Your site is your business. Without visitors, it is of no use to you whatsoever. You may as well be running a shop in a hidden away back street. So where does traffic come from? Well a (look up) x % comes from the search engines. According to searchenginejournal.com, when people search, 75% never scroll beyond the first page. And so your site needs to be visible right up there in the top 10, preferably top 5. This is why you need SEO or Search Engine Optimisation.

To achieve this, search engines need to like your site and for that to happen they need to know what your site is all about. Google for one understands a lot more than you think. It reads your site and uses many things including word relationships to understand the subject matter. Then when someone searches on a term (keyword) which relates to that content, it displays the most relevant results.

It also uses keywords header tags, titles, descriptions, inbound and outbound links, and a lot more. Consider inbound links as votes for your site. If someone else thinks that your page is interesting enough for their visitors to read then they will link to you. Links also highlight the subject matter by using relevant words as anchor text, so in their site they may say “see this great article on dog training”. Google will know that the link is most likely to an article on dog training. The more relevant inbound links from other authority sites, the more importance Google will place on your page.

Notice above I use the term page and not site. SEO is carried out on a per page basis and not per site. When someone searches for a keyword or phrase, Google will take them to the relevant page and not your home page. This means that every page on your site can be tailored to provide results for different keywords.

Another thing that Google likes to see is plenty of relevant, well written fresh content added on a regular basis. This tells Google that your site is being kept up to date and has plenty of activity. Gone are the days when you could stuff a few pages or articles out there and forget about it for months or even years. I don’t mean that you have to add an article every day but just add something regularly, maybe once every week or so. The more good content you have out there, the more there is for Google to find and therefore for your readers to come across in their search results.

Google also likes to see social media talking about your site. If your business gets talked about on Facebook then this is another vote for your site in Google’s eyes. Having your own Facebook page is a great way to put your business in front of your customers every time they check their feeds. Don’t overdo it though. If you bombard them with too much information in their newsfeed, they are just as likely to think you are annoying and unfollow you.

The great thing about Social Media though is that people can comment on your pages as well and this gives you free “content”.

Having a blog on your web site can also help. It enables you to add articles yourself or maybe have other people write articles for you which you then publish. Again, more fresh content which can be commented upon by your readers.

The above is just a very small introduction to the world of SEO. Add things like site maps, Google Analytics, local directories and a whole lot more into the mix and you will see that it can be a bit of a minefield. What you must understand though is that it is an ongoing business. Google likes activity and fresh content. You can’t just leave your web site alone and hope it brings in business.

How I can Help With Your SEO Campaign

If you would like me to help with your SEO campaign, I can offer any of the following: –

Health check

If you already have a web site, I can examine it and ensure that it is well written and structured for SEO. It should have with good Titles, headings, descriptions, content, links with no spelling mistakes. I will check that alt tags and descriptions on all picture are present and correct and the site has a good menu structure , footers, relevant anchor text and a site map which Google knows about. The site should have a good overall responsive design which is easily readable on all device types from mobile phones and tablets to laptops and large screen TVs.

I can also assist with any of the following and more: –

• Ensure you have good fast hosting and page load speeds (GZIP etc)
• Set up Analytics tools to monitor your SEO progress
• Help you to create more content for your site either in the form of new pages or a blog.
• Build a blog if you would like to have on on your site.
• Build a Facebook page and set you up with a Twitter account.

I hope this guide has helped you to understand a little more about SEO and how I can help you to build your online business.

If you want to know more or have any questions, please do get in touch.