CT Inbound Marketing Blog | ImageWorks, LLC

SEO Strategies Every Business Needs To Master

Written by Kelsey Ringuette | Fri, Dec 18, 2015 @ 06:30 PM

With several businesses available that offer some of the same products and services as you, it can be difficult to stand out from the competition. That's where strong SEO efforts come in. You may have the best business out there but people won't be able to find you if you don't take the time to utilize SEO strategies. This article will describe some of the ways to master SEO and grow your business. 

Effective Keywords 

Just adding keywords on your site that you think people commonly use in search engines, isn't enough to get your website found. Your SEO (search engine optimization) strategies should be continuously researched and updated. Research what keywords people are using for search engines and check out what keywords your competitors are using. This will help you see what is working and not working for them and if there are some you can use to expand your reach. Your keywords should be specific without being a phrase no one will search but you also don't want the keywords to be too broad that you have to compete with all the other companies that are using the same keywords. Knowing which  keywords people use to find your product or services gives you a strong advantage. This will make it easier for people to find you and continue to rank high on search engine sites. Take the time to pick the most effective keywords and continue to update the keywords to keep your site relevant and searchable. 

Relative Content 

The content you put out there for people should stay relevant to your businesses' brand. It's important to remember that you are writing to inform the readers rather than writing content solely for search engine rankings. Your content should be able to solve the reader's questions and inform them further about the topic. Just writing little blurbs every now and again but never really informing the reader will tarnish your brand and lose your credibility. Go into detail about the topic you are writing about to make sure they are getting the most relevant and quality information that is sure to help. Always add some keywords to your content such as your landing pages and blogs, but don't add too many keywords or your content will look like spam on search engines. SEO requires a particular balance and is designed every business a chance to grow. You don't need to take shortcuts. The best way to grow is to build relationships with customers by providing them with quality content, products and services. 

Responsive Website Design 

When it comes to SEO, most people think of keywords and link building but there is more to the process. Your website design plays a big role in your SEO efforts. Your website should be easy to navigate so people can get to know you on a better level and research how you can help them before the commit to anything. The design should be simple but appealing, leading them to the information they need. Making your website pleasing to use as well useful on several platforms such as desktops, laptops and smartphones, will help increase your company awareness. Also, computers have a language of their own and your site's coding should be able to effectively communicate with search engines. If your web site isn’t coded correctly, it could negatively affect your web site’s ranking. There's a long process to create such a simple looking website and it's vital that you don't cut any corners or you'll just be penalized and tarnish your reputation. 

Add Quality Links 

Not too long ago, one of the strategic methods for SEO was to utilize link building by loading your site with several links with no other purpose than rankings. To obtain more links faster, a lot of companies purchased links and built strategies exclusively to earn links, but now that type of tactic will hurt not help you. All the links on your page should lead somewhere or to information that is related to your brand. According to Forbes, "one factor to consider when going after high quality links is relevance. If you’re a dentist in Phoenix, Arizona, but your SEO firm is building links to your website from a bearing manufacturer in India, that’s a bad link because it’s coming from a source that is completely irrelevant. The only thing it tells Google is that you’re trying to spam them, which indirectly tells them they should ban your website from Google until you shape up." Building quality links  is to not build them, but instead, earn them naturally. These links are earned by creating great content that people want to link to. SEO boils down to effective keywords, quality content and always trying to offer the best service and information as possible. 

Check out the link below to learn how to turn your website into a lead generating machine.