| Freshen up your website to generate more targeted | | | | For example: a. If you'd been highlighting the exclusive, |
| traffic and online sales leads by choosing keywords, | | | | prestigious nature of your luxury products, but now |
| updating web page content and more. | | | | people are searching for "affordable" versions of your |
| Spring is here - so this is a great time to do some | | | | products, you'll need to change the benefit statements |
| important housekeeping on your website. This type of | | | | in your web page copy. b. A good revision might be: |
| house cleaning will help attract more visitors to your | | | | Pamper yourself with the competitively-priced Product |
| online home, which allows you to present your line of | | | | A that will make you look and feel great without |
| products and/or services to an increasingly larger | | | | putting a damper on your budget! (use a keyword in |
| targeted audience. | | | | place of "Product A") |
| Here are several key areas to focus on in your site | | | | 2. Review the results of your keyword research, |
| cleaning: | | | | including the questions that your prospects are asking. |
| - Keyword strategy | | | | Create an editorial calendar of relevant new copy and |
| - Web page content | | | | stick to a reasonable schedule in making that content |
| - On-page elements (besides copy) | | | | live - where it can work for you and draw targeted |
| - Off-page elements | | | | traffic and online sales leads to your site. |
| Choosing Keywords | | | | On-Page Organic SEO Strategies |
| If you haven't reviewed your keyword strategy in a | | | | What's great about on-page elements is that you're in |
| year or more, then you'll want to conduct some new | | | | control of them for your own website. To help |
| research. Follow these steps: | | | | increase online sales leads to your website: |
| | | | |
| 1. Re-run the keywords that you've been using. What | | | | 1. Remember that your title tag is like the headline of |
| changes do you notice in your results? Why do you | | | | an advertisement for that URL in the search engine |
| think these changes have happened? What do they | | | | results pages. This is the most important on-page |
| mean for your business? As an example, people may | | | | element; make sure that the title tag is unique and |
| have searched for "luxury widgets" when the | | | | relevant to the page topic. Include the most relevant |
| economy was stronger but are searching for less | | | | keywords, along with a benefit statement and call to |
| expensive models during more uncertain times. | | | | action. |
| 2. Don't just settle for what you find during step 1. Also | | | | 2. The meta description tag acts as the body of your |
| search for new and different ways in which people | | | | advertisement in the search engine results pages. |
| are searching for your products and/or services. | | | | Succinctly create a paragraph of text that is unique, |
| Perhaps your product line has changed; or maybe the | | | | relevant to the URL, and keyword-rich - with benefit |
| generic name of your product is changing. For | | | | statements and a call to action. |
| example, people once searched on "car phones" and | | | | 3. Make sure your website includes a robots.txt file, site |
| then, for most searchers, they started to want "cell | | | | map and a sitemap.xml file. |
| phones." | | | | 4. Examine your website to see if you need to correct |
| 3. What do keyword research tools tell you about | | | | 404 errors, clean up HTML code, compress images or |
| geo-targeted patterns in search in your industry? If | | | | add ALT tags to images. |
| your business focuses on certain geographical areas, | | | | Off-Page Organic SEO Strategies |
| be sure to modify your keywords in a | | | | These strategies cannot typically be controlled by a |
| geographically-relevant way. | | | | website designer or developer - but you can take |
| 4. Remember that Wordtracker has a free | | | | partial control of at least one off-page element: your |
| question-based keyword research tool that allows you | | | | link building campaign. Seek out high quality inbound links |
| to see what questions your prospects are asking | | | | and request unique optimized anchor text linking back |
| (labs.wordtracker.com/keyword-questions/). Use this | | | | to your site. When was the last time you freshened up |
| tool to brainstorm topics for new editorial for your site. | | | | your link building campaign? |
| Updating Your Web Page Content | | | | Finally, a Bonus: Online Reputation Management |
| Follow this two-part strategy: | | | | If your business has received unfair criticism online, then |
| | | | this bonus tip is for you. It can be frustrating to see |
| 1. Look at the content currently on your site. What | | | | criticism about your company on Internet forums and |
| revisions should you make, based on the results of | | | | other places online - especially since the negative |
| your keyword research? Sometimes, it's just a matter | | | | comments could be posted by competitors or |
| of swapping out a tired keyword for one that is fresh | | | | disgruntled former employees. Here are a number of |
| and enthusiastically searched upon. Other times, you'll | | | | posts to help you freshen up your online reputation |
| have to change your copy to reflect new keywords. | | | | management strategies. |