SEO brings your Business More Traffic & More Customers

Josh Erdman CEO, Systems & Marketing Solutions

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is all about relevance to the Search Engine. Google is basically a super computer, and when Google reads your site it is looking for data that it can quantify. That data is the words you use on your site.

3 Types of SEO: Search engines judge your website's relevance in three ways: what you say about yourself (Onsite SEO), what others say about you (Offsite SEO), and modern your website is to support the evolving technology trends (SEO Technologies and Protocols).

When a friendly website hurts your SEO: Imagine you are a pediatric dentist, and on your site you show pictures of happy kids with stuffed animals and you make BIG headlines using the words: Friendly, Fun, Safe for Kids. These are great messages for the reader (a parent reading your site) but since they are in the headline, you are telling Google that ‘Friendly, Fun, Safe for Kids’ are really important words in the search. When in reality the most important words, your keywords are ‘Pediatric Dentist’.

Google places more emphasis on the words in your Title, headlines, and ALT Tags (description text for images). Working with this in mind is key to maintaining a good SEO structure.

When Speed Matters: If time is money, then a slow website is a waste of your money and your visitors’ time. Google has a reputation to uphold and will recommend fast websites over slow ones. Fast is a relative term so they provide a free Website Speed testing tool where you can receive a letter grade on your website speed and tips to make it faster.

When Links Matter: Your sphere of influence in a community is important and on the internet Google measures this by tracking links from trusted 3rd party websites that point to you. These are called backlinks and you can never have too many from trusted sources.

Take the time to fill out your complete business profile with your Chamber of Commerce and any memberships you may have with trade associations, these are backlinks that matter. Other helpful backlinks include Social Media profiles, business partnerships, and if you really specialize in an area, a citation in Wikipedia.

The Speed of SEO: SEO moves like an iceberg, improvements you make today might start to have an effect months down the road, but this effect is long-lasting (assuming that your competitors are on standby with their SEO). So be patient and be authentic. Consider advertising if you are looking for something with fast results. What else can I do to improve my SEO? Blog Articles: Keeping in mind the rules of SEO structure we mentioned before, writing new blog articles is a great way to strengthen your website's message and focus on your keywords and this new content gives Google a reason to come back to your website. New content also is a great single to Google that your business is still alive and well. Many businesses have paid years in advance to keep their website running and then have gone out of business. Without new content, how will Google differentiate between your business and a business that has shut down but still has a website running?

Google My Business Listing: As mentioned earlier, completing your Social Media Profile is a great source for backlinks and you can’t go wrong by starting with Google My Business. eCommerce: If you sell product, going the extra mile with an eCommerce shopping cart is also quite helpful. Shopping carts are very structured and organized allowing Google (and other search engines) to suck up the information on your products like candy. If you already have a website many platforms already have eCommerce capability (Wix and Squarespace is builtin, for WordPress users the most common plug-in is WooCommerce). If you do not yet have a website many people start on the popular eCommerce platform: Shopify.

eCommerce: If you sell product, going the extra mile with an eCommerce shopping cart is also quite helpful. Shopping carts are very structured and organized allowing Google (and other search engines) to suck up the information on your products like candy. If you already have a website many platforms already have eCommerce capability (Wix and Squarespace is built-in, for WordPress users the most common plug-in is WooCommerce). If you do not yet have a website many people start on the popular eCommerce platform: Shopify.

Keep Learning: Like most technology, SEO evolves adjusting to stay relevant. Most importantly, be authentic, that will ensure your SEO is valuable for the longest time.

Josh Erdman, never leaves behind an opportunity to learn something new. He is a true ‘Jack of all trades’ and always on the lookout for new ways to merge technology with the customer experience. As CEO of a national Digital Marketing Agency, Systems & Marketing Solutions, he pursues his passion – helping businesses connect to customers at the intersection where lifestyle and technology meet.