Feeding your marketing and sales funnel is a never ending process. The more demanding we become as an industry and as consumers, the more dedicated effort it will take to fill the funnels with relevant leads. One of the more sophisticated strategies used in digital marketing is an SEO program. The depth and breadth of your program is directly related to your page ranking success, which is directly related to your website traffic and lead acquisition.

For those who are seasoned in the SEO “game”, congratulations, I know it can be a tough road. For beginners and freshmen, here are Five tricks and tips to start a program or examine current programming for improvement.

1)        How do you want to be found, or in SEO terms, what do you want to rank for?

Seems like a simple question with a simple answer. Not the case. Many companies try to be all things to all people, and maybe they are, but they are certainly not going to rank for everything when it comes to SEO. “Back in the day”, aka the early 2000s, throwing every keyword into the mix was the way that SEO optimization was done. Today, that can get you labeled as a spammer who does not consider the reader and is highly frowned upon. It is preferable and more likely to yield results to select several high-quality long-tail keywords that are relevant to your market and develop your marketing tactics around winning those rankings. This strategy goes a long way towards meeting your niche marketing goals.

2)        Do Some Keyword Research

Once you have created a list of keywords and long-tail keywords find out if anyone is searching for those words. You can use a tool like Google Keyword Planner through Google AdWords or a service like SERPs which is a tool that looks at Google and Yahoo rankings. You might find that you are right on target, but you might also find that your words could use some tweaking. This will also show what kind of competition there is for your chosen words.

3)        Select and Optimize

Once you have chosen the keywords for your website, blog or other content be sure that you optimize your page/post, don’t skip anything.

a.        Title/Headline

b.       Subheads (H1, H2 tags)

c.       Metadata description

d.       Any images (Alt text and descriptions)

e.       Anchor Text

f.        URL

g.       Article Tags

h.       Use your keyword/s throughout your content

4)        Leverage Internal and External Links

If you are just starting out or have realized your efforts need a reboot then it is unlikely that your site or content will rank right out of the gate. However, you can help improve your initial status by including relevant links to reputable external sites.

You also should make a habit of updating your internal links. Like most things, links tend to lose their “freshness” and decay over time. Companies that start out strong and post regularly, earning new links, but taper off over time, will eventually lose their ranking. Search engines use the freshness test, referred to as “FreshRank”, to determine the popularity and relevance of the site or content. Keeping your content and links updated are key to maintaining a strong online presence.

5)        Share Away

Be sure that you leverage your social networks as the power continues to rise for social search marketing. You have the potential to make a big impact through social marketing. This is especially relevant for Google searches, so don’t forget about Google+.  

As you continue to build your program and your confidence, reach out to media (traditional and new, aka the blogger). Share your content, and when you have particularly good or relevant pieces, don’t be afraid to ask for backlinks.

Patience and dedication are virtues when it comes to your SEO program. It is not something that happens overnight. Many who don’t have that drive will try to sell you on paid search. While paid search certainly has its place in a comprehensive marketing program, once you shut it off that’s it. But, if you put in the effort and do the work, it will create a long-term impact on your website which will have a long-lasting impact on driving your business growth.

Our clients, like The Gerardi Group, have told us that while the paid search is great, they believe they can get the same if not better results building a strong SEO program through their niche marketing strategy using the Buying Buddy IDX CRM solution (MBB). While we are not an SEO coaching company we can show you how tools that include an IDX component within the system can help you build your SEO strategy. For more information contact us.