Starting a business can be quite daunting for a lot of reasons. One being the proper allocation of capital and where to invest your limited resources into. In today’s digital landscape, SEO has become an integral part of growing one’s business online. You simply cannot do without it if you want your business to be known to your target market. Good news is, you don’t have to go all out in paying for your site’s optimisation. There are several ways to go about successfully implementing various SEO tactics while keeping in line with your budget. We’re giving you three solid tips to start with, so take out your pens and prepare to take some notes! Tip #1: Assess which tasks you can do in-house–and do it well!SEO is comprised of a wide range of tasks and techniques and a lot of it can be done by in-house employees even without having an extensive mastery of SEO–and do it well. All it takes is a bit of research, practice, and dedication to growing the business. In fact, some of these tasks should be rightfully done by in-house employees given their first-hand insight into the business. So what exactly are these tasks we speak of? It includes content creation and keyword research. You can even count technical SEO if you dare. When it comes to crafting content, there’s really no better person for the job than the one who knows the inside-out of the business. The more niche the business, the riskier it is to outsource content creation to an agency that most likely doesn’t have the same level of extensive knowledge as an industry insider. In connection with content creation, keyword research can likewise be done within the company. There are so many tools–both free and paid–that can be used to come up with proper keyword strategy. A person from within the business would be able to effectively conduct competitor research, as well as identify terms that would be most useful to optimisation. Tackling the “technical” aspect of SEO may seem a task for experts, but there are parts of it that can be done by in-house employees. Some of which include working with developers to perfect the mobile responsiveness of your site, as well as doing page indexing, site crawlability, audit of internal links, and so on. With the resources and information about SEO that’s made available and accessible online, in-house employees can arm themselves with the basic techniques to pull these tasks off with ease. These tasks can also be collaborated on by several employees, making it even more effective and sustainable long-term. Tip #2: Automate simple tasks that take up your timeOnce you’ve figured out the tasks that you can do in-house, it’s now time to analyse and see which among these can be automated to save on time and manpower. Rather than having to do it manually, you can check to see if there are online tools you can make use of to take care of tedious and time-consuming tasks. Most of these tasks have to do with analytics and reports. These information are integral in assessing how your site is faring in comparison to competitors. It will provide you pertinent trends and highlight any issues that you may have to improve on to get better foot traffic and ranking. For example, you can use Seomator or DeepCrawl to have scheduled monthly audits of your site. Getting this bird’s eye view of areas to improve on gives you a better insight of what you need to focus on in terms of your SEO efforts on a monthly basis. Tip #3: Admit when you need help and outsource specific projectsSometimes, even your best efforts aren’t enough to fully implement a successful SEO strategy. And when this time comes, you have to be humble enough to admit defeat and ask for help–also known as outsourcing. There are several agencies that focus on helping small businesses with SEO efforts at an affordable and budget-friendly cost. Good thing about hiring an external partner is only having to pay on a project basis as well. For some tasks, it proves to be more costly to hire a full-time in-house employee than paying off an agency on a monthly or case-to-case basis. Examples of these tasks that may be better off outsourced to an external agency include link building and advanced SEO strategies. You may think that link building should be easy enough to do in-house. However, there are aspects of it that would be better handled by experienced pros. Just consider the fact that they normally have more streamlined and tried-and-tested practices to get you more links in less time–and do it in an ethical manner. It can also be a pain to continuously monitor your links, so it’s better to just have it effectively managed by an SEO agency instead. Another reason to pay for SEO services is to put advanced strategies into effect. From having a robust one-off analysis of your site to an extensive optimisation strategy plan, a team of experts may be able to handle it much better than putting the burden on yourself or on your team. ConclusionMaximising your budget doesn’t have to mean that you have to scrimp on the majority of your SEO efforts. Sometimes, it may even cost you more if you opt out of paying for professional SEO services. What you need to focus on is properly assessing which aspects of optimisation efforts would benefit your business if it’s done in-house, by use of automating tools, or by outsourcing such tasks to professional agencies. Through this, you’ll be able to fully make use of your allotted budget wisely and you can likewise expect a profitable return on your investment as well. The post Small Business’ Guide on Doing SEO on a Budget appeared first on . from WordPress http://ift.tt/2BjFJQe via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2nWbre3
0 Comments
