You’ve heard about social media and email marketing. You’ve been posting content consistently and interacting with your audience. Still not where you want to be in terms of web traffic and sales? It’s time to start practicing Search Engine Optimization.
Although it’s important to follow through with your social media marketing plan, long-form content is necessary to take your business to the next level.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
When writing content (blogs, website copy, etc) to promote your brand, strategically placing keywords throughout your posts will help you appear at the top of the list on search engines.
For example, if you are a marketing strategist that works with health and fitness influencers, potential clients searching the web for your services will probably type “marketing strategist for health and fitness” into google.
Using the right keywords that will trigger the algorithm to place your content first on the search engine will help you get more web traffic, leads, and sales.
How can SEO expand my business?
Optimizing your posts so that search engines rank them higher will naturally bring more traffic to your site, as a higher position in searches means higher visibility.
SEO will help your business expand in more than one way though. Utilizing this tool will give you more credibility and lasting results.
The high-profile clients that you want to work with are probably not spending much time scrolling on social media, but they are still looking for talent.
Most likely, they are using a search engine to find professionals they can hire.
Consumers tend to believe that businesses ranked higher in search engines are more credible and trustworthy. When you strategically craft your online content with this in mind, you will gain credibility with your target audience.
The people that look to hire talent this way tend to be higher end clients and will pay more for your services.
Search Engine Optimization also creates lasting results.
The average blog post is six times more effective than posting on social media.
How long is an instagram post effective? 48 hours?
Blog content is seen much longer than traditional social media posts since this content can be found through search engines and shared on multiple platforms.
It takes more time and planning to optimize your content so that search engines pick it up, but it’s worth it.
How much does it cost?
Lucky for you, optimizing your content to be picked up by the algorithm is one of the least expensive ways to market your business.
Unlike paying for Facebook and Instagram ads, SEO can be employed for free.
With a few hours of research, you can add keywords to your content and increase the chances of being seen by new customers.
Don’t have time to devote to this task? That’s completely understandable.
It’s perfectly okay to outsource this work so that you can spend time on higher priority tasks. Set up a free discovery call with me if you need assistance in this arena.
How do I choose the right keywords?
Start by making a list of topics that are relevant to your business. Think about what topics your target audience will be searching for.
After you come up with at least five, list a few related keywords under each term you come up with.
Once you have your preliminary list, it’s time to dive deeper into keyword research.
There are many different sites that can help you make sure that you are utilizing the correct keywords. One of them is Ubersuggest.
When you type your keywords into this platform, the site will generate related search topics and show you how many searches the terms generate each month. This information will help you gauge the effectiveness of the keywords you drafted earlier.
Other sites like Google Analytics, Keyword Hero, and Bing Webmaster can be helpful tools while you complete this research.
The Sales Funnel
The sales funnel refers to the steps potential customers go through before they make a purchase.
In order to expand your business, you will first need to increase public awareness of your brand.
Search Engine Optimization will spread your content to a new audience that is not familiar with you or your brand.
When you have optimized your web pages, more traffic will begin to flood to your page.
With the right cues in place on your site to guide a potential customer to become a part of your online community (pop up to join email list, space to book an appointment with you, etc), you will help your website visitors move down the funnel and closer towards a sale.
The broader the net you cast, the more fish you’ll catch.
- Use keywords in your images
- Rename the file of the images you plan to post online to reflect your keywords
- Research your competition
- Find out what keywords your competitors are using on there site and use them yourself!
- Find questions that need to be answered, and answer them in your content.
- Are potential clients asking you the same questions over and over again? Create some content around this topic. This tactic combined with SEO will increase your web traffic
Now that you have enough information to get started, get to optimizing your web page!
Does the task seem like too much to handle right now? No need to worry. Set up a free discovery call with me to take your business to the next level.
I recently posted an IGTV video where I discussed SEO and content marketing strategies. Check it out!
