Search Engine Optimization 101
By Olivia Lovenmark

Ever wonder how some companies always end up at the top of a search page when you Google their name? Well, we wanted to share some insider tips on how they do it, why they do it and how you can do it to increase your businesses exposure and hopefully, profits.

In a nutshell, Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving your visibility on the web, and more importantly, Google. When you include keywords or links relevant to your business, services or products, it boosts your “rankibility” in Google or page rank if you must. “Rankability” is creating your own buzz on the web and is not only good for increasing your web presence, but is also good for your SEO. Google views in-bound links as website credibility, therefore prompting your site to be found more easily and towards the top of the page. Think of it as making your website amongst the popular crowd with a little self-publicity mixed in.

Last week, we showed you how to find & understand your target market. Now, let’s make sure people can find you. Search engine optimization can be a bit intimidating to a new business owner who just wants to be found on Google, but SEO is necessary, and can be easy with the right know-how. There is a ton of content available on the subject of SEO, many of which I find confusing and too complicated, so I’d like to provide some simple basics for start-up and small size businesses. Here is my beginner’s guide to getting some Google-love.

Create Compelling Content
By creating interesting and relevant content that will be of value to your audience is the best way to get noticed and appreciated on the web. Part of getting noticed is consistently publishing new content – often – whether it be a blog or just posting an interesting article you found that you want to share. Make a list of relevant topics that your audience wants to hear about and ones that are of interest to you and your business. Perhaps you own a boutique selling clothing and accessories. Your target market not only wants to find out what you sell online, but they also want to know your brand and know that you are go-to expert in clothing & accessories. Did you recently donate a few pieces to a local charity auction? Were some of the brands you carry recently featured in a magazine or worn by a celebrity? Talk about it and post it so people can find it and talk about it. Every word you write increases your likelihood of you being found.

Choosing Relevant Keywords is Key to Your Business
When you launch a website and draft up the content for your site, you want to make sure you include key words that are relevant to your business. These are keywords people will enter when they are searching for a particular business or service. Take Bratface Marketing for example. In order for potential clients to find us, we’ve placed keywords in the website that are directly focused around who we are and what services we offer: marketing, strategy, branding, consultanting, Vancouver to name a few. Keep keywords in mind when writing blog posts as well since they will also help boost your SEO when people are searching for various topics, words etc. Also be sure to post your blogs to your social media outlets, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn etc in order to gain even more exposure to your friends, followers and business colleagues. Most importantly, you want your blogs/posts picked up by RSS Feeds so they are syndicated. Anyone online who is signed up to receive postings on certain business related topics, yours will be included.

Keywords are what you’re writing about and what your customer is searching for. They are subjects that are being searched where you can be found simply by mentioning them.  As a start, use Google’s Keyword Research Tool to find out what terms are searched for more often than others.

Content Integration Best Practices
In basic HTML code, a Title Tag specifies the title of your web page. It is a code that is inserted into the header of your web page that looks like this: <header>. I’ll use my blog, “Stylestruck” as an example. StyleStruck doesn’t have a homepage Title Tag that says “StyleStruck,” but rather “StyleStruck – Olivia Lovenmark’s Vancouver Fashion Blog” because including various possible search terms makes it more likely that my blog will be found on search engines. If you are using a CMS system, (that’s a content management system) like WordPress, or blogging platforms like Blogger or Tumblr, you have control over your Title Tags. If you have an HTML site, you can also change Title Tags yourself, though it will likely take some time to acquaint yourself with the coding of your site. Or better yet,  have someone who is knowledgeable in the field correct the tags for you.

Assuming you write a blog that is linked to your site, make sure your blog post titles are accurate search engine search terms. For instance, if I was to write a blog post about the importance of understanding SEO, I would title it something like, “How to Make Your Site Search Engine Optimized,” or “Understanding SEO for Your Website”.

<MetaTags> are HTML codes that are inserted into the header on a web page, after the title tag which are not visible to the site user. If you are inserting <MetaTags>, create them as you would your Title Tags and keywords so they match searched terms. One the best and simplest ways to accomplish this is if you are using WordPress by installing their All-in-one-SEO Package which will allow you to insert your own <MetaTags>.

Inserting Links
Sounds simple and it is, so why not do it? If you notice, with a lot of online articles and blogs, they often include links within the post, which you can see above in this blog post. Whether it’s a link to a previous article the author wrote, a term, or someone’s name, this is another great way to increase your SEO. Why? Because it allows your blog or website to rank higher and show up in more searches. For example, I wrote a blog a few weeks ago on marketing luxury brands. I added hyperlinks to a lot of the designer names and fashion articles I referenced or used. Now if anyone searches any of these names or articles or just fashion marketing in general, the likelihood of my blog ranking on Google is now even higher.

We know this is not easy stuff and it does take a while to become familiar with SEO and all the nuts and bolts there are to understanding it, but the best way to learn is to keep using it. Research the web, read articles on the subject and ask the experts in the field to help you out. Once you have the knack for it, it becomes second nature.

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Online Marketing, SEO, bratface marketing, wordpress by Andrea