Starting a business can be quite daunting. Growing it is even more overwhelming and requires grit, drive, and a dash of creativity. One effective way of building your brand is by creating content that will inform, entertain, and engage your target audience. Remember that in this day and age, content remains king. And knowing how to harness its influence can work wonders in growing your brand furthermore. So how do you do it? Here are three key ways that you can start with to build your business through content creation. Identify Your AudienceWho do you intend to reach? What demographic are you trying to appeal to? These are some questions you need to ask–and answer–before you even begin crafting content. Defining your audience aids in knowing what types of content you need to develop. This can be done in doing market research, developing buyer personas, and so on. The point behind identifying your target audience is simple: if you know who you’re talking to (or should talk to), you’ll know all the right things to say. Also note that your audiences may vary depending on the products and services you offer. Should this be the case, you’ll need to tap into proper segmentation to appeal to varying interests of your market. Set Your Brand Apart From CompetitorsAfter identifying your target audience, it’s now time to define what differentiates your business from your competitors. Through this strategy, you’ll be able to come up with branded content aimed towards highlighting that certain edge that you have, which allows your business to be known amongst competitors. Knowing this information can help improve your conversions and search engine rankings. In short, a lot relies on this tactic. You may think that given the oversaturation of today’s market, it would be hard to identify what sets your business apart from all others. The thing is, it doesn’t have to be big. It can even be your business’ key locations, or perhaps crafting content that would highlight all services or products that you offer. Of course, don’t just push out branded content whenever you can. A good mix of brand and non-branded content released consistently would help improve your online standing, as well as in getting paying customers out of readers. Repeat and Diversify Your MessageMost of the content that you’ll create will pretty much say the same thing. But in doing this, make sure to diversify your message and make it fresh. This is even more so the case for niche businesses, in which you’re basically stuck with the same topics and themes. Good news is, a little creativity and resourcefulness can go a long way in crafting new content that would continuously engage your customers and make them trust you. Do note that it’s not just the way you craft and write your content, but it’s also in the way you present them to your audience. We’re talking about using different formats. If you’re talking about SEO techniques, you can come up with a written blog post, an infographic showing key steps and statistics, colorful visuals to highlight important steps, or even videos that narrate everything about your message. Suffice it to say, your goal is to tell your audience what you do and how you can help them over and over again, but a little differently every single time. Not only does this guarantee that you’ll reach a wider scope, but it’ll also help in building your brand’s credibility and trustworthiness. ConclusionContent creation is an integral part of growing and promoting our business. Expect to encounter a couple of hits and misses before you finally nail what content will be well received by your customers. What you need to do is to use these three solid tips to start creating the foundation for your brand’s content and from there, analyze, adjust, and refine all the way through. The post Top 3 Key Ways to Build Your Brand Through Content appeared first on . from WordPress http://ift.tt/2shJHWD via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2nKSiMT With every new year comes a new set of trends and tasks that you have to check off your list to make sure that your site stays on top this 2018. Good news is, we’re not talking about trends you’ve never even heard of. A lot of what’s likely to get big in 2018 is also derived from the changes and updates that happened in 2017. Suffice it to say, this new year combines tried and tested SEO tactics that you have to reinforce, alongside new trends that are sure to come up this year. And to help you reflect on what to prepare for, we’ve compiled 5 of the most actionable SEO tasks to cross off your checklist for 2018. 1. Optimisation for Mobile DevicesThe rise of mobile search has steadily been on the rise over the years, and 2018 is the year that we will officially see Google implementing a mobile-first indexing. So what does this mean? According to Google, they “will create and rank its search listings based on the mobile version of content, even for listings that are shown to desktop users.” This just means that as a developer and site owner, you now have to pay so much more attention to how the mobile version of your site is crafted. It’s not enough to sit back and relax, thinking that you have a working mobile version of the site. It has to provide a seamless user experience. Best way to go about it is to have a website audit done on your mobile site to know points for improvement in terms of speed, layout, design, user experience, and so on. 2. Local Search RankingsBoth on-site and off-site optimisation for local searches have become more relevant than ever. In order to ensure that your site doesn’t fall out of the game, you have to constantly work on improving your local search optimisation. Not only should you monitor your site’s activities and analytics, but tracking that of your competitors should also be on your checklist. Knowing how customers are finding your site or the site of your competitors would work wonders in winning the local rankings game. 3. Voice Search OptimisationDid you know that about 55% of teens and 40% of adults use voice search daily? Those numbers are straight from Google’s reports and it could only mean that voice search may as well be the future of SEO. But while this may be the prediction of many experts, it’s not something that you should be wary of. Take note that what sets voice search apart from your regular search engine optimisation is the format of keywords used. Those who use voice search use normal and conversational questions, as opposed to oddly structured phrases that’s the norm for SEO keywords. Start looking for most commonly asked questions or sentences in relation to your main keywords and go from there. 