Getting your small business website found on Google.
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is a buzz word in the marketing and web development industries. SEO strategies are the best methods of driving free visitors to your website. You can pay to generate online leads with Pay-Per-Click ads or other online ads and directories, however, organic traffic offers no fees. The only cost is within the website itself.
The higher your site ranks on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Altavista, the more potential business you will gain. Your website is a billboard in the middle of no where. You need to put your site where your potential business is already looking.
Optimizing your site can lead to:
* Higher sales
* Increased profits
* Enhancing your reputation as a professional
* Boost your brand
* Establish tremendous customer loyalty
* Establish your credibility
Dominate your competition with these core SEO strategies.
1. On-Page Website Optimization
2. Content Strategy Development
3. Landing Pages
On-Page Website Optimization
Keywords are what your potential customers type into Google in order to find your website. As a small business owner you need to stop thinking in terms of “this is my business website”. Instead think like a customer. What words would your customers use to get more information about your business?
Using tools like Google Adwords Keyword Tool, you can start to identify relevant keywords and how much traffic they already get. A typical page can be optimized for 2 - 4 keywords. Choose 2 main keywords for your home page. Then go through your website pages and select 1-4 keywords that describe what’s on each page. Use no more than 40 keywords throughout the entire website.
Get your webmaster to change the following to keyword(s) you’ve determined
Page title, Headings (H1), Image Alt Text, update the page description, and link keywords to other pages on the site.
Content Strategy Development
As a business owner your job is to create content that best communicates who you are, be interesting to your customers, and is keyword-rich for the search engines to find the page.
This is easier said than done. You need to allocate time and resources to this effort but the results are worth it.
First, what does your business do best? By clarifying your business’s identity and clearly communicating what you offer, your content creation will be more effective.
Content comes in the form of website pages, blog articles, videos.
The primary point of a blog on your company’s website is to connect with customers and prospects. Allowing comments is a great way to receive feedback and this builds trust. Blog articles are generally short, contain tags to categorize articles, and offer various sharing options.
Creating a videos is a good way to boost traffic, entertain or inform your customer or prospect, and optimize keywords for the search engines. Having an optimized video on your site increases your chances of showing up on the first page of Google in an organic search dramatically – more than 50 times greater than if you just had text on the page.
Landing Pages
If one of your goals for having a website is to generate leads and convert visitors, then considering using Landing Pages.
If you do Pay-Per-Click advertising or email marketing, don’t send visitors to your homepage. Send them to a Landing Page (or squeeze page) instead. This allows you to traffic the effectiveness of your campaign and increase your conversion rate from visitor to lead.
A landing page offers a compelling call to action with a form & button to submit, is visually easy on the eye, and has no navigation so visitors stay to complete the form. Do not include a “Homepage” button for visitors to be able to get off the landing page.
Keep these pages simple but branded to your business. Ultimately your copywriting skills will sell your product or service. Test your message to see which ones generate the most forms completed and which message gets passed on.
Using Landing Page Best Practices when creating a new campaign will greatly increase your success rate.
