Now that you have a great website, now what? Know, there is a difference between having an search engine friendly website and one that is actually optimized. So, the now-what is basically that you need to continue to work on your website, it is not a one-and-done kind of thing. What I mean by work on is ….search engine optimization (SEO) and continuing to provide value to your consumers via something like a blog.
The value of a blog
First of all a blog provides valuable content to your consumer on a regular basis, or as often as you decide to write one. It also provides your knowledge and expertise and shares that with your consumers so they can begin to know like and trust you based on your experience and knowledge in your industry. Blogs are a win-win-win all the way around. Not only does it (1) allow you to continue to provide value to your consumers and (2) shows your experience and knowledge in your industry but it also (3) provides you something to share on social media. The sharing on social media in turn repeats #1 and #2 in that it allows you to continue to build your relationship with your consumers and customers on social media by providing value to them and sharing your experience.
What is search engine optimization?
Search engine optimization is simply optimizing your website to make it search engine friendly. A search engine friendly website is one that the search engines like and continue to come back to which further gives you the opportunity to be found in search engines by consumers when they search for your keywords or industry.
The main points of SEO
Search engine optimization has several main components that I will break down for you briefly so that you can get an idea of what you can do as a business owner to optimize your website for the search engines. Search engine optimization is about keyword rich content, linking and title and meta tags.
- Keyword rich content is the content on your website such as the blogs aforementioned
which provide value to the consumers. If the consumers find that it’s valuable, the search engines will know this and you have a better chance of being found in search. Also the better your content is and the more content you have that is keyword rich, the better chances you have to show up in search for those keywords, therefore being found on search.
- Link building is important in search engine optimization in that it shows that that website has additional importance. You’ll definitely want to make sure that you use internal links, which are links from one page or blog to another, as well as external links, which link off of your website to other informative website. Keep in mind that you don’t necessarily want to link to anything and everything and that the linking website isn’t crap. You want to link to things that have value and that are relative to your consumers.
- Title tags and meta tags as well as some other tags such as alt tags and heading tags provide SEO value to your website in that it tells Google or other search engines that this keyword within this tag has value. For example, if you have a heading tag which explains with the next paragraph is about that has a keyword in it, you are telling the search engine that this next paragraph is about this topic or keyword which usually means that it is of importance.
- Your title tag and description meta tag are usually behind the scenes however it shows up in the Google search snippet when people do searches for your keywords or industry. It is something that you do on the back end of your website but is not usually seen in your on-page content. However it is ever so important that you use a title tag and a description tag that uniquely describes the page or blog that you are using it on. Again this gives the search engine an idea that this is what the page is about, using keywords and without being spammy.
So these are the basics of what you need to do after your website is built on a continuous and ever-growing manner. You should be blogging on your website at least monthly, ideally 2 – 4 times a month, and then be sure you are optimizing your website on a regular basis. This isn’t something that you want to go and spend hours fixing on your website right now, but something that each time you are on your website you work on a few pages at a time.
Should you have any questions about blogging, about what search engine optimization is, how you can improve your search engine optimization on your website, or any of those services, I am happy to assist you in that endeavor. Contact me, Kristen with A Visual Business, with any questions or feel free to check out my website for more information.
Should you need to update your website, feel free to contact WP by Hand to work on that.
Great primer, Kristen! I don’t have the part of the brain that processes, SEO very well. Thank goodness I have a great person who does mine! Lol. But you de-mystify it.
Hi Susan!
SEO can be tricky! Kristen has done a great job explaining the nuances of the process and kept all well informed!
Thanks for the comment!
I’m glad you have someone to help you Susan.. but it’s helpful that you understand it a little too.
You’re so great at explaining SEO, Kristen. It used to seem like a foreign language to me, but you make it so easy to understand.
Kristen is pretty awesome when it comes to explaining SEO 🙂
Awww, so glad to hear that Carol! You rock and glad you are getting it!
