Ok, so call me "late to the party" - literally. Well when I mean literally, I mean marketing my website and its presence to anyone that might be looking for my services. And there are a TON of ways to do that. From social media, email, content, paid advertising, listing on your business card - heck, you could pass out flyers if you wanted to (I don't suggest that. Too much trash).
And if "ignorance is bliss", then I'm the happiest man on earth; at least when it comes to SEO.
Look, what I'm saying here is, as a small business, you're one blade of grass in a midwestern wheat field and unless you can stand out a bit, you're going to be woefully left in the weeds.
I never really knew or even cared about SEO... hang on. Before I go there, let me answer your next burning question: Just what is SEO? I mean, I've heard about it, but quite honestly, I'm not some techno-wenie who spends all his time on the computer (or maybe I am) and I don't really get all this mumbo-jumbo about SEO. What is it exactly and why is it important to me?
Well, I'm glad you asked. Or at least, I asked for you. To put it bluntly, SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) like Google or Bing or whatever you search in. When your website ranks higher in search results, it's more likely to be seen by users searching for keywords related to your business, which can lead to more website impressions. Hey, what a concept. Did I mention standing out a bit?
And here are a few ways that SEO can set you apart:
Keyword optimization: By optimizing your website for specific keywords related to your business, you can improve your search engine ranking for those keywords. This can lead to more impressions as your website appears higher in search results when users search for those keywords. Everyone wants to make impressions, yeah?
Improved content: Creating high-quality, relevant content that's optimized for SEO can help increase your website's visibility and attract more traffic. This can lead to more impressions as more users discover and engage with your content. We all are looking to engage with potential clients, right? I am.
To do this, we need to focus on a few things:
Technical optimization: Ensuring that your website is technically optimized for SEO, such as having a fast page load speed and a mobile-friendly design, can improve your search engine ranking and lead to more impressions.
Link building: Building high-quality backlinks to your website from other reputable sites can improve your website's authority and search engine ranking. This can lead to more impressions as your website appears higher in search results and is seen by more users.
Overall, by improving your website's SEO, you can increase its visibility and attract more traffic, which can lead to more website impressions.
Overall, by improving your website's SEO, you can increase its visibility and attract more traffic, which can lead to more website impressions.
Now, how do we do all this nice, nifty, technical stuff anyway?
Well, the easiest way is to hire someone. Look, I'm not an expert by any means. Did I mention I came into SEO late? And did I also mention my personal happiness (ahem)?
What I've been finding out is that going into my website management portal (I use WIX) and doing an SEO Checkup. I gotta tell ya, the results were astonishing; and a bit disappointing.
See, I never considered SEO as being anything I needed to concern myself with. So I went through the suggestions that the checkup said to do - I mean, I can follow the simple instructions and since I build my website here, I know where things are. I do feel like I am "smarter than the average bear" and can figure a few things out. Once I did these tweaks and also made sure my website was optimized via my Google Search Console (If you haven't been there, ask your web designer). Below is a screenshot of the woodygvoiceover.net domain and its now increased performance.
Ok, so I don't have a lot of clicks. I don't have a lot of impressions. I don't have a Ferrari. Ok, so that last one is irrelevant. None the less, you should see that when I started to tweak my SEO in WIX around April 6th, my impressions went up. I fully expect it to go much higher in the coming months.
Now, at the time of this writing, I just started tweaking and found that WIX SEO Checkup caught a few more issues that I hadn't see. Whatever you use as your website host, make sure that you check your SEO as often as possible until there are no issues. I would say about once a month or so.
If your website host doesn't have any SEO Checkup suite, there are a few free ones. I haven't used them, but feel free to try them:
Neil Patel - Actually a great SEO expert. Highly recommended
SEO Review Tools (New! See below)
Remember, I haven't tried any of these except Neil Patel, so YMMV, try these at your own risk and that some might be totally free, but expect that its to get you to subscribe or pay for a further result.
So, this is getting a bit involved, so I will leave you with this. Do not ignore SEO in your marketing efforts. Its important as your website might not be the "pamphlet on glass" as it used to be. It gets seen and it gets ranked and people will find you. I know I've gotten quite a few inquiries just being online.
Get some help with your SEO. Hire someone. Go to one of the sites above where you can get a good idea of how well (or poorly) your site is performing and then make the right tweaks. You might just sleep a bit better at night knowing the money you spend on your website and hosting are actually giving you a better Return On Investment (ROI), and we are in business, right?
Until next time, go record something great.
UPDATE: So I ran my URL through an SEO checker (sorry, not listed above, but will edit in) and this is what my score is:
Not too bad eh? You can do this for free at SEO Review Tools.