Search Engine Optimization and It’s Direct Impact on Traffic, Lead Generation and Sales
Did you know that about half of the traffic arriving on a majority of websites today comes from organic search? Well, this means that your rank on search engines plays a bigger role in your site’s growth than email, paid search, social media, and direct visitors combined. So, how can you ensure that your website stands out especially with so much content being released to the web every day? SEO is definitely your answer.
For this post, we look at the four key pillars of SEO management that will help you target and reach the appropriate audience for your business.
1. Understand Your Demand
Want to create an effective SEO management plan? Begin by identifying the topics that interest your targeted audience the most. You can start by looking at the existing content on your website to determine the type or topics that drive the most success. Besides, you may also want to take a closer look at your target buyer personas as well as their buying behavior. At the end of your study, you should be able to have a clear understanding of the market you’re targeting including its motivations, pain points, and even budgets.
At this point, consider using keyword research to determine the top topics that generate buzz within your industry. You can then examine these keywords before settling for a few prospective ones that, if fully developed, can get you on top of search engines.
2. Identify Your Competition
As mentioned earlier, the web continues to become more competitive by the day. As such, do not be deluded into thinking that you’re the only one competing to occupy the top position for your preferred keyword. If anything, you’ll most likely be working to outrank a competitor when starting out in your SEO campaign.
To begin, you need to examine the top brands that are presently occupying higher positions on SERPs and get to know their strengths as well as weaknesses. Here, you can choose to focus on various aspects such as the social strategies they’ve employed, types of content adopted, topics covered, etc. If feasible, feel free to incorporate your competitors’ strategies into your SEO campaign.
3. Create and Optimize your Website’s Content and Design
At this point, you should be having sufficient knowledge to help you create content that converts. For example, you already know the appropriate keywords to target, your audience and its preferences, and your competition. Using this information, you can comfortably create valuable content that reflects the work put into it. This should be the type of content that readers find easy to share and which can also prompt them to return to your website at a future date. To achieve such a feat, be sure to position your brand as a leader by providing deep, insightful content and not just sharing other people’s content.
Once you have created your content, consider optimizing it for search.
Below are a few important rules you need to observe:
- Use your target keywords naturally in your content.
- Place relevant keywords in the right areas such as the title tag, headings, URL slug, image tags, and alt tags.
- Focus on link building- both inbound and outbound.
- Create a site map.
- Enhance the speed of your website.
- Incorporate local keywords where needed.
- Optimize your website for mobile use; responsive web design.
Besides these aspects onsite, focus on creating your social media profiles, create a schedule for posting content that brings people back to your site and incorporate lead generation tools (like a simple e-mail sign-up or landing page).
4. Quantify Your Results
This is perhaps the most commonly skipped step by a majority of webmasters conducting SEO campaigns. Yet, the analytics which you collect in this step will possibly have the most impact on your present and future SEO programs. For example, it is here that you get to know what works for your business and that which doesn’t as far as SEO is concerned. Needless to say, the information you get here will assist you in making more informed decisions in any future SEO programs. Besides, you can also have concrete evidence to present to the senior management when showing the ROI of your activities.
Some of the common metrics you can use to determine the success or failure of your SEO campaign include organic search numbers, revenue amassed, bounce rates, and opt-ins. Using these pointers, you’ll likely be in a better position to make informed decisions on the appropriate steps to take moving forward.
If you’re looking to enjoy massive results with your SEO management activities, ensure to have in place a firm strategy that follows the four steps outlined in this post. This way, you can boost your brand reach, engage your audience in a better manner, and ultimately drive your business results forward.
Need Help with SEO? You Have Come to the Right Place!
At 92 West, we not only train clients on how to implement their own strategies, but can handle the implementation of onsite and offsite search engine optimization. Please contact us at 402.620.2633 or fill out a request for proposal and we can craft a custom campaign for you.
