SEO for Beginners
Are you utilizing SEO to the best of your ability to market your business’ content?
There’s a wide range of SEO expertise, ranging from “I just heard of it yesterday,” to “I am an SEO boss and can make it happen in my sleep.” No matter where you fall on that scale, you’re in the right place.
Search Engine Optimization, more commonly known as SEO, is a pretty straightforward strategy that can take your online content to the next level. It’s the “secret sauce” to putting your business front and center in the ever-booming world of internet marketing.
So, what exactly is it and how can you hone in on it for your business?
We’re going to let you in on our take on SEO, as well as some tips and tricks to get started in your journey with SEO. For something that may be intimidating, or appear to be complicated, it doesn’t have to be. We want to give you the basic knowledge you need to start marketing your business effectively on one of the biggest platforms out there. Without further delay, here’s your guide to SEO for beginners.
What is SEO?
Before getting into the “how-to”, we’ll start by explaining what SEO is all about. If you turn to Google for a definition, you’ll find that SEO is, "the practice of increasing both the quality and quantity of website traffic, as well as exposure to your brand, through organic search engine results."
In other words that may be easier to understand, SEO is the strategy you use to make your website rank higher on the click-worthy scale, to drive potential clients to your site through google-able content. Using intentional keywords + phrases and satisfying a plethora of other criteria, SEO will take your already quality content, and elevate it to receive the engagement you want. If you want your content to be seen by your target audience, SEO is where you begin.
If all of that still seems abstract, and it very well might, I’ll give you some context. For a second, imagine you’re the founder of an all-natural, non-toxic, sustainability-friendly cosmetic company. Fortunately for the world, yet somewhat unfortunately for your business, the market for products of that nature are booming right now. People’s eyes are being opened to the truths of toxic products and what their materials and packaging are doing to our planet. You are in a big pond full of tons of fish and you want to show the world that you’re the biggest and best one in the bunch. How do you do that? Yep, you guessed it. SEO. Search engine optimization is the protocol you will follow when producing your content, that will flash YOUR incredible non-toxic moisturizer right in front of your future client’s eyes.
Optimizing your “searchability” is important for your business, but it doesn’t need to be complicated. We know that creating content for your website or your blog can already be a difficult task as a business owner. So, the idea of adding in an element like SEO, that you don’t know a thing about, can just seem like too much trouble. But, don’t fret, it can be a fairly simple and minimally time-consuming step to your process; especially when you realize you don’t have to do it all by yourself. We are here to help with Digital Content Creation in the form of blogging and copywriting for your website. Blogging is just one tactic for SEO that packs a big punch.
72% of online marketers describe content creation as their most effective SEO tactic.
Marketers who prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to have a positive ROI on their efforts.
57% of marketers say they’ve gained customers specifically through blogging.
The Basics of SEO
SEO is a system that involves three parties; the search engine (primarily Google), the creator of the content (probably you) and the "seeker" or the person searching.
The creator puts out content either to educate, engage with the audience in hopes of booking them as clients or directly promoting whatever service or product they sell.
The seeker is the one on the other side, typing in what they're looking for and hoping for the right results. They could be someone searching for a certain service or product to invest in or just someone wanting more information in an area they are lacking.
The search engine is the middle man connecting the two. Using an intricate process of filtering and ranking all of the content on the internet, they put the search results out there for the world that are most relevant, organic, and applicable.
As the content creator, your job is to not only focus on creating top of the line content for your audience, but also focus on finishing it off with an intentional and thorough SEO marketing strategy.
Why Should You Give SEO the Time of Day?
Why is SEO important, you ask? Well, let me count the ways. Here’s the deal: you could be creating the best of the best content on the internet, but if you aren’t getting any eyes on it – what good will it do? There is nothing more wasteful of your time and energy, than creating a beautiful website, incredible copy and kickass blog content, only for no one to have access to it. That is why SEO has a place.
In the era we are in, where just about everything is virtual, the internet is our home and social media runs the show, you have to lean into the tools and platforms you have. The only way you can really do that, is to stay current and “in the know” on how to get exposure and traffic to your business most effectively. Currently, the “how” is SEO.
Search engine optimization is your ticket to success in your online business, truly. By meeting a short list of imperative criteria, you can skyrocket your business’ content to the top of your audience’s google search. So, I guess the real question is, why wouldn’t you give SEO the time of day?
Things to Consider
Know your target audience
In beginning your journey through SEO, your first step is to identify your target audience. If you haven’t noticed already in our other posts, that’s a common theme. When in doubt, always bring it back to the target audience. Of course, if you are already in touch with your ideal client and all that makes them, them, then you can skip to the next section. If not, I urge you to ask yourself these things:
Who is most likely to consume or invest in my business?
What is their biggest “pain point” or greatest need?
