Ensure you get an ROI with these strategy tips No images? Click here 5 tips for a profitable SEO strategyIn this newsletter 1. Tips for creating a profitable SEO strategy 2. A simple way to avoid content marketing burnout 3. A networking community for those in the impact-driven Consumer Packaged Goods industry Hi , This year, I’ve been thinking a lot about ROI, and how to talk about this with clients. While we all want our investments to get an amazing ROI as soon as possible, it’s natural for some investments to take longer to see results than others. This is especially relevant when talking about Search Engine Optimization services. SEO is a long game. And while I wish there was a definitive answer to the “how long will it take my page to rank” question, there isn’t! It always depends. The good news is that with a solid strategy, you *will* see results from your SEO efforts ... and will keep seeing them for many years to come. If you're working on your SEO strategy, here are my top 5 tips for making sure you've got the fundamentals in place. Tip 1. Know who you’re talking toThe first major component of any SEO strategy is knowing who you’re trying to reach. Before writing content, you need to clearly define who you're talking to ... otherwise, your content won’t appeal to anybody! Having clear customer personas is a great way to do this. Your personas should outline your ideal customers’ demographics, goals, and challenges so you can create content that will resonate with your target audience. Tip 2. Know what you’re trying to accomplishNow that you know who you’re talking to, what are you trying to accomplish from a marketing perspective? Is it awareness? Lead generation? Something else? Identifying your biggest marketing needs will help you determine the best content to create. For example, if all your customers are in research mode, optimizing your product pages should not be the first thing on your agenda. Similarly, if your customers are trying to buy your products but they can't find your pricing page, then blog content won't help much. In other words, make sure you're tailoring the *type* of content you create to your biggest marketing needs. Tip 3. Know what your technical problems areThere are two key aspects to SEO. There’s the artistic side, which is the words on the page and any other media you’re using to connect with your reader. Then, there’s the technical side, or what’s “under the hood” of your website. To do well with both readers and search engines, you’ll need to take stock of your technical SEO aspects. Things like indexing, mobile-friendliness, page speed ... it's all important! If you’re not a techie (I'm not either!), you can run a technical SEO audit, and then work with a technical expert to solve your issues. Tip 4. Optimize for intent by using long-tail keywordsFor most businesses, the most effective way to get more organic traffic is to optimize for “long-tail” keywords. As in the Semrush graphic below, this means going after highly specific key phrases like “why are my tomato plants turning yellow,” with 1,600 monthly searches, rather than the very general (and much more competitive) phrase "tomato plant,” which has a whopping 40,500 monthly searches. Going after long-tail keywords also helps us know what exactly our searchers are looking for, which allows us to create content that fulfills their needs. When optimizing for a certain keyword, at a minimum, make sure the exact match of the keyword is in your title tag. For other important ways to use your keywords, refer to AWAI's Ultimate Guide to SEO Content Writing. Tip 5. Don't forget to optimize old contentAnother major part of your SEO strategy should be updating old content. Google *loves* websites that consistently update old pages. If you’re regularly sweeping through old content, replacing broken links, and bringing even more value to your readers, Google will take note and send you more traffic. So, make sure you're not just creating new pages, but freshening up old ones, too. Questions?There's a lot to creating a successful SEO strategy, but these five tips will make sure you start seeing an ROI sooner than later on your SEO efforts. Have questions about SEO? Drop me a line by replying to this email. I'd love to share my insights with you, and help get you unstuck! If you're feeling a bit exhausted by your content marketing efforts lately, don't worry. In this month's video, I share a strategy that will help every content marketer enjoy their life a little more. You can check out the video on my YouTube channel. When you're done watching, make sure to share your thoughts with me in the comments. I'm always on the lookout for great networking opportunities in my niche of content strategy for climate-conscious businesses. And a couple of weeks ago, I came across the Evolve CPG network. This network is an impressive collection of leaders and service providers in the impact-driven Consumer Packaged Goods industry. If you're in this industry and haven't joined their free Mighty Networks platform, I highly recommend it. If you do join, or are in the network yourself, make sure to say hi to me on the platform. 😊 That's a wrap on March! I look forward to sharing more content marketing, SEO, and UX tips with you next month. As always, feel free to drop me a line to introduce yourself, or let me know what questions you may have. Until then, happy thriving! Rebekah Mays |