Are you missing a piece of your marketing funnel? I may know what it is.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is one of the things that business owners use the least. SEO is also something that can have a huge impact on your success. The fact that both are true is mind-blowing.
At Maggie Writes Copy, we place a huge amount of emphasis on SEO as a tool for your marketing funnel strategy. SEO for your business is one step away.
And it gives you a huge opportunity to skyrocket your site to the forefront of your audience.
SEO doesn’t have to be scary. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. Let’s start with what SEO is.
Search Engine Optimization is creating helpful content for your site. And then formatting it, so it catches the attention of Google.
This content can be in the format of:
There are many more, but you get the idea. If it contains words in the content itself or on the backend as SEO descriptors (alt text), then Google CAN read it. The trick is making sure that Google DOES read it.
What is Google looking for when they rank – or don’t rank – your site?
The truth is, I don’t have all the answers. Google is constantly changing its algorithm. The very reason they have so many algorithm updates gives you key insight into how to rank well on Google.
They want to give their users the best answer to their questions. Or a solution to their problems.
You should know what this means – bringing value to your audience is the best way to rank well on Google.
Bringing value means:
If you bring enough value, your audience will eventually show up. But starting can be hard. It’s a catch-22. People are looking for your content. But Google hasn’t ranked you yet. How are they going to reach your Internet real estate?
First, let’s start with some research.
Keywords are search terms that people regularly type into a search engine. Think about keywords that people in your industry are searching for.
If you’re in the outdoors e-commerce niche, maybe a couple of keywords would be:
Or maybe you’re looking for local sales:
You can buy subscriptions to figure out keywords that get a lot of traffic, but you can also use intuition to figure this stuff out.
I like to use a website called Google Trends1 to get an idea of whether people are searching for something, and when they’re searching. This is a great way to write appropriate content for the season.
Another free tool to add to your keyword arsenal is the Chrome extension for Ubersuggest.2 Not only does this tool tell you the search volume and difficulty to rank for a keyword, but it also tells you who is already ranking.
Figuring out your top keywords can help create the framework of your site. When you place keywords in important places on your site, it boosts your site’s SEO. This makes Google likely to rank you for that term.
Once you rank for quite a few keywords, your site will start to build on itself. Ranking for keywords builds compounding interest as you interlink between all your pages.
Now that you have your keywords, you need to build the framework.
Optimizing your website for SEO can be as easy or as hard as you make it. You can either adopt certain practices that work as a matter of course. Or you can continuously try to find easier ways to do things that always end up biting you in the butt.
Today, we’re talking about easy ways you can optimize your site.
While I don’t go in-depth, they are simple ways you can format your site today so you can capitalize tomorrow. Think of it as practices that build that compounding interest we spoke of earlier.
First, tell Google what your keywords are. You do this by placing them in prominent spots on your website – use your headings. All your headings should contain keywords you hope to rank for.
Other ways to give your keywords more weight are to Bold them, Underline them, italicize them, and create links to correlating content with them. All these formatting options tell Google that these are important words.
So rather than reading through 1500 words, Google skims the words that carry extra weight. Hey, it makes sense to me! Google has millions of sites to scan every day. They aren’t deep reading. They’re skimming.
And while we’re on the subject, this is what roughly half of your readers will be doing as well. While some readers prefer to dive in deep, a whole bunch will only skim headings and bolded words. Once something catches their eye they may read further but they aren’t digging deep.
Google values websites that communicate effectively with their audience. Using all these extra formatting options is critical to creating a reader-friendly environment. One that will keep your audience engaged on your site and prevent them from leaving.
One of the key ways that Google determines your site is reader-friendly is if you wrote it at a lower grade level. Google prefers content written at a 6th-grade level. But how do you know what level your writing is at?
Easy – The Hemingway website.3 This Editor is a copy/paste website that tells you what the grade level is. It also points out any tricky sentences for you to fix. It is a lifesaver if you are doing your own editing.
Even though you want Google to rank your site doesn’t mean you should create a robotic site. Only speaking to Google’s algorithm is a mistake. Part of what Google looks at to rank you is your site metrics. Direct information about what your site visitors are doing.
So what keeps your audience engaged, focused, and interacting with your site?
On top of a lot of the strategies listed above, the number one thing that keeps visitors coming to your site and lingering – is quality content. Offering them better content than they can get anywhere else.
But as we talked about before, starting out is tough. Your site won’t get ranked immediately. So how are you going to attract visitors?
Notice the last bullet point in the section above. A key metric Google uses to rank your site is how many people show up daily. This is where you have to do the legwork. The dreaded Social Media.
Make posts on Social Media to get your content out there in the first place, so that you can attract visitors who will linger on your site, to read your quality content, informing Google that your site is:
√ Relevant
√ Authoritative
√ Important
√ Valuable
This causes Google to continuously rank your site higher, building on your compounding interest we talked about earlier. But what exactly are you going to post on Social Media that will keep people coming back for more?
Blogging is still an amazing way to grow your website audience. It will increase your domain authority and get you organic traffic for years to come.
Long-form content, such as blogs, gives you lots of authority in your business niche. They make you a resource for your audience. Building credibility in today’s online world is huge. Especially with the rise of online and social media scammers.
Not only does blogging on your own site build your credibility. It can also draw your audience to follow you off of social media. Why should this matter to your business? Your website is your own online real estate. You don’t have to worry about any algorithms other than Google’s.
But if you are still affected by Google’s algorithm, are they really YOUR audience? I’m going to tell you a secret, the goal isn’t just to get people to your website. Your goal is to use your SEO tactics to get your audience to your website AND THEN have them sign up for your email list.
Once you have your audience on your email list, you aren’t at the mercy of outside ruling forces. Your business success lies on your own shoulders. Now it’s up to you to create internal processes to convert your audience from observers to action takers.
Ever heard of the term marketing funnel? Hint: you’ve just gone through the beginning stages of one.
As you can see, SEO for your business can be a powerful tool specifically for your marketing funnel. It can take a lot of work to set up initially. And quite frankly it can take years to pay off depending on how much time and resources you are putting towards it.
But in the long run, your SEO efforts will payout big time, with way less of a cost per lead than any ads you can run. No matter how good your metrics are.
That’s why it’s one of my favorite services to provide for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Get in touch with me today to see how I can help you build out your funnel with organic traffic.
1 Google Trends – Google
2 Ubersuggest Extension – Chrome
3 Grade Level – Hemingway Editor
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