is creating fresh leads on a regular basis.
On the other hand, the #1 reason why business owners neglect their online presence is because they are not receiving an influx of customers from it, and then they illogically assume that it is because people are not looking online for that type of product/service. We all know that’s inaccurate though since people use their smartphones for everything these days. Just look around you…people are likely visiting your competitor’s websites while they’re inside your store shopping.
If you’re not sure if you’re one of our local Spartanburg faithful that’s neglecting their website presence, then here are five things you should be doing routinely-
Posting Fresh Content
Every time you post new content to your website, it’s like sending a distress beacon to Google that says, “Hey, look at me…I care about my customers.” And in turn, the search engines will begin to visit your website more often to ensure that your readers can always access the most recent content from the search engines. The beautiful thing is that fresh content doesn’t have to be elaborate articles either- it can be new product descriptions or new services/items, video and photographs, or even updates to existing pages.
Changing Your Homepage
Likewise, changing up your homepage even a little bit can have profound effects on your customers. That’s why all the big businesses switch up their homepage graphics frequently; it keeps the site feeling new and fresh without changing the actual navigation. So even if it’s just adding some new photos to your slider or adding a few banners, these changes really do matter in the grand scheme of things.
Social Media Updates
Whenever a consumer visits you on social media, the very first thing they do is look at the last thing posted by your company. And if the date is several months old, then that tells them that you’re not very interested in communicating with them. The crazy part is that you can post anything on social media to keep those engagement levels high- it can be anything from store branding to photographs to news content and local information.
Using Outdated Contact Forms
If a customer has to look at your website for more than three seconds to find your email address, phone number, store location or hours of operation, then you are seriously neglecting your website. In fact, this is the number one reason why consumers leave a website shortly after visiting it for the first time; they simply do not have the patience to hunt down information that you should display on every page. So if you’re guilty of this, fix it immediately.
Offering Very Little Core Content
Likewise, there is absolutely no excuse for not having great descriptions of what your business does, what products/services are available and why consumers should trust in you. This is the core of any great website, yet all of us come across horrible domains every single day that can’t answer even basic questions. Since this type of content also highly influences how well your website ranks, it is absolutely critical for your long term success.
It’s no secret that search engine optimization has changed drastically over the years as Google continuously adapts to reward the most helpful websites with coveted first page rankings. And for the average small business owner or entrepreneur that’s on the outside looking in, it can seem like executing the perfect SEO strategy is nearly impossib
What if I told you, however, that everything you need to know about search optimization is summarized in the very first sentence on this page?
Go ahead and look again if you don’t believe me- I’ll sit here and wait while you do it.
The websites that go out of their way to help their customers the most are the ones that SHOULD rank at the tops of the search engines. That was the goal in 1991 and it’s still the goal today. The only thing that’s really changed is that Google and Bing have become much better at detecting unsavory tactics that allow websites to artificially rank, but the goal still remains exactly the same.
So as we work through this guide together, I want you to remember one universal truth that can guarantee your excellent search placement for the next fifty years- the site with the best content should always win.
That means that as long as you’re making serious efforts to bolster your customer’s online experience, you will remain in favor with the search engines and continuously see improved results. It really is that simple.
Since this is an official SEO Strategy Guide, however, then you’ll probably want a little more detail than that to work with. So let’s get down to some key points of interest for your search optimization strategy.
Core Content is Everything in SEO
Old-school search optimization depended largely on stuffing keywords, cranking out tremendous amounts of content and getting any form of backlinks to your website.
The Internet back then was like the Wild West; everything was available for the taking if you didn’t mind being called an outlaw. And that’s why quality was almost an afterthought over the past two decades, the search engines did not have a strong enough algorithm in place to properly identify what we now call spam.
I won’t lie to you- some of those tactics still perform well with the major search engines these days. You can still take a few shortcuts building backlinks and almost any form of traffic is still considered a positive signal, even if it comes from spammy sources that have no interest at all with your brand. These black hat methods are becoming harder and harder to execute properly though, and there’s one crucial thing you have to remember about being an outlaw-
Outlaws eventually end up dead or in jail. So stop trying to be an SEO outlaw, even if think you’re the quickest draw in the West.
DO create informative content to educate your customers
DO update your FAQ and core information pages
DO commit to a weekly blog about your industry
DO share your blogs on social channels to increase engagement
Do focus on a quality over quantity approach
Do update or remove poorly written pages
Do post content that leads to additional actions (read more, call, opt-in, etc.)
So when it comes to content for your website, don’t even think about taking shortcuts in 2016 and beyond. Everything you post should engage your audience and help them learn a little bit more about your brand. That means you should be getting down to the nitty-gritty and sharing precise details about anything and everything your customers have questions about, and it should be written in a way that just makes sense.
Take Mobile Seriously
Let’s talk about backlink building as a search optimization method for a moment…and I’ll start with an obligatory, “Ladies and gentlemen, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position. We are about to experience some severe turbulence.”
Over the past few years, creating a solid backlink profile has become increasingly difficult. Let’s just look at what Google tells you not to do-
DO NOT guest post on websites with questionable ethics
DO NOT leave random comments with your link in it
DO NOT buy backlinks under any circumstance
DO NOT swap backlinks with other websites
DO NOT associate yourself with any spammy site
DO NOT use the same anchor text across most of your links
That’s where we reach the turbulence part of this journey, because chances are pretty darn good that you’ve violated some or all of those guidelines over the past few years. If that’s the case, then we strongly recommend that you disavow your less-than-reputable backlinks since your website is likely facing penalties because of it.
With that said, link building strategies have not changed much over the past year other than to avoid the ComLuv’s of the world that Google has clearly blacklisted. In fact, you should probably forget about any form of guest blogging where you’re permitted to insert a backlink straight to your website, unless it’s in an author bio. There are still tens of thousands of quality content sites to write for out there as well- just use a little more caution this time around.
Social media is still a powerful way to receive natural backlinks as well, and Google vastly prefers this approach since others are choosing to talk about you on their own sites. Other solid opportunities for gaining backlinks are creating highly-sharable content like infographics or case studies, utilizing directories within your niche, press releases and blogging about authorities within your industry.
One more word on backlinks before we move on. Remember that your profile does not need dozens of backlinks to every possible page in order to achieve solid overall rankings; this is the old-school formula for grey hat SEO and it is completely unnecessary. The search engines would rather see a handful of natural high authority links to your domain over thousands of weaker ones, so make sure your focus remains on quality partnerships.
Build Better Backlnks
Let’s talk about backlink building as a search optimization method for a moment…and I’ll start with an obligatory, “Ladies and gentlemen, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position. We are about to experience some severe turbulence.”
Over the past few years, creating a solid backlink profile has become increasingly difficult. Let’s just look at what Google tells you not to do-
DO NOT guest post on websites with questionable ethics
DO NOT leave random comments with your link in it
DO NOT buy backlinks under any circumstance
DO NOT swap backlinks with other websites
DO NOT associate yourself with any spammy site
DO NOT use the same anchor text across most of your links
That’s where we reach the turbulence part of this journey, because chances are pretty darn good that you’ve violated some or all of those guidelines over the past few years. If that’s the case, then we strongly recommend that you disavow your less-than-reputable backlinks since your website is likely facing penalties because of it.
With that said, link building strategies have not changed much over the past year other than to avoid the ComLuv’s of the world that Google has clearly blacklisted. In fact, you should probably forget about any form of guest blogging where you’re permitted to insert a backlink straight to your website, unless it’s in an author bio. There are still tens of thousands of quality content sites to write for out there as well- just use a little more caution this time around.
