It is all too easy to only concentrate on the technical aspects of Search Engine Optimization. Am I using my keywords efficiently? Are my web pages formatted correctly? Have the images on my site been appropriately tagged? These are all critical concerns to be sure, but there is another aspect of SEO that often goes overlooked: Content. Here are a few strategies to help ensure that what is on your site attracts not only search engines, but customers as well.
One of the key aspects of any site is its tagline. A carefully crafted tagline should concisely state what the site offers and why visitors should come. These words are the core of your business. They should certainly help web crawlers classify your website but also need to be the guiding principle behind the content created for it. Everything from the home page to each blog post should build on the premise stated in the tagline. If something doesn’t do that, consider why it needs to be on your site. Odds are, it does not.
A well written tagline surely incorporates carefully thought out keywords, but when was that tagline written? The world is continually evolving, and keywords do the same. Make it a point to include keyword research into your regularly scheduled evaluation or goal setting process. This exercise will help you keep up with the way that customers are looking for what you provide. If customer behavior or expectations have changed, it’s critical that your website reflect that fact. Keeping up with the times will help customers find you and, just as importantly, make what is on your site pertinent to their needs.
Ultimately, keywords are all about the questions that customers need answers to. Answering these questions should be the focus of your website. Figuring out what your customers are asking is critical. Go to Google and enter search terms using your keywords in the form of a question. After typing in a few words, see what auto populates. This will give you a start. What can you put on your site to answer what is being returned? Take it a step further and think of the 5 Ws: Who, What, Why, Where, and When. Is your content speaking to these each of these aspects of your business? If not, find ways to do so.
SEO is typically thought about as a way to get visitors to your site. Great SEO is more than this though. It is a complete method of attracting business. All the keywords in the world will do you no good if the content around them is not compelling. By making what appears on your site relevant, informative and interesting, you will not only make search engines happy but your potential customers as well.
