Out on the interwebs, a battle for attention is raging. Market research shows that 48 percent of consumers start mobile research online and 68 percent of companies have a mobile marketing strategy to draw in those consumers.
That’s a lot of competition clamoring for attention, a robust search engine optimization (SEO) strategy can help your brand get noticed. You don’t have one, you say? The following strategies will help you improve your search performance and raise your visibility among your competitors. Read on…
SEO isn’t just about getting traffic to your website, is about positioning yourself as an authority. People trust an expert. Becoming an authority isn’t simply knowledge and expertise. If you don’t share that knowledge, how will anyone know what sets you apart from the rest? Focus on building your voice in the digital marketplace with the goal of building a solid network of backlinks to your website from trusted sources. The more backlinks your website has, the more of an authority Google deems it and therefore the higher your website will rank in searches.
There are three ways to gain backlinks:
Implement A Content Marketing Strategy
If your company doesn’t have a content marketing strategy, you are doing your organization a disservice. Websites with blog content have over 400 percent more search-indexed pages than sites that don’t. Content marketing is more successful at converting leads into customers, with 61 percent of U.S. internet buyers saying they made a purchase after reading a recommendation on a blog. It’s important to keep in mind that you avoid sloppy blog posts and make high-value content that others will want to reference. Strong content is vital to building strong backlinks.
Guest Posting on Blogs in Your Niche
Attempt to get published on sites that provide do-follow links as these allow search engines to follow the link back to your website. Be strategic with press releases and aim for the media to call you as an authority, thought leader, or subject expert wherever possible. The more mentions you get within the media, the more it positions you as an expert. If you’ve got an honest relationship with a publisher, don’t be shy to ask them to incorporate your targeted keywords in their article.
Build Your Voice
Although traditional media still has its place, no PR strategy is complete without digital media. Nearly half of all website traffic comes from mobile devices. to create your voice, spread your PR strategy across multiple digital media channels. These include:
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Video
YouTube is that the second largest search platform after Google and gets a staggering one billion unique visitors monthly. If your brand isn’t using video, that’s plenty of web traffic and potential revenue that you’re losing. Attention spans are shrinking, and a brief corporate or promotional video is digestible and shareable.
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Podcasts, Webinars, and Vlogs
If you nurture your network of media, bloggers, and influencers, your name will come to mind when they’re trying to find experts to interview on their podcasts, webinars, and vlogs. Your website can score some serious link juice if they’re willing to incorporate a backlink.
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Images, Infographics, and Illustrations
While content creators sweat over the proper words to extend web traffic, they often overlook the usefulness of graphics and pictures. You’ll be surprised what percentage visitors reach an internet site via a picture search. More importantly, images contain alt tags and title tags that help search engines find them. To optimize a picture, include the article’s focus keyword within the alt tag.
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Tap Your Network
Gone are the times of using press releases as an SEO strategy to create backlinks. Search engines are largely ignoring aggregate listings as they are not considered trusted content. Press releases are viewed as one-dimensional and subjective. As a result, your story is less likely to be discovered by the media. Your relationships with key influencers the work you’ve done to entrench your name as a reputable expert starts to pay off at this stage.
Boosting performance requires an integrated communications plan and an investment of your time. If you haven’t done so, consider partnering with an agency that can create an integrated marketing strategy to help you tell your story across multiple platforms.
Still have questions about your SEO and content marketing strategy? We can help. Give us a call at (910) 338-1364 or drop us a line at info@eagleeyemarketinginc.com