Is SEO the key to getting new customers or have the trends moved on? A few brief tips to consider for SEO ranking, why it shouldn’t be your main concern as a business and what will help bring in visitors (and all the lyrics that best help us understand these tips).
Don’t Worry, Be Happy
One mistake businesses make when considering SEO is trying to figure out how to manipulate the search results. Rather than working to deserve being a top spot with great content answering common searches, companies try to use keywords and link building to trick the search engines into placing them higher. This type of SEO manipulation is dead, according to Forbes, and there are much more effective tactics for gaining a deservedly high position in the rankings.
In every life we have some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don’t worry, be happy. – Bob Marley
Rather than worry above all else about SEO, let the SEO come naturally by answering the questions that users often have about your products or services. You have the answers and today’s customer is out there looking for them. Don’t produce SEO keyword gobbledygook articles just to trick them into visiting your site, provide content that makes a user hope to find your site listed in the results.
Did you know? The average customer only gives a webpage 10 seconds before leaving if they don’t immediately connect with the content message. (Nielsen Group on Microsoft Research)
I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again
Allowing your site to sit stagnant is one of the worst things you can do for SEO rankings; the best companies continue to produce new content, keep up with modern designs and focus on anchor text links. Search engines may knock your company down in the search results, says Digital Flavor, due to:
- Unethical SEO tactics designed to trick the search engines (automated content, keyword stuffing, redirects, etc.)
- Old design and low quality site marked by short consumer visits
- Outdated technology (especially not having a website optimized for mobile browsing)
- Lack of new content (Digital Flavor says at least one new post per week)
- On-the-ball competitors who pass you by (and knock you down)
Today’s customers are looking for what companies offer them and don’t take kindly to being tricked into clicking on an unhelpful page designed to draw them into the website. Part of getting back up on your feet and ranking better in the searches includes focusing on the consumer’s needs. Consider hiring a writer for ghostwriting services to cut down on the time it will take to continually produce new content.
We’ll be singing
When we’re winning
We’ll be singing – Chumbawamba
I Can Show You the World (With Ghostwriting Services)
You hear it over and over again: provide value for your customers! But, what does this mean? Providing something unique and worthwhile for your visitors will include showing them the world you already know as a business professional.
Well, you don’t know what we can find
Why don’t you come with me
On a magic carpet ride?
You don’t know what we can see
Why don’t you tell your dreams to me
Fantasy will set you free. – Steppenwolf
Informative – From products to services, explain what your company does, what hours you work and how much it costs for clients (or what determines that cost if it is custom or combination services).
Educating – Help your visitors learn something new about a subject that you are well-versed on as a professional in the industry.
Provide Solutions – Try to consider problems your customers will be asking and looking for and work on providing specific answers to those problems.
Motivating – Inspirational content is most often selfless promotion that doesn’t focus on your own company, but on something you find moving. This is a great break from the typical sales-oriented content and often gets viewer attention. This type of content can be thought provoking, evoking or entertaining.
Freebies – Providing webinars, white papers, eBooks, promotional gifts or discounts are just a few of the ways you can offer value to your customers.
Did you know? The average consumer follows a business via social media to support the brand (86%), for updates (78%), for discounts (64%) and to research specific products/services (51%). (The Center for Marketing Research, UMass Dartmouth)
Alethea M is a corporate blogging guru and freelance writer for WriterAccess. She often uses interesting facts from her article research to impress friends at dinner parties. Her husband is her biggest fan — though this may be because her writing income allows her to share in bill-paying each month.
