By Andrew Oziemblo, Founder & CEO of Chicago SEO Geeks, the digital marketing & SEO agency helping businesses achieve long-term growth goals.
Are you a new start-up wanting to maximize your reach and get your content out there to others? Creating a great digital marketing campaign can be worth its weight in gold given that most people search online for pretty much everything these days. Making sure you harness even a fraction of the 60,000 plus searches that Google processes each second can help boost your visibility. This will give your marketing strategy something that keeps returning results long after you have implemented it!
How can you do that? SEO or search engine optimization needs to be a tool in your content marketing plan right from day one, especially if you are a new business. You want to stand out in your sector and be visible to attract the right clients and getting your SEO on point is one of the best ways to do that!
What Exactly is SEO?
SEO is search engine optimization. In a nutshell, you want to implement good SEO practices to help your website rank highly in the search engines. Think about what you want people who are your ideal customer to search for to find you. What would you type in to find the type of content you want to rank for?
Search engines use the content on your site to determine where you should rank. This means creating informative content consistently. Not just glossing over the details. The more detail the better as far as the search engines are concerned.
Then use this to help you create a perfectly optimized website. Simple! Or is it? Once you know what you want to rank for and how to make this happen, then you are on your way.
Creating A Fully Optimized Website
Long-tail keywords or phrases. Gone are the days where you need one or two words to help you rank. Most people search for how to, when, where etc when they use search engines. Doing your research before you start creating your SEO optimized content for your site is essential. This is so you know exactly what people are searching to be able to come across your business.
# Alt Text. Adding a description to your images tells search engines exactly what the image is. Ideally, this needs to contain your keyword too. This will rank your image higher in search engines and means you can be found in an image search too.
# The First Paragraph. If your keyword or phrase is in your first paragraph, this means people know exactly what the article is about instantly. This is looked on favourably by the search engines.
# Sub Headings. You need at least one subheading in your post. this breaks up the content and lets the reader know exactly what they will be reading about. Let’s face it, a full page of text without paragraphs being broken up is hard to read and likely to get people to click away from your site.
# What is Your URL? Your URL needs to be descriptive and contain your keywords as much as possible.
# Meta Description. This is what is displayed in search results under the title. This tells people what to expect to read should they click through to your site. Be clear, concise and engaging. Attract your reader or potential customer but include your keyword so people know they are reading the right answer or in the right place for what they are searching for.
How Else Can You Create an SEO Optimized Website or Content?
You need to make sure you are creating something people will want to read. It is all well and good creating perfectly SEO’d content if you are neglecting the user experience.
If they click away immediately after landing on your site, then this will tell the search engines that you don’t have the correct information for the search. Focussing on the user experience as well as SEO is essential. After all, you want people to stay on your site and buy what you have to offer, don’t you! If this means you have to employ the services of an SEO consultant to assist in creating engaging content, then this is what you need to do.
Keep an eye on the following in order to enhance how user-friendly your website is.
# Site Speed – How fast does your site load?
# Readability – is your content delivering an easy read for your target audience?
# Good Structure – your content should flow and make sense as the reader progresses through the content.
# Short sentences and paragraphs – long paragraphs and sentences quickly become hard to read.
What Does SEO Mean for a Small Start-Up?
The only difference between SEO for an established company and a new startup is literally the amount of work you have to do. You are starting from scratch and you want to make sure you get it right. SEO is ever-changing as the search engine algorithms update. This means that a lot of SEO practises can become outdated quickly and you need to stay on top of the changing trends in SEO and digital marketing to make sure you are not only ranking but ranking for the right search terms.
It pays to consider looking into hiring an SEO consultant or an SEO agency in the early days. A lot of startups factor this into their costs. Meaning this will help them hit the ground running when it comes to reaching the top of the search engine ranking pages. You want to build a solid SEO strategy that can help you in the long run.
Why You Need a Good SEO strategy!
As a smaller business, you will be competing with bigger, more established businesses. They will already be getting a slice of online traffic. You need to be able to rank high in order to have greater visibility online. However, a good SEO campaign can take a while to establish. Patience is needed to reap the rewards. This is why you need to get it right from the beginning. Just don’t expect to be hitting the top pages from day one.
When users search online, unlike traditional advertising methods, they are actively searching for you. You don’t need to wonder if the right people will see you or turn on the TV at the right time. Digital marketing means you can be at the forefront of any searches relating to your startup when a potential customer is searching for you.
SEO services are available to help you create a well-optimised site with engaging content that will keep working for you 24/7 365 days a year.