You always explain things in a way that is clear and easy to understand Kristen – something that is so valuable for non-techies like me. I learn something new from you just about every week. Thank you.
Awww, well thank you Tami… I’m so glad!
Kristen is an SEO pro and helps with explaining the technical aspect in a non-tech way!
Thanks for the comment Tamuria!
Kristen,
A great article and is so easy to understand the way you make it so clear. I learn something new from you every week.
Thanks,
Lori English
That’s just almost exactly what Tami said… lol. Thanks Lori.
Thank you for commenting Lori! Kristen is a master at making difficult subjects easier to understand. 🙂
THIS right here is what i need to get better at. I need to sit down and go through my site and make sure it is up to scratch. Thanks for the great tips. You’re always my ‘go to’ girl for anything SEO related.
You are quite welcome Sonya and yes you should… before you have a crap load of content.. do it now while things are just now starting.
Good point Sonya! Start early in the SEO process and be rewarded down the road when every piece of content is ready to be optimized!
I’ve been learning as I go reading your blog, and in this case your guest blog, Kristen. Slowly but surely I am taking your tips and inputting them to my articles, especially the ones I am re-purposing to share again. The new ones of course I am much more conscious of taking the correct steps from the beginning. In some ways I see how Yoast SEO is also helpful with some of the points mentioned in this article by Andrew. Thanks again for the ongoing lessons in keeping current and SEO optimized with our WP website.
You are quite welcome Bev and don’t forget about my blog on Yoast.. .as it isn’t gold. Thanks for your kind words!
I love how you are teaching yourself SEO! SEO is a long and fun process. Glad to see you are implementing the tips Kristen provided as she is definitely a solid resource on the subject.
Yoast is a good starting point but not the end all be all. Remember to write relevant content for the website and your audience. Make sure the content is easily digestible, scannable, and most importantly, tailored to your audience.
Looking forward to seeing how your SEO efforts translate to your website!
Very helpful information that I can use on my website and improve SEO. Thanks!
You are quite welcome Teresa
Good luck Teresa! Hope all the tips provided help you generate more business.
Awesome tips, and something at which I need to do a better job. Glad Kristen exists to give us these tips!
Glad I can assist for you too Robin! lol
Agree! Kristen is an expert in the field and an awesome resource.
One of the biggest things I’ve had to overcome with my online writing was my college degree and 30 years of newspaper experience. All of which hammered home that to repeat words or phrases in your copy was a no-no, a sign of someone with a limited vocabulary. And I’m still struggling with the difference between tags and categories. Why can’t one of them just be called “keywords” and be done with it?
I hear you… we have to be retrained Jackie… and think… tags = keywords (only a few) and categories as a bigger way to organize products/services
Kristen hit the nail on the head. Tags are considered to be a way to add topical links to a specific blog post. Whereas categories help group related posts together and quickly inform the read what the post(s) is about.
It is a couple of extra small steps, that will pay dividends once you have more content on your blog.
Good luck Jackie and feel free to ask any other questions you may have.
All of these things are a must if you want to have a successful blog….period! Thanks for sharing Kristen! All bloggers should know something if not all about what it is that you need to do to help your blog become optimized and to ensure that all is done right 🙂
So true Joan and many think they understand it more than they really do, which is just as sad.
Joan you said it perfectly!
An excellent analysis, Kristen on what’s needed to get your blog out there, found and read. Having keywords helps to keep you focused on what you’re writing about and will quickly tell you if there’s an audience looking for you.
That’s exactly it Joyce, and thank you!
An informative comment, thank you Joyce!
Such a great explanation, Kristen, put in such an easy to understand way.
Why thank you Mindy!
That’s how Kristen operates, making tough subjects easier to comprehend! Thank you Mindy for the comment.
Some of it I do already on my blog, but I still need your help soon…with seo :-)…sometime I will get there…
Kristen will be happy to help! Thank you for the comment Katarina!