Out of the referral sources driving traffic to popular content sites on the web, search engines (Google primarily) are typically the most profitable, and the most abundant resources for traffic.
How SEO Can Bring in More Search Traffic To Your Blog:
Here are some SEO tips to use when creating content in your blog, online newsletter, and even your website. But let me add a quick comment about your website here – in today’s SEO environment, it’s almost a given that you need a blog with frequently updated content. Google favors content that is freshly updated, and a statis website cannot deliver the updated content like a blog.
2 Key SEO Tips To Build Your Brand
1) Conduct keyword research. If you understand what keywords your most profitable customers are using when searching for your type of business, then you have a huge advantage in knowing what to keywords to build your content around. Focusing on customer targeted keywords is critical in connecting your brand with a growing online audience.
A great, free resource for conducting keyword research is Google’s very own keyword tool called Keyword Tool External.
Another great keyword research tool is Wordtracker’s Free Tool. Of course, you can also purchase a more indepth version of Wordtrack Keyword Research.
Finally, a great article about keyword research can be found on SEOBook.
2) Use keywords in your title. If you’re a local business, I recommend using a the following strategy: (target location then keywords for your business, product, or service). For example, if I’m a carpet cleaner in Boise, Idaho, the title to my blog posting might look something like this:
Boise Carpet Cleaning, 3 Steps To Cleaner Carpets
Notice the geographic reference is first, followed by the tagline title to the post.
Also notice the keyword variation use in the title with “carpet cleaning” and “cleaner carpets”. As search engine scan the title tags of pages, they will pull keywords the are present to match search querries, regardless of what order the words in the search are typed.
Using the title above as an example, the following combination of phrases could trigger that page in the search results:
“boise carpet cleaner” “boise carpet cleaning” “carpet cleaners boise” “carpet cleaning boise”.
Again, search engines look at phrase matching in the title objectively, so make sure you’re using keyword phrases that are targeted to your audience, but structured in a way that “Title Friendly” for readers.
2) Build Relationships. You probably have been wondering how exactly SEO fits into the world of social media. With sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc… now taking up the majority of online activity, these sites play a critical role in SEO.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization right?
And search engine optimization is the process of getting your content to the top search results of Google (and other search engines).
Ironically, the algorithms that determine your rankings have evolved a lot over the years and have gotten smart at filtering out garbage – or spam if you will.
In today’s world of search engines, the best way to reach top search results is by having a strong brand.
A strong brand means that people online know about you, are talking about you, and of course, are linking to you.
The way Google looks at it is, if people are noticing you, talking about you, and linking to you, then you must be important, and your pages are the ones we want in the top search results.
So use social media on a daily basis. Create a Twitter profile, get active on Facebook, and start getting involved with the online conversation. This will, after a short period of time and effort, begin garnishing a handsome return on your efforts.
One great way to use social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, in conjunction with your blog, is to share your new postings with your audience and provide a link back to your article.
I mentioned at the beginning of this article that Google is the #1 referral source for traffic. However, the #2 referral source for this blog and others is Twitter. And some other sites I know where the #2 source is Facebook.
In Summary:
1) Know your keywords that are most profitable to your business and the ones that people are using to search for what you offer. Begin using these keywords in the titles of your blog postings.
2) Get involved with social media. Get active on Twitter and Facebook and start building your brand.
You better know that in today’s world of content sharing, it’s more often than not your business is being discussed by someone. And if your input isn’t out there, then you are 100% relying on what others say about your business. If that’s the only content out there about you, it’s the only content that will be found.
You see, this is something you have direct control over, so start creating content for your brand, and start getting involved on the web!