If you’re completely new to the world of building websites and using SEO methods for traffic, the whole process can be quite overwhelming. Actually, it can be downright intimidating, especially for total newbies to the online world.
You might not even know what the acronym SEO stands for. And Google analytics, well, it sounds like something your old boss might use when you’re called in for an employee evaluation. Don’t even get me started on what it means to rank and drive traffic. Sounds like quite a lot of hard work!
Certainly, there is work involved. When you’re first figuring out how to bring customers to the beautiful new website or blog you just published, it does take considerable time and effort to learn the basics. But it’s really no different than when you first learned how to use a computer.
Remember that first brand new Apple or PC? You flipped the switch and instantly began exploring all the endless possibilities that your software would allow. Over time, you learned right where to point and click, and before long you were able to quickly navigate your computer and the internet to boot.
Take the First Step for SEO Success
And in the same way, that’s how it is with local search engine optimization and traffic building. You kind of have to dive in and start. Not wait until you thoroughly learn every single detail. Part of the beauty of working online is you may learn as you go. There’s no hard and fast rule of how to get where you want to be. In many ways, you simply have to take that first step.
Now that’s not to say that there isn’t a process to follow. There are fundamental rules for creating sites and then having them rank with the search engines. And that’s what I want to talk about with you today.
What is SEO?
SEO or search engine optimization helps you modify your website content so that potential customers find you among the hundreds, and possibly thousands of other businesses, in your local area. As you are writing content for your website or blog, there are specific techniques you can use to put you far ahead of your competition. You know, those guys that just throw up a website with a brief list of their services along with an address and phone number. Those are the types of businesses that sort of build it and think that hundreds of customers are just going to pour in. You can see more about this Field of Dreams website building point of view in our previous blog about the subject.
For now, let’s look at fundamentals of local SEO so that you can begin putting these techniques to good use on your site.
5 Beginning SEO Methods for Your Blog Posts
If you are just now developing content or already have it published to your site, there are a few tweaks you can complete to ensure that your pages are fully optimized for your target keywords.
1) Blog post URL should use your keyword and be relevant to content of blog.
For example, in this post we’re using the keyword “SEO methods.” As you can see in the example below the permalink or URL address includes the full title of our post (highlighted in yellow).
2) For main keyword, use H1 tag appropriately in the body content. The following pic comes from this post, and I’ve highlighted the keyword:
3) Main Keyword should also be in title, body text and meta description. Here’s a snip from the title and first paragraph of this post with keyword highlighted:
4) Avoid using duplicate content.
5) On all images, add keyword in the alt description. See example:
There are plenty of other advanced SEO tactics to use to rank your site especially for high competition keywords. But as beginners, if you stick with these 5 steps, you’ll ensure that each page of your site is fully optimized for Google and the other search engines.
Any questions? Leave us a comment below.