4. Keyword GroupingNowadays it’s not enough to simply rely on a set of main keywords. What’s become more effective is the intelligent use of primary, secondary, and other related keywords–also known as keyword clusters or groups. Having these related keywords present in your text content helps prove to Google that your content is actually relevant to searchers’ queries. There are keyword grouping tools that you can use, or you can do it manually, as tedious as that may sound. You’ll be surprised at how well it pays off in the end, especially in proving your site’s relevance in search engine results. 5. Improve Site SpeedAre you even surprised that site speed has become even more necessary this year? Your site’s speed is not just an important ranking signal, it’s also a major UX factor, which of course impacts rankings as well. To give you an idea of what your standards of site speed should be, Google expects your pages to load in under 3 seconds. Just three seconds. If you’re not up to par with that, first thing you should do is to know your site’s speed using Google’s page speed test. You can check on individual pages there and identify problem areas that you should fix as soon as possible. ConclusionThe new year is a chance for you to revisit your SEO strategies to see what’s been working, what’s lacking, and what you can improve on. At the same time, you have to be aware of the updates that are coming your way, so you can prepare for it ahead of your competitors. If you feel overwhelmed, you can start with these 5 SEO tasks we’ve provided and go on from there. Awareness is half the battle and since you’re already in the know, consider it as a small victory! Of course, just make sure to follow through in executing these tasks and strategies to win over the SEO game this 2018. The post 5 SEO Tasks to Cross Off Your Checklist for 2018 appeared first on . from WordPress http://ift.tt/2E6qoVO via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2EiWg9b Skyscraper content has earned a reputation of being an effective medium in increasing click throughs and site traffic. In short, it’s known to be a reliable SEO tactic. However, this resulted to a lot of sites coming out with guide posts with over 10k words, promising to give you everything “you need to know about” this and that. And while some truly offer substantial content, most of these just comprise of a whole lot of nonsense fillers and cringeworthy copies. At the end of the day, this makes a skyscraper content ineffective, especially if it doesn’t really convert readers into buyers. So how do you create a skyscraper content that truly engages and well, one that doesn’t suck? Here are 5 tips to improve your skyscraper content that you can work on right now: 1. Make Headlines Out of SubheadsApply what you know about crafting engaging headlines into how you write your paragraph subheads. It should say more with less, but it should also give a clear picture of what’s about to go down in the paragraph following the subhead. Headlines are supposed to intrigue and catch the attention of the reader right off the bat. If your subhead is vague and unsubstantial, you can pretty much bet that the reader would just skip right through probably until the very end of your skyscraper piece. So instead of simply saying, “Grow Your Audience With Quality Content,” perhaps you can try a little more headline-worthy subhead like, “Rouse Your Audience’s Interest with Content that Clicks.” It may not be perfect but it’s something that would make your readers pause and have a read. 2. Say More By Writing LessIt’s a given that a skyscraper piece requires a very high word count–one that’s much higher than your regular average blog post. And given this word count requirement, a lot of copywriters tend to just fill in as much fillers as they can, which bores readers to no end. Using fillers can be appropriate sometimes, but not most of the time. If you can be more succinct and tell them straight with just a few words, then do it. If it reads, “As you may already know, writing a skyscraper content can help your site increase page views and overall foot traffic.” Maybe you can reconsider and dial it down a bit by saying, “Writing a skyscraper content can help increase your site’s foot traffic.” More succinct, more readable, more engaging. 3. Don’t Make It About YouReaders only care about themselves and what you have to offer them. This is why there’s no point in making your skyscraper content about you and what you think. Sure, you may be an expert giving legit advice through your skyscraper content. But you have to still make it about the readers. So how exactly do you do it? By taking yourself out of it and not drawing any attention towards you. You can do this by not using “I or we.” Use “you” as much as you can–pretty much how this post you’re reading right now goes. 4. Transform Boring Topics With a Little WitYou can do better than sounding like a Wikipedia page. Most topics that uses skyscraper structure are not that exciting and mostly technical. But even if that’s the case, don’t resort to sounding like an encyclopedia and try to inject a little wit and creativity to make it more fun to read. For example, you can easily find several skyscraper pieces on SEO strategies. A lot of these would include technical terms, which are just all too boring to read. Case in point, a sentence might read: “Putting these SEO strategies into effect can contribute in improving your site’s ranking and lead conversions.” Did you just yawn reading that? So did we. Maybe you can turn it into something like this: “Using these SEO strategies play a big role in higher rankings and increased sales!” What it all boils down to is how you re-craft your message and making it more exciting for your readers. 