SEO Strategy is Foundational
SEO Strategy is an important foundation for any SEO campaign. Part of that strategy is optimising the onsite SEO.
Anyone who owns a business knows that optimising their business’ website is important. They may even have a basic understanding of search engine optimisation tactics. But, as with anything, SEO Strategy planning is fundamental to developing a successful strategy. Before you jump in, take some time to do research and build a plan for your digital campaign. Taking a little time to work out a plan of attack now, can save you a lot of time and help you to avoid mistakes and missed opportunities later. Here are some suggestions to help you get started planning your own successful optimisation campaign.
Keyword Research
The first stage of the SEO Strategy planning process is research. And the truth is, you will probably be doing more research at every step of the planning process as new questions come up. Start by researching your market. Who is your demographic? What are their concerns? How can your product or service benefit them? And what might lead them to seek out what you have to offer? Consider the questions or concerns that they may have and how you can answer those concerns.
Choose Keywords
Once you have figured out what your potential customers are looking for, think about how they may look for it in a search engine. The things your potential customers type into a search bar are your keyword phrases. There are likely to be many different ways they will go looking for your services. Let’s say that you run a bakery. You specialise in gourmet cupcakes. Understandably, you may choose “gourmet cupcakes” as a keyword. But what about “cupcakes for weddings” or “gourmet cupcakes for weddings”? How about adding your location to the end of that keyword phrase so that people in your city will be able to find you? Try building a list of keyword phrases to get you started.
Once you have your list, it is time to do some more research. You should check in with a program such as Google’s keyword tool to see what kind of competition there is for the keyword phrases you have selected. If the word is too competitive, you should rethink using it. A good keyword program will also show you how many people are searching for that keyword phrase. As long as someone is searching for it, it is usually worth using.
Create Keyword Centered Content
Now that you have a few keyword phrases, what will you do with them? You will build content around them. Write great, informative articles that mention the keyword phrase a couple of times through out the article. Do not overload your article with keyword phrases. Take one of your keyword phrases and use it a couple of times. You can use a new keyword phrase for every article. You may even have more than one article that uses a particular keyword phrase. Going back to the bakery example, if you need an article that uses “gourmet cupcakes for weddings” then you might write an article about new wedding trends and mention that one new trend involves having a tiered cake stand filled with beautiful gourmet cupcakes instead of the traditional wedding cake.
Make a Blog
Make a blog – once you have a few informative, well-written articles, you will need a place to put them. That is where having a blog comes in. Many businesses have a blog attached to their website, and for good reason. A blog is a place to store the content that you will be creating regularly. Regularly updating your blog is one piece of the algorithm that will make your site attractive to the search engines. When people come looking for answers to their questions like, “Where can I find gourmet cupcakes for my baby shower in Brisbane, Australia?” your content may lead them to your site. Traffic is also a part of what makes your site attractive to the web crawler.
Develop a Link Building Plan
Another part of the puzzle that tells a search engine the value of your site is the number and quality of backlinks you have. That means if you have major players in your niche linking to your site, the search engines will think that your site is pretty fantastic and it will rank you accordingly. But, how do you attract those links from other sites? There are many ways to build links to your site, but here are a few suggestions.
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Write guest posts.
If you can prove yourself enough of an authority on a subject or can convince a blogger or publication that you have something to offer them, you can author an article for them. Depending on the rules of that particular site or publication, you may be able to include a link to your site. But even if you can’t add a link, they should let you mention your site in a brief author’s bio at the end of the article. -
Promote your content.
Hoping for a lucky break when people enter a search query is certainly one way to get your content seen. There is nothing wrong, however, with doing a little promotion. You can promote your content on social media or through email campaigns. You can even contact influencers in your niche community and introduce your self, sending a link to one of your best posts. If they find it useful, they may mention you. -
Write testimonials.
If you have found a site particularly useful, why not write a testimonial either for the site or for their product or service. It is a good way to build good will and may just earn you a backlink. -
Donate to a worthy cause.
Sometimes, if you donate to a nonprofit, they will let you submit a link that they can then promote on their website. A quick web search can even show you which nonprofits will do that. Try to pick something that relates to your niche so that you will get your link in front of people who will find it useful. -
Attach social media to your site.
Connecting social media to your site can also increase traffic and thus contribute to a boosted ranking. Attaching social media to your website can allow you to update customers when you have a new product or post. It can be used to direct people to your content and ultimately to the goods or services you offer. More importantly, it can allow followers to share your links with their friends.
Keep Up To Date on SEO Strategy & Practices
The internet is an ever changing entity. Just because you have built a beautiful website and things seem to be going great does not mean that things will always be good. The next time Google updates its search ranking formulas, you may find a significant change to your website traffic. That is why it is important to keep abreast of the latest updates to search engines and stay up to date on the latest search engine optimisation practices. It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for the latest practices because it can give you an edge over your competitors. Anything that can keep you ahead is worth the time to do it.
Track Your Progress
How will you know how successful you are if you are not tracking your progress? Create a table or spread sheet to help you track your weekly and monthly progress. Monitor things like indexed pages, inbound links and your actual ranking when you do a web search. Knowing where you are succeeding and where you could be doing better can also give you perspective. If something is working, keep doing it. If something isn’t working, then you know where to focus a little more effort.
Be Patient
Success rarely happens over night, SEO Strategy is all about planning long term for powerful results. It is something that you have to work at consistently. But, if you are willing to put in the time and effort, your hard work will pay off. Progress may come slowly at first, but it will come. Don’t give up.
As with anything, good optimisation requires good SEO Strategy planning. A good SEO Strategy starts with strong research. You must research the market and develop an SEO strategy for promoting your site and thus your business.
Patience and dedication are key to being successful.
So, plan, research, write great content, post it, build backlinks and promote your work.
If you put forth a consistent effort, you are sure to see results.
