It is the amount of SEO required to grow your business’ internet presence so that an increasing number of visitors come to your website and purchase more products on a continual basis.
There are several facets to this ongoing SEO work. Let’s look at a few here:
A New Review of Your Business Can Appear at Any Time
Online reviews of your business are part of your SEO ranking formula. Google now places websites that accept reviews about a business, product or service on the first or second page of the search results. If a prospective customer enters the name of a business that has an online review, you can assume that Google will put the site containing the review on the first page.
Review sites, such as Trip Advisor, Yelp, Amazon, and Open Table, are very popular. More than half of consumers will search for a review of the business or service before making a purchase.
If a negative review appears, you may be able to do something about it. For example, if the review site allows you to respond to reviews, you can offer to rectify the situation that made the client unhappy. Perhaps you could offer a refund or a re-do. Then in the future, when people come across your negative review, they will see that you made every effort to fix the problem.
Another thing that can be done is to ask satisfied customers to post a positive review. If future buyers see that positive reviews far out weight the negative reviews, they are apt to consider doing business with your company. If, however, they see one positive and one negative review, they are likely to look for another place to purchase.
Customers are influenced by a business’ reviews. Eight-four percent trust online reviews as much they trust recommendations from friends and family. Therefore, it’s imperative that someone is checking for new reviews on a regular basis. If the business owner is too busy running his business, an SEO consultant can be assigned this task.
Active Websites Get a Higher Ranking than Quiet Ones
Even in the world of SEO, the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Wallflower websites get very little attention. For clients to notice your business, you must strive to appear on the first page of Google. Posting good content regularly will help your ranking.
However, not all content is created equal. When someone is searching for information, Google strives to present the most relevant web page. A value-filled page with lots of content related to the search term can often beat a page with less content.
Many web pages have about 500 words. Some have far less. If Google finds a web page with thousands of words on the subject the seeker seems to be looking for, Google may present that page to the seeker. There are many other factors that play a part in Google’s algorithm, but great content is an important one.
For example, if a homeowner is looking for a local landscaper, there may be a dozen or more to choose from. This is pretty stiff competition. Who will shine and appear on Google’s first page? The business owner who has mapped out a sound SEO strategy and faithfully worked his plan will have the best chance of winning a first-page spot.
More than just adding content to a website, it’s important to do period research on which keyword phrases are typed into Google. This information can change with trends and fads. If the business owner is too busy running his landscaping business, he hires an SEO expert to do this research for him.
Then he develops content around each currently popular keyword phrase. Surface information will not make him stand out from the crowd. He digs deep into the topic, giving every bit of information that a seeker could possibly want on the topic. His web page shows him to be a very knowledgeable expert in the field of landscaping.
He may write 500 words at a time but he keeps adding them to one focused page, building it into a truly content-rich page. The page’s title contains the exact keyword that the page focuses on. The meta data is focused, too.
He is careful not to over stuff the keyword phrase into the article since Google may subtract ranking points for this mistake. Again, he may be too busy to do the research and writing himself, so his SEO person will see that the work gets done correctly.
This is not a one-time task. The landscape may be aware that his competition has an SEO strategy and is working to win a coveted first-page position. The business owner that implements the best SEO strategy – on an ongoing basis – becomes king of the hill. Once there, he must keep his position with periodic SEO work.
Promotion with Great Content is a Winning Combination
Having high-value content on your website is a great foundation for building trust with Google and prospective clients. However, sitting around waiting for Google to appreciate your hard work will often not get the bills paid quickly. Promotion is the answer to being found fast.
If you have social media accounts, start there. Let your followers know about the new content you have added to your website. Explain how this information will benefit them. Get a discussion going.
Then find people who will like what you have on your site. Search Facebook to find groups who are interested in your topic. In the example of the local landscaper, he could post on local pages or message the owner of the page to alert the group’s members that this information is available to them.
The landscaper could also search for local websites that have visitors that would like his information. A mention of his new information on the local gardening clubs’ website, with a link back to this page, would bring attention to his business.
If our landscaper is looking for high-authority backlinks, nationwide forums that deal with his topic would work well.
In any case, have a system for promoting new information that is posted to your website. A step-by-step strategy that is repeated with each new post will help you get noticed. If you don’t have a lot of time to promote your new or expanded web page each time you post new information, an Phoenix SEO marketing professional can do the promotional work for you.
If You Want a Plant to Grow, You Don’t Water it Only Once
The main purpose of SEO is to get traffic to your website. The more traffic you get, the more sales you make.
When a website owner first implements the basic SEO tasks, the number of visitors to the website increases. However, without a long-term strategy, this traffic will wane. This will not help a business grow.
Proper SEO strategies cause a business to grow and keep growing for years to come. As ongoing effort is expended in making a website more visible, the traffic picks up steam.
A good strategy includes analyzing the data of the people who do visit the site. What search terms are they entering just before they land on your site? What pages (topics) do they seem to be most interested in? How long are they staying on those pages? With this type of information, you can provide them with a deeper study of the topics they seem to prefer.
Another aspect of this strategy is to analyze what they are typing into the Google search box. In the case of our landscape, he may see the term “yellow lawn” entered by several people. He can speculate on what is going on with these homeowners. Perhaps the lack of water is causing their lawns to turn yellow. Maybe they are over fertilizing their grass or they are cutting the grass too short for the time of year.
By listing the problems that the search term could be indicating, the landscaper can create content that speaks to those problems. Certainly, an entire page about yellow lawn with a page title containing that phrase is in order. By listing every conceivable reason why people could have yellow lawns, he could build a powerful page and show himself to be an expert. He could also write about and sell low-water grass and plants as a solution to the problem.
This type of analysis and implementation does not happen once and never again. It is an ongoing process that brings in an increasing number of customers on a steady basis.
SEO work is a continual investment in your business. Just as a business owner repeatedly advertises on radio and in the newspaper, he should budget some money to improve his website’s visibility. An SEO and marketing professional can be hired to do the online tasks that will get the business noticed and new customers coming in continually.
To get SEO advice on how to implement a long-term traffic strategy, contact the Internet Marketing Team. Visit internetmarketingteam.com.