A lot of people who set out to become “salesmen” or “marketers” often have just a foundational knowledge of SEO and how that operates, if any at all. You are likely here hoping to increase your repertoire of knowledge about SEO, because it’s often much more complex than people initially realize. I’ve been doing online and real-world sales and marketing for years, and I want to help you build upon your knowledge, and help you use that knowledge to grow your business.

What Is SEO?

SEO is the acronym for ‘Search Engine Optimization’. It is the process of adding components to your website which will positively affect how your website ranks under certain search terms that you believe are relevant to your buiness. This is a collection of things such as having clear headers, good and relevant content, and referencing links to your website, among many other aspects. These things help Google and other search engines decide to bring your website up in its search results for search terms that are relevant to your business. Having good SEO means a greater number of people will find your website without you having to rely on ads to generate all your traffic, which in turn means more sales or clients for less money and therefore a better ROI and, most importantly more revenue for your business.
A lot of marketers will then go on to build a very basic website SEO strategy solely around those factors that improve search result rankings. They will likely create a website and add some blog content, which they will have optimized for search, and packed heavily with keywords that are relevant to their business, though sometimes they’re not relevant, and they’re basically attempting to show up in other search results. From there, they will then either add adverts in the form of Google AdSense, or they’ll set up an affiliate scheme so that they gain commission on sales they recommend.
The same goes for professionals working for other companies, or selling their skills online. They rely purely on this basic system of overly optimizing their website, and sometimes it can work: use SEO to bring more people to a website, then gain money from people clicking on ads or buying products and services. This doesn’t always translate to your business growing and becoming better, however. In fact, if that’s all you know, then you may well end up doing more harm than good to your business in the long run. If you want to excel in this digital environment and become not only relevant, but instrumental to the point that your business never struggles, you need to be professional, informative, and provide a product or service that will enrich the lives of your customers. This is how you become an unstoppable force and one step above all the rest.

The Problem With a ‘Pure SEO Approach’

The problem with designing a website purely to cater to SEO is that you will end up creating something that is designed for the search engines rather than being designed for the visitors.
This is when you get web content that is uninteresting, unengaging, or not relevant – it may even confuse them if a website or posting is stuffed with irrelevant keywords.
If a search engine detects high levels of keyword packing, your website will be penalized their search results. And even if Google doesn’t catch you, then you will likely find that you lose visitors to your website because they are able to tell that your “content” has a cheap nature, and it’s undermining the message your business is trying to convey. It’s unprofessional, and consumers are being turned off by it.
A major thing you need to do is to maintain the quality your content; to become better writer and that means writing for what it is that people are really coming to your website for. Good articles are written for people, not Googlebot, or some other search engine web crawler.

Maintaining Quality Content

Being a great writer can actually be enough to build a career off of on the internet and really in any other aspect of business. If you know how to communicate a subject in a manner that is clear and easy to understand, your message is more engaging and entertaining, and it will help you provide your expertise, or sell your product/service. This will help you build a fan base of consumers who are interested in your business’ ideas and principles, and are willing give their hard earned money for it. Having a website that speaks to the consumer is the first step to achieving this relationship with the consumer.

How do you ensure your website’s content will improve SEO, and still maintain the quality of your content? How do you write in a more engaging manner, while still being productive in search engine optimization?

• Know your niche. Find something you’re passionate about. If you are expanding to new areas or trying new things that you are unsure about, consider hiring someone that is passionate about those topics or industries to help you or your business.

• Communicate your points clearly. The objective of any piece of text is to communicate something to the people of the world.

• Have personality while still maintaining a suitable for the tone for the industry. Websites that have content that is relevant to topics people want to learn more about interest both people and search engines.

• Tell your stories that are pertinent to the reader, and help them understand who you are, and how you are there to help them.

• People can more easily navigate articles or blog posts on the web when they are spaced out with section headings of subtopics, reasonably sized paragraphs and bullet points. Comparatively, these make it easier for search engine crawlers to interpret and categorize your message. It often gives visitors to your website a better user experience when looking for something on your website or in your article, especially if you have articles that have multiple sections.

• Ask the questions people in your industry want the answers to, and answer them. Be sure to actually ask the questions your hoping to answer, such as I did in the beginning of this section. By including the questions you’re answering, you help the search engine crawlers figure out what topics you are covering, and helps your website rank higher in search results when somebody searches for that or a similar question. Furthermore, if your website talks about the things that are relevant to you or your business, and to what people are looking for,
If you can do all that, then you will elevate the quality of your content, and that generally improves your website traffic and SEO. If you focus on improving your writing first and foremost, it will be influential in the continued success of your business’ website.
The same concept should be directly applied to your social media. Don’t make the mistake of making social media that is bland and salesy: write about things people really want to read and give it some personality.

