SEO is probably one of the most popular tasks that entrepreneurs either prefer to put off or not bother with altogether. Some entrepreneurs feel like they aren’t at the level where they have to worry about it, whereas others get overwhelmed at keeping up with the “SEO Game”.
The truth is that while SEO can seem pretty intimidating, it doesn’t have to be as complicated, or as expensive as you think. The focus here is understanding why SEO is important in the first place. By following a few basic rules, you’ll find that you will get some pretty powerful results.
Choose the Right Keywords
Remember to do your keyword research first – this doesn’t mean you have to spend hours at it but you must determine what are the main phrases you want to be known for. This includes long tail keywords, industry related keywords to make sure your content gets brought to the forefront. Another quick tip is to make sure you use keywords in your images as well.
Onsite SEO Checklist
A good general rule to follow is to make sure that you have the right keywords in the right areas of your website including keywords in the title of your page, the URL of your page, in the content of the post itself, within the keyword section and in the meta description.
Offsite SEO
This SEO is what others can control such as links to your homepage, blog posts, social profiles and your landing pages. You can only control a certain amount of this.
Keep Your URL’s Readable
Remember, the more readable your URL’s are for a human – the better! So try to stick to hyphens instead of underscores when it comes to creating URL’s, as well as lower case letters as URL’s are case sensitive.
Improve Your Site’s Loading Time
Page speed is now a pretty major ranking factor so you will want to remove any non-essential elements to your site such as music players or graphics that might slow things down. Faster websites generate more conversions so this is a big must! An important tip is to make sure your site is mobile responsive.
At the end of the day, it’s clear to see why SEO is important – and let’s face it, SEO tips and tricks are always useful but we always need to remind ourselves that the content is for your audience and not Google.
When you cover the basics of SEO and are consistent in publishing high-quality content naturally without “keyword stuffing” or trying to game the system, Google will effortlessly look at your site as an authority in your niche.
Do you go in-depth with your SEO? Let me know what are the most powerful SEO practices you use over on Twitter and via Facebook – I’d love to hear from you!