Even business owners and executives who don’t know a lot about internet marketing will tell you they understand the value of a high Google search ranking. With more than 4 billion lookups per day, the world’s most popular search engine can radically transform your bottom line by sending more buyers in your direction.
Of course, search engine optimization (SEO) – which is the art and science of improving your visibility on Google and the other portals – is a big and complicated subject. However, most of what you need to know can be boiled down into a few very simple points. So today, we are going to share some easy tips you can use to make your company’s website show up in Google searches…
Know What Your Customers are Searching
The first step in any SEO campaign involves what we call keyword research. That simply means we take a look at search patterns to figure out what it is your best customers are looking for on the web.
An important caveat here, is that the most popular search terms aren’t always the best ones. Instead, you want to find phrases that indicate someone that has serious buying intent. The point isn’t to bring visitors to your website, but to find buyers who are a perfect fit for your products or services.
Clear up Any Technical Problems With Your Business Website
Often, small business websites seem to have disappeared from search engines for no reason at all. Upon closer inspection, though, we can often determine that little technical problems are preventing them from getting the marketing results they need.
Slow web hosting, a lack of mobile compatibility, and unsecure connections are all examples of problems that will cause Google to essentially ignore your website. They’ll also penalize you if you have broken links or duplicated content. It’s important to resolve these issues if you want to attract search engine visitors to your website.
Become a Source for New Content and Ideas
Keyword research and a detailed HTML review are great starting points for your SEO efforts, but the key to improving your search visibility over time is producing new content month after month.
By adding pages to your website, posting new articles to your blog, and updating your existing text on a regular basis, you signal to Google (and real-world customers) that your information is current and up-to-date. That makes your website more relevant than the competition.
Optimize Your Pages for Conversions
Although achieving a high search engine ranking is important to your business and online marketing, it’s not enough to guarantee you new sales. To turn visitors into buyers, you have to make sure your pages are set up to generate leads, email subscriptions, or even outright purchases.
Doing that requires a little bit of planning and a close watch of the statistics being generated by your website. You want to ensure that you aren’t just bringing in the right kinds of searchers, but also that you’re doing everything you can to convince them to make a buying decision.
For small and medium-sized businesses, search engine optimization is really about two things: knowing the fundamentals and having the right help. With that in mind, we hope you’ll absorb these ideas and put them to good use. Better yet, call our team today and schedule a free website review and consultation. You might be amazed at how easy and affordable it is to get the online marketing assistance you need!