Organic slow burn
Is the cheapest way to boost your website SEO.
Keywords for your business
Identify your most important keyword. Do this by targeting your geographic audience and your core product. E.g. “Floristry Joondalup”
Try not to be everything to everyone, it just dilutes the effectiveness. Then use this keyword in your content. On your webpage, on blog articles, news articles and on directory listings.
Quality of inquiries and conversion rates.
When someone finds your website via Google, they already know what they want. They are seeking you out, rather than you seeking them out which is what traditional paid for advertising is.
The conversion of a natural search query is nearly always successful. And it’s the cheapest way of acquiring a new client. That new client has found you based on trust and authority.
Web site
It should be Tidy, modern, minimalistic, with targeted content, with a targeted audience, simplicity is key.
Blog articles are for the froth. E.g. a Joondalup solicitor might do an article about the importance of writing a will, or a Perth wedding dress designer might want to blog about the latest styles of wedding dresses…….then share that blog article from your website to LinkedIn, Facebook, or as an email newsletter…..be utterly shameless and spread it far and wide. You become the trusted authority on this subject, and over time you build your reputation and become that go-to.
Stick to Compact images. With alt tags. (Speak to your web designer on this)
Ensure you have an SSL certificate on your website…….without an SSL certificate you are a nobody and can’t be trusted these days. Most web hosts these days provide free certificates in the form of Let’s Encrypt, you should definitely ask your host or web developer to assist with this.
Mobile…Mobile…Mobile
Your website might look fantastic from the comfort of your desktop web browser. However, how does it look on a mobile device? It’s an ever growing problem, in the past mobile presentation has been neglected vs the desktop. And this wasn’t a problem when most people accessed the web via their desktop. However in 2018 52.2% of all worldwide web traffic came via mobile devices. This means that more than half of your website hits are likely to be from teeny weeny mobile devices, and if your website doesn’t look good on a mobile device, it’ll be off putting to the customer AND Google will place you on the naughty step too by downgrading your ranking. Get your website developer to address this if it hasn’t been addressed already. It is absolutely vital that your content is tailored for mobile devices. You will lose customers otherwise.
Check the SEO
If you want to get technical, use a tool such as Nibbler and submit your website to get a “warts and all“ report on your website. This can give useful indicators about how you can improve your website, or use it as a stick to beat your web developer with.
Associate your business with professionalism, relevance and success.
Sign up to a local trade organization such as Wanneroo Business Association. Get associated with successful organisations. (Google loves this this)
Sometimes it’s worth being a member of an organisation, just for the SEO benefits. You can spend $100’s per month with an SEO expert, when just being listed with a well regarded organisation can deliver the same results for a fraction. Plus you get all the other benefits of being a member of a professional body.
Draft a concise profile description to use everywhere….perhaps 50 to 100 words
Write a concise and relevant profile that can be used as a template for directory listings, be it on professional members organisations or directory listing services. Ensure you’re your business profile always includes a hyperlink to your website e.g. https://blackandwhite.support
Also associate with Professional organisations. Link out to them too, e.g. a Trades Guild, or an authoritative body such as the Law Society. Black and White is a member of SMBIT Pro, an Australia wide IT professional body.
Get listed on Business Directories
Here’s a selection of directories you should get listed on, which will help boost your Google rankings. (Google loves this this)
Yellow Pages is a must!!!!
- yellowpages.com.au
- truelocal.com.au
- yelp.com.au
- womo.com.au
- infobel.com
- aussieweb.com.au
- australianplanet.com
- startlocal.com.au
- superpages.com.au
- pinkpages.com.au
Social Media.
A Google Business listing is mandatory……your website is literally nothing without a Google business directory listing.
If you want to attract businesses from a specific geographic location, get a business address in that location……If for example you want to attract Perth CBD businesses, get a CBD address e.g. SpaceCubed which is about $30 for 1 day per month onsite, you can use that address on St. George’s Terrace and then have your Google business as being listed there, meaning you can target your geographic audience more effectively. Plus you get all the benefits of shared office space in the CBD if you so choose to use it.
Submitting content to Social media is a pain in the backside. If you want to simplify and streamline it use some great tools such as https://buffer.com or https://hootsuite.com
- Bing isn’t so important to be listed on, however it’s better to have a business listing on there than not.
- Consumer facing businesses must have a Business Facebook Page that links back to your website.
- Business to Business must have a LinkedIn page.
- Instagram is good for raising your profile, as well a boosting more creative types of business.
- Twitter is more niche, and possibly more suited to journalism and politics.
- YouTube if you like doing video content, then linking it back to your website will do wonders for SEO.
Do a Press Release
There’s nothing journalists and publications love more than an off-the-shelf article written for them that they can use to fill column inches.
Write a spiel about your business, yourself, your story, your product, your website link. Do it in a Press Release structure (Look at how others do this and follow their style) include a link to your website (Google loves this this) then submit it for free to PR Wire. If you’re lucky, a journalist will pick up your article and put it into their publication. Or try and get a local journalist to pick up your article, get in touch with a paper such as Community News and identify a journalist who might pick up your Press Release. (The online article is more important than printed from an SEO perspective)
Here’s how Black and White’s press release appeared on PRWire and here’s how it looked in Community News
Get people to review your business.
Once you’ve done work for a client, and they’re clearly delighted with your work, send them a link to your Google business profile and ask if they’d mind doing a review. Having reviews clustered over a small period is not a good look, they should be evenly distributed over the course of time. When you do a great job, just ask…….don’t be embarrassed. Many people won’t get round to doing it, others will…..use your charm to persuade them. If you used your client’s services, reciprocate with a review for them. (Google loves this this) oh and never ask for a five star review.
Be patient
If you want instant results, use Google’s ad words and spend a fortune. If you want to achieve quality, low cost website hits then do the slow burn, which is what I’m advocating here.
If you follow all the suggestions and best practice detailed above, you should be able to get your website hitting top place with your chosen keywords within 6 months.