5. Pay Attention to Sentence Length, Sequence, and PacingJust like with how songs have a certain pace and build-up that rouses emotions to its listeners, your skyscraper piece also needs to have the right sentence length, sequence, and pacing. The best way to do this is to start short. And then slowly build it up with relevant information to support your message. Once you’ve gotten hold of their attention, you can move on to writing complex structures that include technical information, comprising the very meat of your skyscraper piece. (See what happened there?) ConclusionSkyscrapers are really effective if you know how to do it right–and not just for the sake of wanting more clicks. A lot of planning and preparation goes into it before you hit publish. But the best way to truly make it as effective as it can be is to pay attention to the writing. It’s about the information you present and how you present it to your readers. It’s both the content and the structure–the information and how you craft it and deliver to your audience. Pay attention to these details and you’ll see your site get indexed and ranked. Not to mention, it’s what makes customers who actually buy out of mere readers. The post 5 Tips on Improving Your Skyscraper Content appeared first on . from WordPress http://ift.tt/2E31A0O via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2nJFbL2 Getting backlinks is an effective SEO strategy for your site to gain more foot traffic. Of course, it can be very tricky and tedious and you have to maintain your integrity by sticking to White Hat practices only. One of the ways to get more links is by making use of your social profiles. But the thing is, social profile linking has garnered a bad rep for being somewhat spammy and shady. This is due to using random profiles, some of which may not even be real. But even if this is the case, it doesn’t mean you can’t do it in an authentic and legitimate manner. Here are 5 effective and very doable ways in which you can garner more links using different social profiles. 1. Forum Profiles Community forums such as Reddit and Quora make for a great opportunity not just to increase your backlinks, but to also connect with highly technical and authoritative people online. If you’re heavily involved in a certain niche industry, forums may be the way to go to establish connections with relevant people. You can comment and answer tons of questions and even start discussions with those who are also within your niche. Of course, just make sure that you provide substantial information. You can start with answering some minor questions, completing your profile, and keeping active before proceeding to share your own valuable content. 2. LinkedIn Profile Sharing valuable information on LinkedIn can also prove to be beneficial for getting more links. Compared to Facebook and other social media platforms, you have a higher chance of reaching out to the right people through LinkedIn, especially if you belong to a technical or niche field. Make sure to have your LinkedIn profile complete and looking professional so as to increase your credibility in sharing content. You can also connect with other professionals outside of your work or industry, who may find the information you’re sharing to be of value to them. If you’re handling your company’s LinkedIn profile, you can setup a posting schedule for various content pieces. You may even ask your superior or the executive in your office if you can publish the posts through their profiles to increase chances of click-throughs given the credibility their profiles have. 3. Profile of an Executive Speaking of executives, there’s so much you can do once you’ve gained access to an executive’s profile in terms of networking and getting links. Simply put, a profile of an executive holds more credibility and earns more trust than that of a general company profile. An exec’s profile (e.g. CEO, CMO, Manager, etc) puts a more humane approach in networking and anyone who would connect with them would feel more privileged, therefore trust is built more easily. Any outreach message or shared content done using an executive’s profile would stand out in a sea of various messages and posts on social networking sites. It goes without saying that this should be done with the executive still involved in the process. Of course, it wouldn’t bode well for the exec or for the company should there be a direct dialogue with the exec without him/her knowing about what was shared through his profile. 4. Facebook Profile & Ads Even with a small amount, you can readily boost your post and target it towards the right audience in Facebook. The key in getting the most out of this technique is to have a more narrowed down and concise targeting. Even with less ad spend, you’ll have higher chances of garnering more interest with the quality of your targeted audience. As with any other form of content, make sure that the post you boost and promote provides substantial and useful information. You’ll be surprised with how far its reach can be, since the audience themselves may even share and repost it to their own networks. 5. Connect With Social Media Profiles of Authorities Be it Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or even Snapchat, you can easily build rapport and genuine connection with authorities in different fields through social media profiles. It’s as simple as following or following back and making sure that you send out a genuine message to kick things off. You can show genuine admiration for the work they do or perhaps provide some insightful comment or opinion on a certain topic they featured or talked about. As you continue to build the relationship, you can even ask them to also promote the link to your site or post given that there is mutual trust established along the way. This method may take more time and effort but the results would be extremely beneficial, especially if you’ve managed to help one another in your respective ventures. Conclusion Surely, getting more links through social profiles isn’t the quickest way to increase your backlinks but it’s definitely one of the most rewarding given