According to some estimates, online consumer spending in 2013 will hit one trillion dollars for the second year in a row. As a result, any business looking to attract new customers and expand will need to develop a powerful web presence. This will likely include a great new website and social media pages, but also improved search engine rankings. Every day, web users perform billions of searches on sites like Google, and many of them are shopping or doing product research. Being able to increase search engine positions can help businesses boost visibility and get seen by those users. While the work required to do so is not easy, there are several steps that companies can take to do so.
1. Conduct Keyword Research
Before uploading new content or taking any other steps towards better search engine rankings, businesses should make sure that they know which keywords to target. Some are more popular than others, and focusing on the wrong ones could cause a SEO campaign to be minimally effective.
2. Choose the Right Keywords
It can be tempting for companies to try to earn the highest ranking on the most popular search terms. However, many others are likely already competing for those words, making it difficult for a new business to earn a solid ranking. By focusing on niche words that fit a business and have low competition, a SEO campaign will be more successful and possibly easier to manage.
3. Keep End Users in Mind
When it comes to creating SEO content, writers and campaign managers might get caught up in rankings and only think about how they can perform better on search engines. However, they must make sure that they are producing content and adding links that will actually help the people who visit their site. A bunch of nonsense articles and irrelevant links could actually have a negative effect on web users who visit a site.
4. Use Social Media
The lines between SEO and social media are becoming less distinct all the time. In fact, Google algorithms are beginning to place more importance on likes, plus 1s, and shares. As a result, SEO and social media campaigns are no longer always separate entities. The right content and updates on sites like Google Plus, Twitter, and Facebook, will not only enhance the visibility of a company and its interaction with consumers, but also help it improve rankings for a stronger overall web presence.