Social media is still a powerful way to receive natural backlinks as well, and Google vastly prefers this approach since others are choosing to talk about you on their own sites. Other solid opportunities for gaining backlinks are creating highly-sharable content like infographics or case studies, utilizing directories within your niche, press releases and blogging about authorities within your industry.
One more word on backlinks before we move on. Remember that your profile does not need dozens of backlinks to every possible page in order to achieve solid overall rankings; this is the old-school formula for grey hat SEO and it is completely unnecessary. The search engines would rather see a handful of natural high authority links to your domain over thousands of weaker ones, so make sure your focus remains on quality partnerships.
Local Search is Massive
Here’s a statistic worth remembering- almost 80% of all mobile searches in the United States directly lead to a purchase. Since almost 73% of those purchases occur in local brick and mortar stores, local search optimization (AKA Google Maps) should definitely become one of the most important parts of your overall SEO strategy in 2017 and beyond.
How do you optimize for the local search engines?
Create/verify your listings with all the major search engines
Complete the certification process to show that it’s your business
Complete your profile 100% (photos, categories, descriptions, etc.)
List a local contact phone number in your profile
Repeat this process on major directories (Yellow Pages, Yelp, etc.)
Ask your best customers for honest reviews/ratings
Build backlinks from social and authority sites
Focus on your main website’s core engagement levels
Essentially, Google and Bing want to see you treat your local search profiles exactly like you would your own website, so remember that the little things really do matter in this instance. Also, make sure that each of your local search profiles uses 100% unique content for the spiders to crawl, but all of the other information should be exactly the same. In other words, do not list different addresses, phone numbers and other information that the search engines could see as a conflict, and avoid toll free numbers altogether since they signal that you’re probably not seeking local business clients.
Monetization & Lead Generation
Quick question- why are you worried about your website’s SEO in the first place? And before you answer, let me point you right back to the very first sentence on this page once again. Because the answer you’re looking for should not be, “So I can make lots of money.”
Honestly, Google could care less if you are making income through your website or not.
Their only worry is that your site’s content makes visitors happy, and it is a huge red flag for the search engine giant if they see just a few paragraphs of text and a dozen or more ads. Without even looking at anything else, they know right off the bat what your real intentions are.
DO use appealing calls to action in contact forms
DO ask users to visit your social sites
DO monetize your pages in natural, logical ways
DO offer freebies and giveaways to generate leads
DO NOT lose focus on making great content the top priority
Now, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use ad banners and email captures on your website; just don’t do it in a way that would make people question your motives. Remember, this is not so much about the amount of advertising, but about how much actual content there is to balance it out.
So don’t be that guy who posts 12 flashing ad banners per page- not even John Chow does that anymore…and you’re no John Chow. That is, unless you are actually John Chow and you just happen to be reading my blog. If that’s the case, then I guess this last section doesn’t fully apply to you.
But for everyone that’s not named John Chow, then you may want to reconsider limiting your ad-space and focusing on your actual visitors instead.
Back-End Optimizations
Even though you probably have a web developer that handles the heavy lifting when it comes to the back-end of your website, there are several minor issues that could cause you to lose appeal to the search engines.
I won’t dwell here though, just scan through this list of miscellaneous items that could be harming your search ranking-
Slow loading times/not enough bandwidth
Poor navigational structures
Missing pages that do not properly redirect
Broken inbound and outbound backlinks
Images not properly labeled
Missing H1 (main title) tags
Lack of meta keywords & descriptions
Plugin conflicts that affect functionality
Suspicious redirects (possibly by hackers)
So if you see any of these issues, contact your system administrator and tell him that he stinks at his job. Then call me to fix the issues and we can make fun of that other guy together!
Keyword Research
You may have heard some of the experts mention that keywords are officially dead, and to some degree they are absolutely correct.
You should no longer be focused on things like keyword density or packing in as many combinations of key-phrases as you can in any given page. This is no longer a valid tactic since the search engines have made it abundantly clear that they are more focused on your visitor’s engagement levels.