How can I, uniquely, meet that need?
What is their primary demographic?
What are their hobbies, interests, common qualities?
When thinking about your target audience, you can never be too detailed and specific. The more you know them, the more you cater to them directly. Creating the most effective and appealing content for your business is the first component in impactful SEO. The very first step to creating the most effective and powerful content is through knowing your target audience as if they’re your best friend. So, get to digging!
Know and meet the search engine criteria
The second half of SEO strategy, is satisfying the search engine criteria. Search engines have a process of sifting through all of the infinite content on the internet, in order to decipher between two types of content: organic and paid.
Organic content is the kind of content that is discovered through meeting the SEO criteria, which is the content you will be creating. With organic search content, businesses are using SEO to give themselves optimal visibility.
Paid content is content that is discovered through paid advertisements and promotions. Paid search content is more instant and tends to get an audience to your content almost immediately but is not always most sustainable or cost effective.
The SEO Checklist for Organic Content
While the criteria of SEO standards can be extensive and detailed, it’s important in the beginning to focus on the most important and crucial requirements. Rather than jumping down the rabbit hole and getting swallowed whole, give yourself a break and start with the basics.
Here are what we consider the most important SEO rules of thumb to follow:
The title – choosing titles for your content is critical, whether that is blog content or listing your services on your site. Beyond being the attention grabber, it also carries a lot of weight in the SEO world. The key in choosing your perfect title is to focus on getting the clearest point across in the right amount of words. Fun fact: Search engines (and audiences) favor content with “call to action” titles, as well as titles that say clearly how you are going to answer their specific prayer in the post itself.
Keywords and phrases – this one is important. The search engines will scour your content for specific key words and phrases that are directly relevant to what “the people” are seeking. The more of those keywords and phrases that your content has, the higher up it will go in the search rankings. You can choose to either sneak those keywords in as you create the content, or just as easily go back and plug them in once you’ve written it all.
Length of content – the general “law” surrounding SEO-friendly content is this: no less than 1,500 words and no more than 2,000 words. The idea is that your audience will engage with an article or post that has enough information and copy to pull them in AND teach them something, but not one that is too long to bore or overwhelm them. As long as you stay in that range, you will be more likely to be favored in the sea of endless online content.
Readability - true of false: in order to be noticed on the internet, your content needs to be best-selling author level writing. FALSE. In fact, the sweet spot for the perfect content is that written at around a 9th-grade reading level. You want your content to be concise, clear, bold and understandable by the masses. Within that, there are sub-criteria to keep in mind, such as sentence length, word frequency, use of headings, subheadings and lists, etc.
Links – articles and pages that have a healthy use of links in their content are heavily favored by the search engine gods. You want to use a fair amount of links in your copy; approximately 5-7 internal AND external.
Internal links are those that take your audience to another page within your website. Whether that means opening up a new tab for your “services” page, or just featuring another blog in your archive – you want those internal links spread throughout your content. Like this.
External links are those that direct your audience to sites outside of yours. That could mean a link to a separate article written about that specific topic in your copy, or even a link to a further definition of a word.
If you’re stepping into the world of search engine optimization, those 5 key principles are the perfect place to start. Create a checklist for yourself when you are creating content and get to checkin’!
The Power of Blogs for SEO
We’ve mentioned it above, but one of the greatest tools for improving your SEO is creating a blog on your website. By regularly creating organic content on your site that is relevant to your target audience, search engines will start to pick up that you are an expert in your area and start sending traffic your way.
The key here is relevant and regular.
Blogs allow you to regularly publish fresh and relevant content on your website. Search engines like Google value websites that consistently provide new and valuable information to users. By regularly updating your blog with quality content, you increase the chances of search engines indexing and ranking your website higher in search results.
Websites that also have a blog are shown to have 434% more indexed pages and companies who blog get 97% more links to their websites.
77% of internet users read blogs.
Blogs have been rated as the 5th most trustworthy source for gathering online information.
If you want your site to get more traffic, increase conversions and engagement, and be a trustworthy source of information for your ideal clients – you need to add blogging to your marketing strategy.
If you would like to learn more about the process and how working with a professional copywriter can improve your site’s traffic and performance, contact us today for a free consultation.
The Takeaway
So, there you are, now fully equipped with the knowledge of what the heck SEO is, what it really means, why YOU need it in your business and even the perfect place to begin – blogging. What more could you ask for? The next step, which I’m sure you can guess, is taking this information and applying It to your business. As you embark on your marketing journey as a business owner, it’s important to keep SEO as one of your key components and now you know why.
Check out our other blog posts for more tips and tricks in all things marketing and running a business. And if you’re ready to learn more about how to really elevate your business and set yourself apart from the others, reach out to us. We’re here and ready to be your right hand and number one fan in building your business and chasing your dreams.
