3 Tips to Save Thousands of Dollars and Hours on SEO

Get great results with a content-marketing strategy that works!

You hired an SEO “guru” to help you, but you haven’t seen an increase in online rankings, traffic or sales. And unfortunately, you don’t know anything about search engine optimization so you’re not sure where to turn next.

Sound familiar?

Well, don’t worry. You are not alone. I’ve talked to many, small-business owners who spent thousands of dollars on SEO work… with little to no results.

But you’re busy, and you don’t have time to learn how to optimize your site. Plus, you need to concentrate on your core responsibilities. What do you do? It’s time to stop jumping through hoops and focus on results so here are…

3 Tips to Save Time, Money and Effort on Search Engine Optimization!

1. Conduct research.

Yes, you are going to need to spend a little bit of time on this, but it can save you from a lot of stress later on.

First, figure out what you are trying to accomplish with your SEO and how it fits into your overall, marketing goals. Do you want to rank hire on the search engines, sell a particular product, increase site traffic, or something else?

Second, review key sites online to learn the basics of SEO and what you really need to make your goals a reality (https://searchenginewatch.com/, https://moz.com/blog, http://searchengineland.com/, http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/seo-websites, etc.). Note that you want to work with someone who understands the technical side of SEO, but it’s more important that he or she knows how to write good content specifically for your target-market.

Finally, look for experienced professionals who can help you meet your specific goals. Co-workers, associates, clients, and more may be able to offer some good referrals.

2. Create an SEO content-marketing strategy.

Once you find the right person, now you need an action plan. Your new hire will conduct research on your competitors, industry, website, and more. From there, he or she should create a list of current, keyword phrases to use in your content.

Then, these keywords are added to an overall, editorial calendar so you know what content is going to be created and when, which keywords will be used, how you are going to track results, and more.

3. Test and review.

Once you start posting content with the appropriate keywords, titles, coding, etc., it’s essential to monitor results. For example:

Are you getting clicks on your content?

Are people reading the content and sharing it with others?

What’s going on with your site analytics and sales?

Your SEO person should provide regular reports so you know what is working and what isn’t. This is one of the beauties of technology… you can instantly change and test content to get better results!

SEO Works Well with the Right Process and People.

Search engine optimization does not need to be this big mystery that you hand over to some “guru” to handle. Yes, there is some technology and coding involved. But, in its simplest form, SEO is about providing valuable and unique content to your targeted audience-members. Then, they will want to share the information with others, and the search engines will take notice.

With this in mind, conduct some research, and find an SEO content marketing strategist who can help you with your particular goals. Ensure that this person has the appropriate experience, knows how to write well and can create content that will give you a competitive edge. Then, once your optimization activities move forward, get regular reports from your SEO person so you can understand what is going on, what is working and where your money is going.

This process will help you boost online awareness and credibility. But most important, you’ll see site traffic and sales increase as cost-effectively as possible!

What are you going to do today to increase the value you provide customers via SEO?

For additional help with your search engine optimization, check out these articles, and feel free to contact me here.