MOMENTUM August 2020 | Page 10

MARKETING RACHAEL MORGEN Online Marketing Manager Empire Creative Marketing www.empiread.com SEO The Trick To Get Your Website Found (Organically) Online Would you like your website to really work for you and get your business results on search engines? Then you need your website optimized! Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of intentionally developing a website so it ranks well in search engines. Organic SEO means that your site content and structure are created using strategic methods that achieve high search rankings without paying for advertising. SEO is one of the most efficient and cost-effective online marketing methods. TOP 10 REASONS OPTIMIZE YOUR WEBSITE: 1. High ROI: Dollar for dollar, SEO brings you a higher Return On your Investment than any comparable form of marketing. 2. Long Term Results: Once in place, a properly designed and optimized website should sustain high rankings as compared to pay-per-click campaigns, where costs are ongoing and results are unpredictable. 3. Targeted Traffic: SEO can increase the number of visitors who find you while actively searching for your specific product or service. 4. Non-Stop Promotion: SEO works for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days every year. Even while you are sleeping! 5. Brand Visibility: SEO can give your brand a high local or international profile. 6. Cost-Effective: SEO is among the most cost-effective ways of marketing. 7. Increased Accessibility: Observing proper optimization procedures can make your site more accessible to all users. 8. Cross-Browser Compatibility: A properly optimized site will be validated to high standards. This means that it works in all browsers, allowing your site to be viewed by the greatest potential number of visitors. 9. Search Engine Friendly: In properly optimized sites, all links function correctly and all pages are accessible to the engines, making your site easy for search engines to index and categorize correctly. 10. User Friendly: Observing basic optimization guidelines means that visitors have a more pleasant user experience. HOW DO YOU OPTIMIZE A WEBSITE? While each “expert” has different methods for SEO, there are several basic fundamentals that can be done to start ranking for your desired search terms (ie. keywords). First, research your competition. Who are your competitors and how are keywords placed throughout their websites? How are their pages linked? What is in their meta-tag content? Second, create a keyword list. Research keywords and phrases to select relevant search terms. Collect a good combination of short (singular phrase) and longtail (several words) keywords. Third, add keywords to your website. Go page by page and strategically place these keywords in your content and meta-data (no keyword stuffing). Fourth, install tracking tools. Measuring progress is much easier when you have the numbers. Use tracking data to see how many people are visiting your site each day and what keywords are bringing them there. This gives you a benchmark for future SEO efforts. If you find yourself overwhelmed with the SEO process? Our team of digital marketing professionals at Empire Creative Marketing are highly experienced in SEO and can advise you on the best strategies for your website. 8 MOMENTUM