SEO. FYI.
As I promised in my last article, I said I would get back with results of an ad campaign we produced, currently running for a retail client of ours. At the time of writing this, it is just nearing completion. I’m pleased to say they’ve been receiving great brand recognition using traditional mediums (radio/print) to reach an older male audience. Now the bigger question is what would be happening if we had run digital ads on social media platforms simultaneously to complement the newspaper and radio ads?
Now, I’m not going to get into the details of SEO (as I’m in no way an expert on this topic), but I know just enough to scare my team. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is something you build into your website as specific search terms, keywords, photos, videos, responsive design, etc. Without considering SEO when designing and developing your website content (not to mention keeping it relevant and current), you limit your ability to attract targeted customers and more business to your brand. SEO, once built for your brand, is free, but it’s paramount that your website has the right SEO content, and the way you “earn” your SEO ranking is always changing.
When a person uses a search engine such as Google, it will recommend people to your website based on all of these components that create SEO: your keywords, your content, how recently you updated your website, how accessible your website is to screen readers, how long people spend on each page – and a hundred other factors. Search engines rank your website based on how many of these components you have, and then serve your website to potential matches in their vast databases of billions of people. That’s right. I said billions. This is why when you search generic businesses (think Centre Street Dental), you get local results first. The more specific your SEO can be, the better your chances of appearing on the first page of a search and engaging customers.
Research shows that being listed on the first page of any search leads to more transactions.
Tell stories and entice those who end up on your website and your chances of a transaction will be much higher.
Creating on and utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or YouTube (to name just two from over a hundred), can also lead potential customers to your brand via your website. By using good or engaging content (photos or videos) on your social media channels, the chances of click throughs to your website will increase. Your SEO ranking will rise as the search engines track these “tire-kickers” seeking information.
At the end of the day, keep SEO in mind every time you add content, create a new page, update, or perform any alteration to your website as search engines comb the internet looking for the most trustworthy, relevant, and current information on endless lists of queries every second of every day. Make sure your website is designed/developed by trusted and proven creative/digital professionals to utilize SEO to its fullest potential.
Until next month. Cheers, mark.