At the same time, keywords certainly do still matter, so let’s go straight to our bullet points-
DO mention on at least one primary keyword on each page
DO use keyword software to find popular phrases with low competition
DO hyperlink your targeted keyword to other parts of your website
DO hyperlink your targeted keyword to authority sites within your niche
DO include your targeted keyword in the title, meta title, and description
DO NOT repeat keywords just for ranking purposes
DO NOT ever use a keyword unless it fits naturally within the text
DO NOT forget that quality and engagement are the most important factors
To prove that, let’s do a little experiment and talk about our famous SEO Keyword Spatula, which is something that I just completely made up for testing purposes. It does sound like a pretty cool product name though and since I bolded it, the search spiders will likely see it as being important. Notice that we’re not actually keyword stuffing though, since the phrase is only being used twice total.
If you take peek in AdWords, the phrase “SEO keyword spatula” has zero natural competition (as expected) but it is also somewhat related to almost 600,000 similar monthly searches containing both “SEO” and “keyword” within the phrase. And if our little experiment here works, then I should have the #1 ranking not only for the worthless phrase I just made up, but also have the opportunity for getting noticed in dozens of similar search terms that people are actively searching for.
Does that make sense? It’s sort of a backdoor ninja approach to capturing the easy stuff and possibly getting noticed in the ultra-competitive niches as well.
You should be doing the exact same thing with all of those long-tail keywords within your niche that others are not actively targeting. And the long-term benefits of consistently searching for and using new long-tail keyphrases within your website copy can pay serious cumulative rewards.
Video Marketing is Huge
Many people are on the fence about video marketing since Google cannot actively see the content contained within your embedded multimedia players. Hopefully by now you’re not going to make me refer you back to the very first sentence again though; modern SEO is not about what Google sees.
It is about how your visitors react to the core content on your domain. And if a video captures their attention while they’re visiting you, then Google doesn’t have to understand what they’re watching. It helps you anyway.
DO use videos to explain core products and services
DO share videos on social sites
DO share other videos on your site that resonate with viewers
DO keep the majority of your videos under two minutes
DO focus on lighting and sound quality
DO NOT hesitate to shoot simple, first person videos with a smartphone
Here is another incredibly important piece of the puzzle for video though– the most influential video hosting website on the planet is owned by Google. So not only does video marketing get the benefit of its very own search stream for consumers, but Google also prioritizes YouTube videos within both the natural and the video types of searches as well. So you literally get three streams of exposure by posting one video on YouTube and embedding it into your website…and your customers will love you for it.
What does a homeless young Korean man in a singing competition have to do with SEO and video marketing? It’s almost impossible not to be moved by his amazing journey…and that is engagement at its very finest. However, if your videos happen to answer the specific questions that your website’s visitors are contemplating, then it is an extremely powerful sales technique as well.
So while video marketing is not a core SEO factor all by itself, the engagement that it creates certainly matters.
Boosting On-Page Metrics
Throughout this guide so far, we’ve talked about the term “engagement” in almost every single section. It is certainly one of those buzzwords that are tossed around frequently by experts, but it hardly ever seems to get properly defined either. So let’s define it now by search engine standards.
Customer engagement refers to any positive action that is taken by a user on a website.
Any when I say “any positive action”, that’s exactly what I mean. Think about this for a moment- the average smartphone user visits a website and qualifies it in the mind in a mere three seconds. So if you manage to tick over to that four second mark, it’s a positive.
Not a good one, mind you, but still a plus in your favor nonetheless.
And your entire job as a website owner is to create more and more of those positive experiences so the search engines know that people are finding good stuff there. This can include any combination of the following-
Visiting multiple pages
Clicking on a backlink
Filling out a contact form
Leaving a comment
Sharing on social media
Watching a video
Downloading a file/app
Users revisiting to your website
Opting in for email alerts
Giving likes, +1’s or other nods
If you look in your Google Analytics account, the search giant has been tracking these types of metrics for years now, so it only makes sense that you should keep up with these key metrics as well. Every chance you get to create additional engagement helps your website overall, so know that your on-page metrics are as important as ever in the eyes of the search engines.
