Before you can do anything with SEO you need to know a bit about what it is and is not. SEO is not getting the right density of formula-derived words into posts on your site. It is about quality content and summarizing/indexing that content.
Once-upon-a-time only librarians knew how to index.
Search Engine Optimization is a term still bantered about, but at its core the phrase implies a client side (that’s you) mechanistic process that optimizes your online information being found by people who want what you offer.
Forget working with a company that will provide an optimizing service you can purchase and be done with it. Any person who offers you this at a price a small local business can afford is a scam artist. Local optimizing information is especially difficult because that has to be tailored to fit into a niche market. You as the business owner need to understand the process.
What I advise clients is to focus on in creating a good searchable platform that includes these things:
Online presence
Have one. Have a web page or site with section that is frequently updated via blog, or social media.
Social media presence
Pick social media channels your client base uses. Yes, research is required. And put at lease as much thought and money into this as you would have put into creating and placing a print ad in the olden days of a previous decade.
Index yourself
Develop a familiarity with categories and tags, descriptors, that are pertinent to your business service, product, and outcome. Accurately tag everything you can.
Easy to contact
Have your contact information directly accessible from every page of media. Show your email. Contact forms will turn some people off.
Geotag updates
On social media sites such Instagram and Twitter you can enable location so that when you are out and about your posts can be tagged with local info (turn these off when you are home if you cannot figure out how to set a general location.)
Be authentic.
Honesty, sincerity, connection, and real smiles bridge gulfs and build relationships.
Use analytics.
Most small businesses do not have an IT department, nor the budget to personalize digitally tagged tracking pixels, however Google has an add on for this function through their free analytics software.
Build into a local digital network.
Share the work of others who reciprocate.
SEO is really communication optimization. More and more it is becoming about having a coherent and consistent message, brand, and updated information about what you do.
Good points, Nancy. SEO confuses a lot of people. You’ve touched on all the key points. And, it’s a good reminder for the rest of us to make sure we follow through. I have to get beter at the indexing part.
Fantastic post! Like I said in one of my posts, you have to get naked about what you really care about. You are exactly right about scam artists Nancy, anyone who says they can do SEO or hosting for you for cheap or even a major investment is only a babysitter. There is no way to predict the shifts in searches or your business climate. Plus, never buy leads or likes, the bottom line is you have to let people know it is really you. SEO is personal!
Great tips! Also, if you’re concerned about getting a ton of spam from having your email address on your site, you can create an image of your email address and use that instead of using text.