Implementing Design Elements

Another great skill to implement is design. Having a sensible design makes your visitor’s experience better, and helps your website and its sitemap to be determined by search engine crawlers. Again, this is a way to elevate any website or online product to a more competitive position. Keeping your website updated positively affects how search engines rank your website in search results. That tells the search engines that you and your content are relevant. Partly, this will mean learning about design and the best practices when it comes to laying out a website. You need to think about things like the layout and ‘leading the viewers eye’. You need to learn about color theory and why two colors don’t necessarily work well together. Try different color schemes, or layouts, and see what people or search engines prefer best. If there are certain design aspect that are unappealing or unprofessional looking, but they help your SEO, it’s likely more worth it to go with an option that’s more tailored to the human beings you’re trying to bring to your website and interact with.

If you’re wanting to update your web design elements, and you’re unsure of where to start, ask yourself:
Is your website difficult to navigate? Is the user experience not impressive or mundane? Do you have anything interesting to offer or information that they will find important on your website for your visitors?
If not, can you tell that this in negatively affecting the traffic or search result ranking of your business? Are customers less likely to order from you, or reach out to you for your business’ services?
You might see these issues with your business, but don’t get too worried. These issues are solvable, it just takes time, effort, and some creativity.

If you and your business is going to succeed and thrive to the fullest of your potential, then you need to make sure that your website looks every bit as good as your principle competition. You need to make sure that your website is just as vibrant, just as crisp and just as modern. If it’s not, make the strides towards being at that level.
If you have the time and discipline, you can teach yourself through research, or you can hire a team to develop your business online for you.
Learning how to use Illustrator or another tools to create logos and design elements can be a great investment for your business.

There’s some ideas to consider when it comes to creating a logos and design elements, such as:
• Keeping it simple and concise. Having too much complexity can make your logo difficult to look at, and it won’t make sense if crushed together in a smaller format
• Making sure it can flow with different background colors, so it can be shared without looking out of place or displeasing on other sites, or apparel
• Making sure it is not derivative of other’s work. Originality is a powerful intellectual asset in sales and marketing
• Communicating something about the business and making a logo that is recognizable to your company and what you do
• Avoid clichés

If you consider those ideas when creating a logo, then you’ll have hopefully feel accomplished and be rewarded with something that looks professional, and you can use to promote your business. You simply must utilize your design skills to personalize it, and make it a work of art that will resonate with your desired audience or clientele. If you don’t have the necessary skill set or tools to create professional design elements for your website, then you could consider outsourcing the process to someone that does.
For some companies, it isn’t necessary to get anything more complex than a WordPress or investor carrot site. The good news is that these tools are user friendly and easier to pick up. WordPress is not very cumbersome to install and there are some plugins that can be implemented to add more functions. This can often get a company a long way down the road in online marketing. A large number of websites online use WordPress today and that includes big companies like Forbes, the BBC and others. Many companies find that it provides everything they need for their website, but alternatively, these tools often must give up some capabilities or functionality for the sake of simplicity and user-friendliness. If your business outgrows the capabilities of these types of platforms, there are many other methods that can be employed to make a website that meets what your business needs.
The issue most business run into at this point is a lack of programming knowledge. It’s not as easy to pick up and learn as a user-friendly WordPress site. There is a lot more to learn, and it takes much more practice and research. Programming is a skill-set that is in immensely high demand right now, as it can be used to benefit a large number of businesses in an online sense.

Promoting Your Business

Networking and self-presentation is essential to building your business. That means knowing how to present yourself, knowing how to put yourself out there and being willing to reach out and make contacts where necessary. Online, just as in the real world, business notoriety can be positively influenced by who you are associated with. If you can get a backlink to your website from a colleague in the same industry whose website ranks highly in search results, it will help your business be associated with the industry in search results, and people who are looking for those services are a little bit more likely to see you in their search results. The way you get people to create those links to you is by creating connections with other business professionals in the world, learning from them, and working together to promote each other, and the principles your businesses uphold. It can be difficult to find and create worthwhile connections with the right people, but there are often many online resources for finding groups of professional in your industry who network on a regular basis. Networking events are a great way to engage with the people in your industry that are eager to learn, improve, and work along other likeminded individuals. Contributing trade-craft secrets to journalists in need of industry specific advice in another way to get your website or business featured elsewhere on the internet. This tells search engines that people in the world considers you to be noteworthy and relevant to what people in today’s society care about, and that will not only improve your SEO, but it will help establish your brand in the minds of consumers.
Networking events are also great place to present your share your knowledge and business strategies to those who will listen and apply it to their lives or businesses, and make them more productive, profitable, or trusted by consumers. It’s also an opportune time to have your mind opened to new ideas that might help you revolutionize your business. These events are excellent learning opportunities, and you will undoubtedly find it to be an enriching experience if you are able to find the right group of people.

When it comes to improving your website’s SEO, it takes a lot of time, knowledge, and patience. I’ve had years of experience in online and real-world sales and marketing. I help professionals figure out the critical steps, such as implementing SEO, that will improve their business, and reach their true potential. If your business is struggling, and you need an experienced consultant, contact us today! We offer free consultation to assess what is causing your business to struggle, and determine if my services are right for you.