Resource Center Print Marketing Articles Beginners Guide to SEO

Beginners Guide to SEO


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How visible is your website to your target audience?

Where do you rank, compared to your online competition? How does your content stack up in Google’s eyes? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, chances are you haven’t done much in the way of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Relax. It’s Okay.

Some small businesses avoid or run from SEO, thinking it’s mysterious and complex. However, once you begin to understand the basics, you’ll discover that good SEO is a powerful form of online advertising that can do wonders for your small business.

Case in point:

A small online cardboard box shop experienced a gradual increase to 1000 visitors per month over a period of one year through their own SEO efforts.

Cardboardboxes4u.com had built a tangible online presence, but sales were beginning to dwindle. They turned to a professional SEO firm that specializes in small business website optimization. The SEO company (Boostability.com), led the way, and together they worked to increase traffic and build awareness. The cardboard box shop implemented a variety of recommended strategies and techniques. These included targeting specific key words, detailed competitive analysis, and strategic content creation.

Since turning to a professional firm, the shop now experiences between 2000-3000 visitors per month. Even a small amount of knowledge can help immensely. Here are six takeaways to introduce you to the world of SEO:

  1. Main Goals of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
    • The primary goals of SEO are to improve and promote a web site in order to increase the number of visitors the site receives from search engines.
    • Good SEO makes your site easier to find for both consumers and search engines (like Google and Bing).
    • If search engines can’t find your site, you’ll miss out on a wealth of opportunity and business.
    • Proper SEO helps you build your online presence and attracts more visitors. The wrong techniques however, can hide your site from consumers as well as search engines.
    • Search engines speak a certain language. They expect websites to quickly explain what the website and products do.
  2. Improve your Website Credibility
    • Search engine traffic can make or break your organization’s success.
    • Adding unique content, relevant links and valuable resources and solutions to your site will give you an edge over your competition. A great way to add unique content and spread the word about your site is through guest blogging. Offer to write blog articles for companies who sell similar products and services. Include one link to your site in each article.
    • Participate in social media. For example, hold a sale and promote it on Facebook. Start commenting on Facebook or LinkedIn conversations. Make sure that your comments are valuable to the readers.
    • Update the content on your site regularly. When you update your site with valuable content, you will rank higher with the search engines. This helps increase traffic and business. High rankings are a good measure of the quality of work done by you or your SEO company.
    • No reputable firm can or should guarantee that you will be ranked on the first page of Google. The search engines review and analyze your competitor’s sites. Therefore you must offer something unique and have a strong online presence, in order to be ranked highly.

    Where does your website rank? There are a number of free tools available, that will analyze your site, and give you an idea of how you compare to your competitors. However, it can be challenging to find a credible source. If you want to test the waters, consider talking with one of Overnight Prints preferred partners (see link at the end of this article).

  3. Choose the Right Keywords
    • Keywords are an essential part of SEO. They should be incorporated on your site to make it more search engine friendly and relevant. Keywords are also used to direct traffic to your site from other locations.
    • Devote sufficient time and research to keyword selection. The best keywords should include words and phrases that consumers’ type in when they are searching for the types of products and services you offer.
  4. Tell the World about your Site
    • It’s important that search engines can find your site easily and quickly. But that alone is not sufficient. Your site must be associated with other websites that discuss or offer topics and keywords that are pertinent to your business.
    • For example if you own a pet sitting business, you’ll want to link to sites that have content about pet behavior, grooming, proper nutrition for dogs, etc. The purpose of link building is two-fold; to build credibility with search engines, and provide helpful links to people who visit your site.
    • When links to your website are broadcast in the right locations, your site will be positioned to receive more attention. Link building should be an ongoing process.
  5. Your Entire Website can Build Value
    • Most websites consist of more than just a home page. Each page within a website can rank individually on search engines. Usually the main focus is on a home page, but every other page within a domain can be optimized to draw more attention to your site.
  6. Be Patient
    • Good SEO can have a powerful and lasting impact on your website traffic and rankings. Results are usually achieved through several tasks that take time to implement.
    • There are no shortcuts or tricks. Depending on the competitiveness of your keywords, your budget and search trends, initial results may take a few months to be seen. Like all good things, it’s worth waiting for.

Whether you just launched your website or it has been online for years, SEO is vital to success in today’s world. We hope this information will aid you in laying the foundation for a successful SEO strategy. We encourage you to take advantage of the free tools and resources. If you would like a complimentary consultation or site analysis from our preferred partner, Boostability, click on the link below:

Complimentary website analysis

For a “user-friendly”glimpse inside how Google searches the web, listen to Matt Cutts,senior engineer at Google describe how it works:

By:Courtney Knapp

Tell us what topics you want to read about/send comments or suggestions: resourcecenter@overnightprints.com

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