Most SEO strategies sound like mythical solutions, especially when being touted by self-proclaimed gurus. You’re not alone in thinking these solutions sound “too good to be true,” because they usually are. This is why there are so many horror stories about people spending lots of money and getting nothing in return. Before you find yourself in such a situation, there are a few things you should do to better understand this process and get more traffic to your business.
Start Local
You must set realistic standards and those should begin in your own neighborhood. Ranking well at home should be your primary goal, before moving on to a national or international scale. For this you’ll want to target locally relevant content and geo-keywords. This is better than competing with a million other websites at a national level where you can’t improve your organic traffic. When you’re targeted and relentless for three months you’re bound to see some improvements. Then once you’ve had enough practice in building a successful fan base at home, you’ll be ready for global domination. It’s also much easier to start at home because there’s a goldmine of untapped resources there, regardless of your location.
Since you’re already creating some type of content, you shouldn’t overlook the creation of tailored, local content. Take some time to think about what type of activities you can launch then target them locally through targeted blog posts, landing pages, and videos. Make sure this content is based on a combination of your keywords and location. If you’re uncertain as to how best to accomplish this, you should consider creating some of these low-hanging types of content:
Blog content that’s targeted is good, but if you make it too targeted you can miss out on a lot of great opportunities for your brand. This is why you should focus on a broader keyword in your niche. Consider combining it with your location. Doing so is a great way to make sure you’re targeted just enough to be successful.
Reviews are important when it comes time to place some pressure on your leads so they’ll buy your products or services. Google Plus and Yelp are two of the best platforms you can use here to help establish credibility for your brand.
Geo-specific hashtags are really important to use when you’re sharing content on social media. You can think of these in the same way as you’d think of writing an address on a piece of mail. Just don’t forget to launch it into cyber space in the same way as you’d mail out a letter.
Understand the Various Parts of SEO
There are essentially two parts of SEO that you must be concerned about: on-site and off-site. When you put your strategy together in this way, SEO will lose its magic and you’ll start to see that you really can measure it. To make this happen, you’ll want to make sure you identify the keywords you want to target. Once you have your keywords you’ll want to create content that focuses on using them naturally. Be relentless about this process for at least three months.
Understand That Hard Work is Required
SEO requires a lot of hard work since it won’t happen automatically. Instead, you must put energy into it on a daily basis. However, when you’re persistent about engaging in the aforementioned steps you’ll reap many great rewards. You must treat SEO like a craft that needs to be relentlessly practiced though. This is why it really shouldn’t surprise you when you hear that someone has spent hours working on their SEO strategy.