If you’re wondering how to boost your on-page statistics, just try to make each page as pleasant of an experience as possible for your visitors. Here are just a few techniques to do that-
DO focus on using only top notch writers
DO keep your navigation simple
DO add lots of visual elements to your website
DO incorporate video, charts, and infographs
DO use bullet points and subtitles to break up text
DO use bold and italics to make key points stand out
DO link internally so users have easy access to more content
Focusing on the Consumer
If you haven’t realized it by now, search engine optimization is all about the consumer. The more you go out of your way to provide great information and make your visitors happy, the more Yahoo, Google and Bing will reward you with a boost in natural rankings. And even though some of the things I’ve shared so far may seem super technical and difficult to implement, I’ll tell you one more time to read the first sentence of this article- that’s close to 85% of today’s SEO right there.
As long as you’re putting forth a genuine effort to become more helpful online than all of your competition, then you will eventually outrank them…even if it’s purely by dumb luck.
So let’s recap real fast with the highlights-
Write great content.
Optimize for mobile users.
Focus on quality backlinks.
Use local to your advantage.
Don’t be that guy with too many ads.
Make sure your website loads smoothly.
Continue to focus on keywords.
Post a few videos on your site.
Use smart page layouts to increase engagement.
Always focus on pleasing your consumers.
That’s not so hard, is it?
If you have any questions about modern search optimization or want to point out a tip or two that I missed, please feel free to reach out through my contact form or leave a comment below. I’m here to help.
When you write out text and descriptions on your website, are you sure that what you’re typing is the message that you want to deliver to customers?
For example, my wife is a beautiful Southern gal who speaks like she was raised in the country…mainly because she was in fact raised in the country. Whenever we are getting ready to go somewhere together, she will glance at me and say, “I’m in the car.”
But I’ll just stare at her and reply, “No dear, you’re in my office. The car is outside in the driveway.”
Every time, without fail, she will give me this “deer in the headlights” type of stare like I’m the craziest person on Earth. Because to her, the message was perfectly clear- she was going out to the car to wait for me. But that’s nowhere close to what she said.
Believe it or not, people tend to do these sorts of things all the time when writing copy for their websites. They say one thing and the public thinks that it means something entirely different.
Learn to Speak Directly to Your Readers
So if you really want to learn how to write sizzling page copy that makes your readers jump out of their seats and race into your store, it is essential for you to talk to them in a way that is easily understandable.
For example, how often do you make purchases from a website where the copywriting is so overly technical; you have no idea what it even means? Probably almost never. But authorities like the Harvard Business Review find that thousands of businesses write product descriptions that way anyway, simply because they do not know any better. That’s why it is so important for you to know your ideal customers though; it is impossible to communicate with them if you don’t know who they are in the first place.
Here’s a neat little trick you can use the next time you go to publish new content on the web. Head over to Readability Score.com and paste your document in the provided text box. Then look at the grade levels on the right side of the screen- your goal is to come out somewhere in the 8th to 12th grade levels. Anything over a 15 is probably too overly technical, while grades below a 7 mean that it is fairly simplistic.
So far, this blog ranks out at an 8.4, which usually means smooth, comfortable reading for everyone.
Less is Often More in Writing
One of my biggest personal struggles in writing is that I tend to get long-winded in a hurry and my articles often top out at 1,500 words or better. When you’re writing page copy though, short and concise is almost always the way to go. The reason is that USA Today found that 40-60% of your websites visitors are on a smartphone and they simply will not bother dealing with huge chunks of text.
