Most websites focus solely on
SEO, but increasing your online visibility involves more than that.
When a consumer searches for your
company, it’s a fairly safe assumption that you want your website to show up
first organically. But how do you make sure it’s super easy for customers to
find you, no matter what (or where) they’re searching online?
To do that, you’ll need to
double-check your online presence to make sure that you’re optimizing all the
places you could show up online. From business listings to social profiles,
here’s what you should focus on to boost online visibility for your small
business.
1. Check all of your business
listings
Make sure that, not only are you
listing your business in the first place, but you’re also providing each
listing with consistent, up-to-date information. It’ll make your business much
easier to find online. Plus, if it’s easy for consumers to find your number or
address, then they’ll be more likely to call or visit.
Keep in mind no search engine wants
to deliver incorrect information to its users. So if your business listings
vary or have missing information, search engines assume it’s incorrect (and
that can hurt your ranking).
Create standards for all your
business listings so that essential information is spelled and written out
exactly the same across all listings.
2. Create shareable content
Whether it’s a blog post, how-to
guide, infographic, image or instructional video, the more shareable your content is,
the more people it’ll spread to.
People share things that they enjoy
or find helpful. If your content is a wall of solid text, or really serves no
purpose, then it’s not going to get shared. And if no one ever shares your
content, hardly anyone will see it.
Shares drive traffic, which help
search engines see that your site is reliable and helpful, which can boost your
SEO ranking. And the higher you are on a SERP, the better your website’s
visibility will be.
3. Tune up your content
Aside from shares and traffic, search
engines also use keywords to determine how relevant your content is to search
queries.
Create a list of appropriate keywords and
search queries you want your content to rank for. Give it some thought, too.
What words do your customers use when describing your company? What do they
search for when they’re looking for a company like yours? Then, go through your
content and tune it up to match.
Make sure your keywords are in the
body text, but no more than five times. If you overload your content with a
keyword, that’s considered keyword stuffing and it’s actually bad for your
ranking.
You also want to put your keywords in
the titles, headers, image alt text and ideally, in your URL. (Don’t
manually change existing URLs though. That’ll break any backlinks.)
4. Ask your customers for
reviews
Building up a collection of good
customer reviews is essential for any company, but especially for a small
business. Positive reviews can help you stand out from a crowd.
Plus, for many consumers, what your
existing customers say about you can make or break their decision to shop with
you.
Good reviews will also show search
engines that you’re a trustworthy and reputable business or source of
information, which will help boost your visibility.
5. Build up your social
strategy
If your small business doesn’t have
the time or the resources to manage an in-depth website, then you definitely
need to utilize social media. Social profiles will still show up in search
results, they’re easy to use and they promote sharing (and therefore more
visibility).
Use your social profiles to interact
with customers, list your business information and share any content that
you might have.
If you do have a well-built website,
add social share buttons to your content, and include links to your social
profiles throughout your website to make it easier for customers to connect. If
consumers like your social page and interact with your posts, there’s a better
chance their connections will see your content, too.
6. Place more value on building
relationships
Building relationships is a much
better tactic than other SEO tactics, such as buying backlinks, because you’ll
most likely earn them more naturally by getting others to talk about you.
Consider guest posting, or having
other industry experts guest blog for you. It’s also a good idea to send out
press releases or any other announcements regarding changes or news in your
company.
Most websites focus solely on SEO,
but increasing your online visibility involves more than that. You need to get
people talking, and
focusing on various PR aspects can help with that.
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