If you have just started a business, or only moved it into the online world, you have probably heard about SEO. Search engine optimization is an online marketing technique that helps you get found by your customers online. It’s all about rankings, you see. When you use a search term for anything online, services like Google and Bing will look throughout the whole web for a relevant website or information. Then they produce the results in a list. If your site is on page one of that list, it will get more visitors.
That much is standard stuff. But the tricky thing to get to grips with is that no-one knows what the search engines want. There’s a lot of guessing going on – even from ‘experts’. But, as there is a lot riding on getting to page one of the rankings, there is fierce competition. SO, as a beginner, how do you approach SEO from scratch? Read on to find out.
The Basics
OK, so you may have had plenty of emails and people offering their SEO guru status as a service to you. For a large fee, of course. But the basics of SEO are pretty simple. Take a look at our article on the essentials and see if anything rings a bell for you. Have you got everything in place, or are there areas you need to look at?
Learning
If not, why not consider learning those basics properly before spending a fortune on a consultant? Look into getting some SEO training at Simplilearn or a similar service. Online courses are a much more cost-effective way of getting to know any subject. Plus, knowing the basics will make it easier for you to choose the right agency for the higher end stuff. It will also save you money because they won’t spend time doing the simple but time-consuming job of setting up the SEO on your website.
Hiring
You can either a hire an SEO consultant to come in and work with you and your team or hire a full-time member of staff to do the job. The former will cost more at first, but once everything is set up a small monthly retainer will be all that is required. Hiring somebody is effective, too. You can pay them less, but you will also have to pay them their benefits after a particular time. They may not have the specialist expertise that you need, although, on the plus side, you will be able to develop them over time to meet your business demands.
Neglecting
Don’t neglect other areas of your business just to stay on top of the search rankings. It’s one thing to get in Google’s good books, but it’s another altogether to get sales. SEO is only one part of the process, and it will never seal the deal on its own. How many search results have you clicked on that have led to a messy site with little of value on there? Those experiences are great examples of putting SEO in front of everything else. Design, images, user flow and the words you use should all be taken into equal consideration. Otherwise, you’ll just end up with a lot of visitors and no sales.
Check out our blog for more SEO tips if you want to take things further! Until next time.