So here is what I personally do. Whenever I write something for a client, I will get a rough outline of the main speaking points and then type everything I want to say in one sitting. Then, I’ll get up and grab a glass of water or walk around outside for a few minutes, just to let that text I had just written sort of drift out of my mind.
Once I’m re-focused, I’ll sit back down and edit the document line by line, and I will read each sentence as slowly as possible to see how it sounds in my head. In most cases, I will end up re-writing about 25% of what I typed the first time, just to make it more concise and easier for my readers to understand.
And as a professional writer, let me just say I realize that this is probably the very last thing you want to do. Heck, I don’t want to do it either. But when it comes to getting a clear message across to potential customers, it is definitely worth the extra few minutes you’ll spend on a quick edit.
Read and Write Every Chance You Get
Now, you may have glanced at that last sub-heading and thought to yourself, “That’s a pretty crummy tip- Keith is telling me to read and write?”
Yes I am. Because you would be amazed how much quicker the right words will come to you if you’re taking the time to write something every single day. And honestly, it doesn’t matter what that something is- it can be an email to a friend, dirty jokes on a napkin or even a full-blown movie script. The magic comes from the actual repetition itself.
On the flip side of that advice, you absolutely must spend more time reading quality material. Grab John Grisham’s latest novel, start reading the newspaper again or read almost anything that you enjoy that’s written by professionals. And whenever you come across a sentence or a paragraph that really makes you smile, then be sure to force yourself to stop and see why it worked so well. This is how almost 30% of the world’s non-English speakers learn our language…they start with sub-titles on television and progress from there.
I’ll leave you with this parting thought- writing is a skill that is definitely worth investing in, and it will open more doorways for you than any other single skill on the planet. So practice your writing and give your customers better page copy whenever you can…and it will definitely pay dividends over time.
About a week ago, I met with a prospective new client in downtown Greenville to discuss the possibility of working together on an internet marketing project. This was a little bit different from my typical business meeting, however, because this person was a small business owner who has also made significant money building affiliate websites in the past. So I was really looking forward to speaking someone who really understands the search engines and the many different forms of online marketing.
And our meeting started off fantastic. Within 2 or 3 minutes, we were speaking to each other like we were old friends and the conversation had already drifted well beyond the intended subject. We talked about NBA basketball and the dumb things out kids have done lately, and I honestly could have hung out with this personal all afternoon. He was a genuinely likable guy with a great mind for business.
Shortcuts Never Pay Off in the Long Run
Once we started showing off our profiles though and the many sites we’ve developed over the years; one thing became quickly apparent- this person used almost every black hat tactic in the book to drive traffic. Here are just a few of the things he named-
Using robots to post tens of thousands of comments per day for backlinks
Using spun content to guest post on thousands of low-class sites
Repeatedly spamming keywords to achieve undeserved rank
Buying backlinks in mass quantity from un-reputable sites
The list literally went on and on, and this person couldn’t understand why he was making $150,000 a year from internet marketing in 2010, but barely clearing $5,000 a year today. Anyone who knows anything about the search engines can answer that question though; those types of shortcuts end up hurting a lot more than they help in 2015.
Google Has One Heck of a Memory
When we pulled up this client’s Google Analytics account to look at some of his potential issues, he literally had a half million spam backlinks pointing to his sites and at least 10,000 pages of spun copy. And right there I knew, there was absolutely no way I wanted to be involved in his clean-up attempts. Honestly, he would be better off starting over on a brand new domain without any reputation whatsoever.
That’s definitely not the answer this client wanted to hear though, and his reaction was very common for someone hearing that kind of news. Because he didn’t think about the hundreds of hours where he used cheap tactics to cheat Google and obtain an artificial rank; his thoughts were on the tens of thousands of legitimate hours invested doing things the right way. All that effort was literally wasted though since he scammed the system…and it is extremely difficult to un-cheat when you do it on massive levels.
