Business owners know that it is not enough to offer a product or service. You also have to promote it via various channels in order for prospects to hear about it. Successful marketing teams use a combination of channels to spread the word about their business and what they are selling. While it use to be the calling card or business card that legitimized businesses, these days it is having a website that has somewhat replaced business cards. In general, most people think that having a website is a signal that your company is legit.
Is Having a Website Enough?
The question is are you looking at your website the same way you look at your product or service offering? Like what you sell, having a website is not enough to spread the word about it. Instead, it is important to include "clues" for the search engines to understand how to categorize your website and its individual pages so that the right searchers connect to it and drive business to your store.
Must Have SEO Elements for Websites
If you are not familiar with the term SEO or search engine optimization, it means including the elements that send these "clues" to search engines. Search engine technology has become extremely sophisticated, therefore you are not required to put many SEO elements on your site, but you still need some. There are also some basic techniques that you should include in your content.
- Keywords in titles, subtitles, tags and content including image and video content
- Header tags to break up text (h1, h2, h3)
- Keyword in first paragraph of your content
- Related keywords throughout your content in a natural manner (synonyms and related phrases)
- Links to and from relevant material both on your site and off-site
- Rich snippets or schema to help search engines categorize content
- Keywords in alt tags for images and videos
- User-friendly and intuitive navigation
- Regularly updated content
- Site speed within recommended range
- Secure site such as https for privacy and security concerns (newly recommended by Google)
- Mobile-friendly for mobile search
All of the items listed are needed on your own website. These details, which are quite easy to add for any experienced content producer, will help search engines connect you with your ideal prospects if you do nothing else. This type of SEO is called on-page SEO because it is on the pages of your site. Additionally, you should complete any meta titles and descriptions for your site's header and main page.
For each of the elements that you include above, you will get a boost or plus when Google and other search engines scan your site. While no one knows the exact formula used to rank websites, search engines are telling users that these items need to be included.
Site Promotion
In addition to what you need to include in your content and on your website pages, you should also be promoting new content as it publishes. If you have evergreen or seasonal content, you should periodically promote old content to keep it fresh. Promotion is generally done through social media, but not exclusively. Depending on where your customers spend their time, you can promote new content in the following places:
- Social media--Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Google+, etc.
- Industry forums
- Print media
- Search engine ads
- Radio and television
- Guest posts on related sites
- Question and answer sites like Quora
- In-person networking
- Trade shows
- Retail shows
- Press releases
- Interviews
These channels are just a jumping off point for promotion, because you can always find more channels to promote your website. Social media marketing is a proven SEO tactic, but it is not the only way to gain attention for your brand. A lot of your channels are only restricted by your marketing budget.
How to Get Started
Especially for small businesses, the lists above may seem daunting. It is best to start by setting up or revising your website with the SEO in place before getting involved in the marketing side. Invest in a professional website content publisher and knowledgeable SEO advisor to make sure you are including everything you should on each page. Some of the SEO "clues" are invisible to the public, therefore you may need assistance.
For more information about how to get started with improving your SEO, contact us today.