the authentic connection you’re bound to build along the way. You’re not just building connections but you’re also establishing trust within the online community, which in return would also be beneficial in increasing your reach as they share your content to their own networks. Do remember that these connections are a two-way street, so also make sure to return the favor or take the initiative to also share and promote the work of others as well. The post 5 Effective Ways to Get Backlinks From Social Profiles appeared first on Creativ Digital. from WordPress http://ift.tt/2nCWo8V via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2s1rPzh Getting backlinks is an effective SEO strategy for your site to gain more foot traffic. Of course, it can be very tricky and tedious and you have to maintain your integrity by sticking to White Hat practices only. One of the ways to get more links is by making use of your social profiles. But the thing is, social profile linking has garnered a bad rep for being somewhat spammy and shady. This is due to using random profiles, some of which may not even be real. But even if this is the case, it doesn’t mean you can’t do it in an authentic and legitimate manner. Here are 5 effective and very doable ways in which you can garner more links using different social profiles. 1. Forum Profiles Community forums such as Reddit and Quora make for a great opportunity not just to increase your backlinks, but to also connect with highly technical and authoritative people online. If you’re heavily involved in a certain niche industry, forums may be the way to go to establish connections with relevant people. You can comment and answer tons of questions and even start discussions with those who are also within your niche. Of course, just make sure that you provide substantial information. You can start with answering some minor questions, completing your profile, and keeping active before proceeding to share your own valuable content. 2. LinkedIn Profile Sharing valuable information on LinkedIn can also prove to be beneficial for getting more links. Compared to Facebook and other social media platforms, you have a higher chance of reaching out to the right people through LinkedIn, especially if you belong to a technical or niche field. Make sure to have your LinkedIn profile complete and looking professional so as to increase your credibility in sharing content. You can also connect with other professionals outside of your work or industry, who may find the information you’re sharing to be of value to them. If you’re handling your company’s LinkedIn profile, you can setup a posting schedule for various content pieces. You may even ask your superior or the executive in your office if you can publish the posts through their profiles to increase chances of click-throughs given the credibility their profiles have. 3. Profile of an Executive Speaking of executives, there’s so much you can do once you’ve gained access to an executive’s profile in terms of networking and getting links. Simply put, a profile of an executive holds more credibility and earns more trust than that of a general company profile. An exec’s profile (e.g. CEO, CMO, Manager, etc) puts a more humane approach in networking and anyone who would connect with them would feel more privileged, therefore trust is built more easily. Any outreach message or shared content done using an executive’s profile would stand out in a sea of various messages and posts on social networking sites. It goes without saying that this should be done with the executive still involved in the process. Of course, it wouldn’t bode well for the exec or for the company should there be a direct dialogue with the exec without him/her knowing about what was shared through his profile. 4. Facebook Profile & Ads Even with a small amount, you can readily boost your post and target it towards the right audience in Facebook. The key in getting the most out of this technique is to have a more narrowed down and concise targeting. Even with less ad spend, you’ll have higher chances of garnering more interest with the quality of your targeted audience. As with any other form of content, make sure that the post you boost and promote provides substantial and useful information. You’ll be surprised with how far its reach can be, since the audience themselves may even share and repost it to their own networks. 5. Connect With Social Media Profiles of Authorities Be it Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or even Snapchat, you can easily build rapport and genuine connection with authorities in different fields through social media profiles. It’s as simple as following or following back and making sure that you send out a genuine message to kick things off. You can show genuine admiration for the work they do or perhaps provide some insightful comment or opinion on a certain topic they featured or talked about. As you continue to build the relationship, you can even ask them to also promote the link to your site or post given that there is mutual trust established along the way. This method may take more time and effort but the results would be extremely beneficial, especially if you’ve managed to help one another in your respective ventures. Conclusion Surely, getting more links through social profiles isn’t the quickest way to increase your backlinks but it’s definitely one of the most rewarding given the authentic connection you’re bound to build along the way. You’re not just building connections but you’re also establishing trust within the online community, which in return would also be beneficial in increasing your reach as they share your content to their own networks. Do remember that these connections are a two-way street, so also make sure to return the favor or take the initiative to also share and promote the work of others as well. The post 5 Effective Ways to Get Backlinks From Social Profiles appeared first on Creativ Digital. via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2GExb6G |
Archives
April 2018
Categories |