Repairing Former Lapses in Judgement
Here is the takeaway from this though- if you’ve crossed the line a few too many times when it comes to getting your website to rank, this is not something that will work itself out over time. While you can just keep on going about your merry way posting new content and doing things the right way, those “Ghosts of Google Past” are going to continue to slow your progress until you take the proper steps to clean them up.
So here’s what you need to do-
1) Head over to your Google Webmaster Tools account, click on “Search Traffic” and then look at “Links to Your Site”.
2) If you see that there are lots of links from spammy sources, you need to Disavow the bad backlinks or have a professional do it for you. If you don’t know for sure what you’re doing though, then contact someone for help.
3) When it comes to writing that you posted in unsavory directories and content mill types of sites, you’ll have to manually delete this content instead of reporting it to Google. The Disavow tool is only for reporting 3rd party links you had no hand in creating, but if your name is on it as the author…oops. You have to fix these issues yourself.
4) If there are pages on your website that a human wouldn’t get excited over reading, you have one of two options- delete them or replace them with fresh content. The search engines would prefer that you do the latter since it keeps your page hierarchy in place, but that may not be an option if you have hundreds of lousy pages.
5) Let’s also talk about anchor links for a moment, which are the words that any given hyperlink is tied to. Google has announced that natural links should contain a large variety of anchors on your website and around the web, so you need to clean these up on your site as well.
6) While you’re in Webmaster Tools, also take a look at your search appearance and index status. If there are errors, then either fix them or contact a professional that can walk you through the process. These are usually broken links or moved pages, but it could be responsive errors as well.
7) Finally, be sure to keep an eye on any additional errors in your Webmaster Tools account since this signals other reasons why you may be receiving search penalties.
So needless to say, I did not end up signing a new client the other week and I think the talk of our kids going to band camp together is off the table as well. That’s okay though, because at least that small business owner walked away with the right knowledge in place so he wouldn’t keep throwing more money into a site that’s been dead and buried for years.
Do you have any of your own Google penalty stories to share? Could have I done something differently to save this potential client relationship? Feel free to keep the conversation going and let me know!
If I had to pick one question that business owners ask me about the most, it would easily be, “What kind of content should I have on my website to get more visitors?” And I will quickly tell them that they’re asking the wrong question- because traffic is only half the formula of a successful website. The real goal is to convince those visitors to become real-life customers that support your brand.
Now, there’s one great thing about having lots of relevant content on your website; it attracts people and the search engine spiders exactly the same way. So the more you share with the world about your business, the faster your website will rank naturally. That means an increase in traffic AND since you have lots of great content, those potential customers are more likely to reach out to you as well. So it’s really a two for one benefit.
Excellent Core Content
To gain new visitors more frequently, strengthening the core content of your website is absolutely vital. Because think about it; you have no idea why someone happens to visit your website. Most companies offer dozens of products and services, so the inbound traffic could have an interest in any of them…but only if you provide solid initial answers to their questions first.
If you fail to do that, however, then the consumer is going to be off to the next business in the search results without thinking twice about you. That’s why you need to have AT LEAST-
One core web page for each of your main categories
One core sub-page for each of your products/services
One page answering the most common questions within your industry
An About Us page that tells the company’s history
A contact us page with all your location information
A testimonial page to show what happy customers have to say
A “specials” page with your current discounts and specials
A warranty page if that’s applicable to your business
Once you start doing the math, that’s easily 30-60 core pages that your website absolutely has to have in order to capture attention. And each of these pages needs visual elements (photos, charts, infographics, etc.) and solid formatting (sub-headings, bullet points, backlinks, etc.) as well. Your main pages should also offer video tutorials to assist your customers if you really want to make them pop.
An Informative Blog
Likewise, blogging is an awesome way to keep your visitors engaged, educate them about your industry and talk about things that are happening around town. There’s an equally important reason to have a daily-weekly blog as well though; the search engines absolutely love to see new content getting indexed. In fact, the more new information you post, the closer the search engines keep an eye on you…which helps you gain additional visibility at a lightning-fast pace.
