If you’ve spent any time at all using the internet, you’re probably sick of the word ‘boost’.
There is, after all, a limit to the number of things in your life which can be ‘boosted’, particularly once you’ve successfully managed to ‘boost’ your body, health, hair, eyelashes, lean muscle, finances, savings and immunity.
However, it has to be said that we all love the principle. In the internet age, there are few things as attractive as a quick fix.
Unfortunately, most of us can’t boost our body, finances etc overnight. What we can do is apply 4 simple principles which help to maximise the effectiveness of a website’s search engine optimisation.
If you’ve already taken these steps and would like to discuss more advanced ways to develop your SEO strategy, please don’t hesitate to get in touch for a chat.
1. Keyword Plan
This is an essential starting point. Failing to plan and planning to fail and all that. You’ll need to identify the phrases that people are searching for that you think your website should be featuring in. It’s often helpful to start with just 4-6, with some more specific and some more general. Think about geography – are you primarily looking to attract local business, or are you national/international?
Finally, be careful to pitch your terms carefully; too competitive, and you’ll never reach anybody; too irrelevant, and you’ll never reach anybody.
2. Content
Your website will need to include the words you’ve identified in your keyword plan. A starting point would be to include one or two keywords in each paragraph of text, although if it starts to feel artificial then you’re probably overdoing it.
Ensure that titles, headings, footers etc are included in your thinking. This is why the keyword plan is crucial, because you’re going to be seeing these phrases everywhere, and, more importantly, so are your site visitors.
3. Blogging
Regular articles, blogs and news items are a great way to remind the search engines that you’re alive and well. Again, you really do need to feature keywords. If you’re producing content that people think is worth sharing, then that’s a particular win; you’ve made a friend, picked up some more pageviews and established an all-important inbound link.
4. Social Media
Finally, ensuring that you’re regularly connecting the first three points with appropriate social media platforms is essential. There’s no need to go wild, particularly if you’re starting out, but Facebook, Twitter and maybe one more will give you a good foundation.
Search Engines value social media interaction very highly, and it goes without saying that an effective social media strategy will help you connect with people, which is, after all, what SEO is really about.