Congratulations on starting your new business! No doubt it took a lot of dedication, but you still need to put in some hard work to solidify your presence. Sure, it’s still essential to establish a brick-and-mortar presence for your business, but these days, it’s your online presence that carries a lot of weight.
This is where SEO and having a blog come in. Search engine optimization is all about improving your rankings so you can boost organic traffic to your blog and your bottom line. To get you started, use the following top SEO tips to propel your business in the right direction.
Understand Your Target Audience
The reason why understanding your target market is so important is because of search intent. You need to get into your audience’s mind and figure out what exactly they will be looking for when they type their search query.
You then need to make sure your business’s blog contains relevant content that will satisfy your customer. Otherwise, they will quickly move on to another blog that gives them the answers they want. Plus, Google has gotten better at spotting useful and helpful content written for humans that sounds natural.
Gone are the days of writing keyword-stuffed content and climbing the rankings with shallow and poorly researched content. Today, you need to understand your target audience to connect with them on an emotional level and motivate them to convert into loyal clients.
Do Your Keyword Research
This tip is closely related to the one about understanding your target market. Again, by knowing the search terms that your audience is likely to use when searching for your business, you will be able to insert yourself directly onto their path. This requires a lot of research because customers are influenced to buy by many factors.
For instance, at what point do most of your customers decide they need your products or services? Do they reach out because they are feeling frustrated, curious, or happy? Is your typical client a manager, a stay-at-home parent, or a young person? Knowing all this will help you determine the type of search queries your audience is likely to use.
You also need to refine the search terms you have come up with using a keyword research tool, such as Google keyword planner. This gives you a range of short-tail and long-tail keywords closely related to your business, the level of competition for each keyword, and how popular each keyword is with users. As a startup, your best bet is to target long-tail keywords, as they are easier to rank for because of low competition.
Make Your Blog User-Friendly
Having a well-developed blog isn’t just about the visuals. While it also matters to have great graphics and attractive fonts and colors, you also want to make sure your business blog delivers value beyond that. These days, customers will not be patient if they visit your site and it’s not user-friendly or has technical issues.
The most common problem that customers encounter is pages and images that take too long to load. Ideally, you want to compress the size of your images and optimize caching. Even Google needs to crawl and index your site’s pages properly before your rankings can improve. This is why you should create a title for your home page using primary keywords closely associated with your business. You should also do the same with every page on your site.
For every blog post you add to your business’s website, you should use the right keywords and create a meta title and meta descriptions. It’s also important to get working links back to your site if you want Google to index it quickly. At the same time, you should avoid and fix broken and canonical links. Keep in mind that Google penalizes duplicate content, so always ensure you upload original content to your website. When optimizing your blog, it’s recommended to use tools such as Semrush and Google Search Console.
Optimize Your Blog Content
This sounds very similar to the above section, which talks about optimizing your blog on a general level. However, there are more details you need to be aware of as you continuously add content to your blog. For each page title and URL that you create, be sure to add the primary keyphrase. This also applies when you write meta descriptions.
Now, as for the content, avoid keyword stuffing, as this will make your content sound unnatural. Instead, make sure the keyword is integrated into the content seamlessly so the content reads like it has been written for humans by other humans.
It’s also important to regularly upload fresh content onto your business blog to engage your customers. You will add value to your audience’s lives by bringing them up-to-date information. The regular interaction also ensures that customers keep you top of mind so they are likely to reach out to you any time they need your products or services.
Focus On Continuous Improvement
Unfortunately, getting your SEO strategy right and seeing tangible improvements takes time, more effort, and patience. SEO work is continuous, so even after you have applied all the tips mentioned above, it’s crucial to measure the effectiveness of your strategies. If the strategies are working, then there should be a noticeable increase in organic traffic and conversions.
However, if you’re not getting the results you want, you need to implement some changes and make a few tweaks. Let’s say your selected keywords and long-tail phrases are not performing well. In that case, you will have to go back to the drawing board and conduct additional keyword research. When you change your keywords, you’ll also need to assess the performance of those new keywords to check if they are generating desired results.
You should also review your link strategy to ensure that your domain ranks higher. Start by getting rid of any broken links while also making sure your blog posts only contain outbound and inbound links relevant to your business.
Outsource Your SEO Work
It’s easy to underestimate the amount of work that needs before your blog’s SEO is on point. In a nutshell, you need to figure out your audience’s search intent and come up with the right keywords. You also need to do additional keyword research and pick the best keywords and long-tail key phrases for your blog post. Then, you have to find legitimate backlinks and create quality and original content that’s optimized to convert. Also, don’t forget about creating optimized page titles, URLs, and meta descriptions.
If you want to add optimized images to your blog, that’s even more work. At the end of the day, you might even realize you hardly have enough time to do what you do best, which is running your business. In that case, you’re better off outsourcing your SEO work to professionals that will help you put your best foot forward.
There are many benefits that come with this move. You save money because you don’t have to invest in an in-house team for content creation. You also save loads of time because you won’t have to create content yourself. Instead, the finished product will be delivered to you in a ready-to-post format when you outsource written content. In some instances, depending on the level of service offered, you won’t even have to lift a finger, as every aspect of the blog gets managed for you.
SEO work is crucial for the success of your business and your business’s blog. When done right, your SEO work will pay off through increased organic traffic and the potential for more profits. These benefits are easier to reap if you choose to work with experts in SEO, as they will ensure your blog thrives.