In fact, if you do a quick search for a list of the current Fortune 500 companies and then start checking their sites for blogs, you may be surprised to find out that every single one of them use blogging to engage their customers on a daily basis. Some of them even have 3-5 blogs for different client-types, plus their marketing team writes for online publications like Forbes and the Wall Street Journal for even more exposure.
So even though you probably don’t want to bother with blogging, know that it’s the fastest way to put your brand on the www map. Not even paid advertising can consistently deliver the results that simple tips and other types of articles can provide.
Smart Social Optimization
Since almost every single one of your customers now carries a smartphone in their pockets, optimizing your local presence is no longer optional. Because here’s what happens-
A consumer does a Google search for “patio furniture” and they start browsing through the local search results to compare features and prices. That brings them to your Google+ or Bing Local page where they’ll see your logo and contact information, the link to your website, customer reviews and any blog posts that you’ve shared through that channel. This is assuming, of course, that you spent the same amount of time optimizing your social pages as you did your website. Most businesses don’t.
The sweet thing about sites like Google+ is that you can optimize them with photos and videos of your products, and then embed links straight to your website. So it definitely pays to spend an extra few hours per month keeping your profiles in tip-top shape, and this needs to happen on EVERY social channel that your business is registered on.
Great Video Tutorials
One final type of web content to consider is producing short video segments to give consumers a completely different type of visual experience on your website. You can add videos to all of your main category pages to give a quick overview of your products and services, plus create a video testimonial series with locals who really appreciate your business. And since people can’t help but click on video links when they see them, this will quickly become one of the most popular features on your website.
Additionally, smart videos can also be shared on your social media pages for even greater exposure, plus they get indexed by the search engines within their own category as well. So if someone searches for “How to file for bankruptcy” in the video search results and your local law firm has a short video on it, Google is going to prioritize your video above the national brands. Since this also boosts your website’s results and your local search presence, it’s a win/win/win strategy for almost any type of business.
Believe it or not, it’s not just business owners who can gain immense benefits from learning about internet marketing and search optimization. With some hard work and determination, almost anyone can drive in serious profits through a properly run website.
Well, I’d better back up for a moment and say that very few websites actually make any money at all. The reason that they fail is due to a lack of knowledge about how internet marketing really works, so they end up experimenting, getting frustrated and ultimately quitting. To me, that’s not really a failure though…that’s like walking into a knife fight with a set of salad tongs and hoping for the best. It just doesn’t end too pretty when you’re not really prepared.
That’s why I start every conversation with new clients with one simple question- how will the website you want me to build help you make more money?
Even though I can find the answer to that question myself for most industries, it’s the client who will ultimately sink or swim with their new domain unless they have a solid grasp on where their customers are coming from, what type of information those people are looking for and how to actually get them to go from being a lead to a customer.
Even if Upstate Synergy is running your campaigns for you, there still has to be someone on your end responding to leads via email, social media and through your website. And when people search for a business from their smartphones, they want the answers they’re looking for RIGHT NOW. If you can’t provide that then they’re on to the next business…and that’s where most internet marketing campaigns end up falling short of their projected mark.
So understand this- internet marketing can completely revolutionize your business if you are fully dedicated to the process. I have clients every single day that see their bottom line go from zeroes to heroes by optimizing their websites and working their online leads properly, but a web development firm can only do so much.
In other words, it is my job to deliver the leads to your doorstep. It is your job to close the deal. And if you’re not willing to learn how the lead generation process works, then you shouldn’t invest another penny in your website or any form of online marketing.
The good news is that Upstate Synergy is here to teach you everything you could possibly need to know about internet marketing and we will happily come to your Upstate business and fully educate your staff on the latest trends and techniques. So if your current campaigns are not delivering new customers to your doorstep, feel free to contact us through the enclosed form and we’ll happily perform a free website analysis to see what you can be doing better.
