Even as social media and video become increasingly important, it’s still crucial for businesses to have their own website. A website is a company’s online home base; it’s where customers come to find out the most basic information about your company. It should also be a way for new customers to learn about your business and for you to generate sales leads. The primary way this is done is through SEO.
So where do you start your SEO strategy?
Understand where you are now
Before you can move forward, you need to know where you are. Sometimes businesses get started with their websites but make simple mistakes that reduce their search rankings.
To find out where you are, look at tools like Live Long Digital Website Audit.
With a site audit, you look at your meta tags, search for broken links, and check your website load times. All of these details can influence your website’s results in search pages.
Once you have fixed the most basic issues with your website, you can dig into keyword research and start to upgrade your content.
Know your goals
One problem with SEO strategies is that they lack strategy. Businesses like yours know they want to rank well for search engines, but they don’t know how to make that happen – or even what they want to rank for.
Most websites need to do two jobs: provide information to current customers and bring in new customers. Current customers probably know where to find your website, so SEO often focuses on bringing in new customers.
To that end, you need to understand what customers are searching for that your business provides. Whether that’s ‘Best restaurant in Brisbane’ or ‘pest control in Melbourne’, you can determine which keywords will attract customer attention.
Plan and follow through
Once you know your goals and what keywords to use, the next step is to make sure they are highlighted on your website. You might need to hire copywriters to create high-quality copy for each webpage; you may also find that an ongoing blog serves you well, allowing you to add more keywords and complexity to your potential search results.
However, you are going to approach the project, make sure you create timelines and deadlines for yourself. It’s easy to get caught up in grand plans and then forget to do the actual work. Your website can bring in customers for you on a regular basis, but only if you set it up for success.
