Your Website Still Sucks. No one can find you.
You don’t have to be an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) expert to get found online. There are plenty of basics you can do to get decent search engine rankings. While I am not going to get into the nitty-gritty of SEO in this article, I am going to offer you a few solutions and tactics to get you started.
The first basic rule of SEO is: the more relevant your website is to the search term you're trying to rank, the higher it will rank in search results. While that may sound simple, it is definitely not. SEO is complex and not even the “experts” truly understand it completely. If you want to learn more about that, you can read this presentation by my friend Mike King, You Don’t Know SEO.
While everyone cannot afford to hire an SEO agency, my first recommendation is always to hire one. They’re the experts. It’s not a practice you’re going to learn or master of the course of a couple of months, it takes years. More importantly, don’t hire a garbage agency. There are a ton of them out there. You can always reach out to me and ask for recommendations, or use your friend Google to read reviews.
If hiring an SEO agency is out of the question, here are the top 5 things you or your web developer can do now:
1. Audit your website. It’s not the easiest task, and it is time consuming, but it is invaluable. It tells you where to start fixing things on your site to rank better. Here is a great guide by Joshua Hardwick on how to SEO audit your website.
2. Familiarize yourself with Google Search Console. Search Console is a free tool from Google that helps you monitor and maintain your website’s presence in Google’s Search results. It will show you in real time how you’re doing.
3. READ! My favorite source to stay up to date on my SEO skills is Moz.com - more specifically their blog. It is filled with articles from their expert team and the best brightest minds in the industry contribute to it on a regular basis. In my opinion, there is no better place to learn about SEO.
4. Read this checklist from Moz’s founder Rand Fishkin and follow every step completely.
5. Once you have done all of these steps, go back to Google Search Console and update it with your new XML sitemap. You will be leagues above where you are now.
I hope today’s blog helps your website suck less. Remember, I am always available for discussion about all things marketing. We would also love your feedback, so comment below and let’s get the conversation started.
Ben Taylor serves as the Chief Marketing Officer of BamBams, a leading Promotional Products Supplier, and Private Label supplier. Prior to joining BamBams, Ben served as the Director of Digital Media for Gallup Consulting, Chief Marketing Officer at Tailor Media Group, and Director of Marketing at Zippy Shell USA. Predating his career in marketing, Ben served in the United States Marine Corps. A regular speaker on SEO, Lifestyle Brands, Content Marketing, and Lead Generation, Ben has led digital marketing workshops for the past 10 years at conferences all over North America.