A Basic SEO Guide That Can Help Your Small Business: Part 2

You may know about SEO (search engine optimization) or are new to this aspect of marketing. Even if you understand how to get your website found in search engines, you may not have the time or resources for it. Business owners often have to juggle multiple things in a day like sales, meetings, management, and more. Adding marketing to that is often just too stressful.

If you are not familiar with the basics of SEO, check out the first part of our guide here. Ready to learn how to start implementing an SEO strategy? The following tips can help you!

You should always do research first

Before using any of your SEO knowledge, be sure that you have thoroughly researched your target audience, where you stand in search results, and some common keywords and phrases for your industry. This will give you a foundation to work with. As previously discussed in part one of this guide, you should know what your customers are looking for.

There are so many ways to do research for SEO, including searching in Google and using paid and free tools. You may have to choose some and try them out before deciding. Be sure that the tools offer what you are looking for, like ways to see which keywords you rank for and which pages on your site perform the worst. Here are just some of the other things you should look out for when researching.

Technical SEO issues

Technical issues like broken links, poor speed, and low-quality URLs will affect your SEO. Looking for problems should be one of the first steps of your SEO strategy. Free tools can help you find issues, but you may have to update things manually. This could take knowledge of website development, depending on how complicated it is to use the platform your site is built on.

You could soon find yourself overwhelmed, especially if your website is outdated and filled with technical issues. A digital marketing company can help you see where your website needs work and offer expert advice and services. Depending on your needs, this may be the best option for your website.

Keyword research

After you have found your preferred methods of keyword research, you can begin the next phase of your SEO strategy. It might be easiest to start with the basics. Look for where you currently rank for a few main, organic key phrases related to your industry. Consider what you know your customers are looking for when they find you. This includes what questions they might ask. You can also find paid advertising information and information about your competitors while researching keywords and phrases.

Local presence

If you do not serve clients in a national or even statewide capacity, your local presence online may be the main focus in your SEO strategy. There are some free tools that can help you with researching your current local presence. But, you can get more information from paid tools.

One of the most basic steps of a local SEO strategy should be to claim and optimize your Google My Business (GMB). Many people look at the information in this part of the search results and make a decision without ever visiting websites. Your GMB should be clear about who your company is and where it is located. You should also take the opportunity to check local listings online as well as your social media accounts. All of this does affect your overall SEO.

Update your website based on your research

Once you have completed your research and compiled important information, you can start working on your SEO. Keep in mind that this is not a one-time task.

1. First, fix all of the technical SEO issues that you can. This may require the help of a digital marketing company. If there are too many errors or problems, it might be best to create a new website and “start fresh.”
2. Next, focus on optimizing your current pages. This means working on the content (grammar, spelling, and keywords) as well as making sure everything is functional. Don’t forget about titles (headings) and using media like images or videos. There are ways to optimize these as well.
3. Come up with a plan to enhance your SEO and rankings over time. This should include a content marketing strategy and a strategy for social media. You can also look at focusing on reviews and getting links from other websites.
4. Finally, track your SEO and the success of your strategies regularly. This will help you to consistently keep up with your SEO, which will change.

Use content marketing to get better SEO

If you search for content marketing on the web, you will find many articles that say different things about how this should be done. It can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t know how to create content or even where to start. The best place to start is to remember that you must find what works best for your company, which means you may have to experiment. Here are some tips that can help make the process of content marketing easier.

Use social media as well

Using social media platforms is great for branding and interacting with your customers and fans. But, it can also be used to help with your website’s SEO. The more people that visit and move around your website, the better search engines can rank you. Using social can help you focus on an audience that is more targeted.

Followers who have liked your page will already be interested in your business. So, if you share content that points to what they are searching for, you can get the right traffic to your site. You may also get links from other businesses or customers without doing anything other than creating valuable content. As stated above, the more traffic you get, the better.

Hiring a digital marketing agency to help with your SEO

If all of this information is still too much, a marketing agency can help. Their job is to make sure your SEO (and other aspects of your online marketing) is in good shape. They can do this by using industry knowledge and skills to research, create content, track analytics, and update your website. With a team of people working on your site, you can focus more on what you excel in: running your business.

SEO, social media, and digital marketing in Amarillo

To learn more about SEO, Social Media, and other digital marketing techniques, call UCI Digital today. Our Team is ready to help you get found and share what you are all about. You can call us at (806) 553-5332 or Send Us an Email for more information about our Services.