If you're just getting started or need to redesign your website you may want to read our other blog, web design made simple. It goes over everything that we know about web design and explains it in a way that you can follow along.
The majority of this blog will cover keyword research because it is the HOLY GRAIL of increasing website traffic. A fundamental rule to remember, it is essential to perform keyword research from the standpoint of your ideal customer.
Consider what the "average joe" would type into a search engine when looking for someone that offers your services. Imagine you own an IT company; some of your services may include data protection and disaster recovery. Including data protection or disaster recovery in a keyword strategy wouldn't be the best approach if these are not words searched by the identified target audience.
Standard consumers don't typically refer to services the same way experts do unless they are familiar with technical jargon. Possible example layman's terms for IT company Google searches:
Always consider the Buyer's Journey when conducting keyword research. The Buyer's Journey, as defined by HubSpot, is the process buyers go through to become aware of, consider & evaluate, and decide to purchase a new product or service. It consists of 3 stages: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision. The Buyer's Journey can correlate to someone researching remedies for an illness.
Example:
Someone who is ill performs a Google search for "nausea and vomiting," and it generates millions of results. During the initial search, the Awareness Stage: There is only the awareness of the two symptoms but no knowledge of causes or treatments.
When reviewing the search results, one would consider & evaluate the potential causes and treatments to address nausea and vomiting. These are the actions of the Consideration Stage.
In the Decision Stage: After pondering the various options of treatment, a final decision is to seek professional advice and schedule a doctor's appointment.
For all consumers, no matter the need, there is a natural process that takes place from awareness to decision.
What keywords are your prospects typing in Google to search for an answer to a problem your business solves? Your job is to find out. Find and notate those keywords, you’ll use them later.
If you are not using software that tracks online behaviors, you are missing out on valuable information that will help grow your business. Understanding the behaviors of visitors to your website is imperative to creating a successful Inbound Marketing Strategy.
I prefer Google Analytics, sign up is FREE. Click the provided link here and take a few moment to test out the tools and review the demographic information of those that visit your website.
Welcome back! There are several strategic courses of action that can be taken with use of the demographic information provided from Google Analytics. For example: You may discover a new prospect group interested in a company's product or service. On the other hand, if your ideal customer does not shown up in the demographic results, it is indicative of a need to rework marketing and content strategies.
TIP: Pick your top site visitor and develop an offer around what they are looking for. An offer is something enticing your customer would want to have like an ebook, how to guide, discount, DIY tips etc. If you don’t know what information your customer is looking for, you have some homework to do.
Remember those keywords you did research to discover? You will want to write different content pieces using keywords for each of the stages in the buyer’s journey (awareness, consideration and decision).
Having content for each stage increases your points of contact with your prospect, helps to generate leads online and increases the likelihood of a sale. It’s a numbers game after all. Keep in mind, unsolicited, unhelpful, irrelevant content doesn’t do anyone any good. Isn’t that why we all HATE SPAM? Targeted content writing is KEY!
By blogging, writing ebooks and white papers with keywords and information your prospect is searching for, you can capture your buyer and speak to each phase of their journey.
Increase your content reach. Get your content out there through your company newsletter and social media accounts. Enable social sharing on items you publish.
Try to be helpful, a resource for the community. Monitor your social media accounts and when someone asks a question you can answer, do so. Do so often enough and you can improve your brand awareness, company trust and industry authority.
Increase your company awareness. Connect ads/campaigns you’re running to an offer. If you’re offering something valuable your prospects want, make sure they know it.
Don’t cringe. Pay Per Click Ads don’t have to be expensive. Using effective keywords with a bit of effort goes a long way. Start with a small budget and see what results you get. PPC can really help increase website traffic right away (short term) while you build out content organically for the long term.
Capture those visitors that have already shown interest. Have you been shopping for something online, that you didn’t purchase and discover the next day that “that something” is following you? That’s not by chance. That’s a service and it's called retargeting.
Yes, it’s a paid service, but it can be extremely effective. It’s your friendly reminder that “Hey, you were considering me… still interested?” We’re all busy, and we mean to do things and then forget.
So, if forgetting about your company is the reason you lost a sale, let’s eliminate that. Retargeting allows you to get in front of that visitor again. It’s nice to have second chances!
Don’t lose out on potential traffic for an inaccurate or non-existent label. Page titles are basic and VITAL for on-page search engine optimization (SEO)! Would you read an article, book, blog online or otherwise without a title? No! Well, why would you when you have no clue whether the content is of interest to you?
Furthermore, would you be happy to find out that a book titled Vegetarians was filled with hearty meat recipes? Ummm, NO. Well, search engines feel the same way! They want to provide credible and accurate information to their users.
Your page titles should describe your pages and if they don’t your site is getting dinged for it (to say the least). It's as simple as that.
Follow these DIY steps and you’re sure to increase website visitors. If this list is overwhelming, don’t worry, we’re here to help. Click here for a FREE Inbound Marketing consult.
To learn everything you need to know about web design take a look at "Web Design Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide."