In case you managed to miss the memo: SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, and the online world seems to be absolutely obsessed with it. And in my opinion, a little too obsessed with it. So the real question is: SEO: is it worth the hassle?
Initially, I want to say a huge, big, fat and resounding “NO”. However, despite my reservations about this obsession, SEO does have its benefits; as long as you get it right – and so many people, just don’t.
Therefore, here are my five ways to conquer SEO:
1. Content is Always King
Oh yes, it’s the old cliché that Content is King, but content really is the master of your success.
Problem:
Imagine the ideal scenario:
Image sourced here.
You’ve created lots of keywords, and the Search Engines are bringing traffic in by the bucket load. Yippee, you’re thinking – excellent, lots of business heading your way! But wait, you’re sat by your inbox, waiting ever so patiently for all those orders to come and hmm…nothing!
You check your website analytics (as you should be doing, on a regular basis), and barely anyone has remained on your site for longer than ten seconds.
Here is where the problem lies, just because you’ve brought traffic in, doesn’t mean that your job is over with. Your second job (after drawing people to your site) is to ensure that you keep them there, and tempt them with your amazing wares. Unfortunately, keyword-heavy content that is boring, full of jargon or doesn’t even make sense, is not going to do that for you.
Solution:
- Create content that is interesting to read and packed with relevant information
- Ditch the jargon – no one has a clue what you’re talking about, so seriously, don’t do it!
- Make your content easy to browse – remember, we’re lazy, so make things easy for us with headings and keywords and important phrases highlighted (although, don’t do overboard)
2. Do your Research
It’s really easy to fall into the trap of thinking “Oh, I can do that – it’s easy!” when it comes to SEO, but in reality, you can’t expect to get anywhere, without doing a little bit of research.
Research helps you to determine your market, and target it to perfection.
The real problem is distinguishing what keywords you should be using. If Search Engines are going to bring traffic to your website, you’re going to want to make sure that you use the best keywords. Using the wrong ones might draw in the wrong kinds of people. You should also be aware of using keywords that could be interpreted as misleading.
Solution:
- As the heading suggests: Do your homework. Check out the competition, find out what keywords they’re using and look into how you can adapt that into your website. However, don’t just copy all of the keywords that they use, because some of them might not be suitable for your brand.
- Think about your brand, and the types of keywords that people might search for, in order to reach that brand
- Put yourself into the shoes of your customers. What are they looking for? What are they likely to type into Google?
3. Stay Relevant
Why would someone buy a product or service from a website that contains content that isn’t relevant to the product or service? Honest answer: They wouldn’t. It’s as simple as that. Therefore, relevant content is just as important as good content.
The Problem:
What exactly is relevant? One of the mistakes that I have made, and a lot of other people make, is to write about the things that interest
This image has no relevance to this post whatsoever.
you. If you’re writing a personal blog – that’s great. Nevertheless, in the world of business, writing about how hilarious your cat is, well, it’s hardly going to draw customers to your company that sells lipsticks, is it?
If someone comes to your website looking for a funny story about cats, then it’s likely that the website they are probably looking for is going to be something to do with cats; a vet, an animal charity, a retailer who sells animal toys for example.
Solution:
Ask yourself a few questions:
- What are your customers interested in?
- What information could you provide?
- What could you teach?
- What would customers find helpful?
- How could you provide this information?
4. Imaging
The Problem:
I once read that you shouldn’t bother putting images onto websites, because Search Engines can’t read anything other than text, so why bother.
The problem is that images are useful when it comes to whether or not a person will read your content. Take me, for example, I’m your typical internet surfer, I want to be spoon fed information and I don’t want to have to work hard for it. Why? Because I’m Lazy, and because the internet is so full of information, it starts to get boring. If I come across a website that is just one big huge paragraph of content, I’m likely to yawn, and click away.
The Solution:
The critics might have been right, Search Engines can’t read the actual images, but they can read the ALT Tags and ALT tags are an incredibly valuable part of SEO. ALT Tags should be used to describe the image, allowing Search Engines to read what the image shows.
One way of approaching this, is to imagine that you are describing the image to a blind person, or someone who – for whatever reason – cannot see it. Ask yourself a few questions that a blind person might want / need to know:
- What does the image depict?
- What is it representing?
- What is the images purpose?
5. Don’t Get Obsessed
Despite what we’re quite often told, keywords are not the center of the universe. Yes, they’re important and yes, they can help your business, but they’re only one part of a very big puzzle.
The Problem:
For many businesses, it’s easy to become so obsessed with keywords that you lose sight of what you are actually hoping to achieve. Content becomes boring, stress levels sky-rocket and you don’t enjoy working on a part of your own company.
Solution:
Don’t allow yourself to be consumed by keywords.
The truth is that if you know your product/brand/service well (and you should) then it’s likely that keywords will flow into your text with absolute ease.