Standing out online is tough - you’re up against more than 1.72 billion websites.

That’s a lot of competition.

So what should your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plan of action consist of? How can you compete with all of those other sites to get your share of clicks (and the business that results from those clicks)? Getting your brand to the top of the search results is a top priority right? Organic traffic driven by search engine optimization (SEO) is the largest origin of website traffic.

There are many factors to take into consideration for on-site and off-site SEO. Some that you can start doing right now so you can start to dominate in your market.

Kick off your journey right with these SEO factors to get you started:

• Craft Killer Content
• Blogs
• Guest Posts
• Video
• Business Listings
• Press Release & Distribution
• Internal Link Building
• Outbound Links
• Monthly Reporting
  
  

Breakdown:

Content Creation

Create engaging, conversion-driven content, using the keywords that are most important to you. Place that killer content on your website. Don’t know what keywords to use? Keyword Tool API is a free tool that will help you with your keyword research process. Did I mention, FREE?

Blogs

High-quality blog content hosted on your website to attract and convert your target audience is imperative. You want to have highly relevant, researched, professionally written blogs. By producing quality content around your subject matter, your prospects will start to find you through your blog content – this is true inbound marketing.

Guest Posts

Guest Posts are a fantastic way to get high quality, natural, in-content links to your site to help you boost your rankings and get more traffic to your site. This requires some work on your end but you will be reaping the rewards of success. You will need to do manual outreach to high quality sites, secure a guest posting spot, craft a unique article about your business with links and get them to place it on the site with links back to your website. The publications will add tremendous power to your backlink profile, and many can become a traffic source in themselves. Hard Work = High Reward

Video

Turn your insightful information into high-video content. Multiply the value of your content and take advantage of the 2nd largest search engine in the world – Youtube. Take advantage of an entirely new traffic channel that you have yet to utilize.

Business Listings

To establish your local business online, you want to get listed in the top local and industry directories to increase your local prominence and get more visibility. This will help improve the rankings of your website and move up in the map pack! If your business name has changed, phone number changed, or moved, this is especially important.

Press Releases & Distribution

A Press Release is a great way to get the news out about your business and get high quality backlinks at the same time! If you have something unique or an event you want to get out there, this is a great way to do it. Make sure you are distributing your press release to trusted media outlets. This will help boost your brand awareness, publicity and will help gain high quality, authoritative links. Start with your local media outlets and then work yourself up to the big timers. if you can get your content published on a few major media websites, you can then use your new published content as social proof. CAN SOMEBODY SAY BRAGGIN RIGHTS!?

Internal Link Building

These are internal links on your site to your own content. Here is an example - You’re on your ‘What To Expect” page and you have a paragraph stating the following: “Our hardworking and dedicated team will use the first meeting with your to discuss what your needs are and any issues you’re currently facing. We find gaps that cause resistance for consumers to easily fine and reach you. Our experts research further into your industry, audit your current situation, and build a plan of solutions to fill any gaps within your sales process.” You want to internally link ‘hardworking and dedicated team’ to your ‘Team’ or ‘About’ page and solutions to your ‘Solutions’ page. This helps visitors navigate your site, and find new content, and it does the same for search engines.

Outbound Link Building

These are links from your site to other sites. External links may sound counter intuitive — after all, you don't want potential customers clicking on links that direct them away from your site that you worked so hard on right? However, linking to trustworthy material (from authority sites, not sites perceived as spam) helps you also appear to be an authority and can help Search Engines like Google figure out what your content is about for SEO purposes. This type of external link is a great source of free traffic for your website, and is a crucial element of Google’s search engine algorithm.

Brand Locking

Your brand is one of the most important assets in your business. Taking the right steps to secure it is pivotal. Register your profiles on social sites (even the ones that may not seem super important) to prevent anyone else from taking your username. After you’re done registering your brand, you’ll be everywhere! From social sites, to video and blogging sites, you’ll have your brand ready to rock!

Putting These SEO Factors into Action

A great SEO strategy has even more advantages than we’re able to outline here. And the fact is, no matter what you do, you’re not going to skyrocket to Page 1 overnight (anyone who promises this to you is lying - RUN. QUICK). But the good news is, your sweat equity will pay off, and when it does, you will be on cloud nine. 

Need help taking your Search Engine Optimization performance to the next level? We’re here to help. Get in touch with us a 570-620-6350 today for a free SEO consultation.