If you’re looking for a one-stop-shop for all of your marketing needs, then look no further. We’ve got you covered with this comprehensive guide. Whether you’re a brand new entrepreneur looking for advice or you’re well on your way to building a successful business, this is the resource for you. Get started now!
What is SEO
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of affecting the ranking of your website and relevant content in search results for relevant keywords.
There are several factors that go into how well your website will rank in organic searches. However, you can use SEO to your advantage. To maximize your SEO game, you need to focus on three areas.
Keyword Research & Analysis
This is the backbone of any effective SEO strategy. You wouldn’t go skydiving without first learning how to dive, would you?
Keyword research and analysis allow you to determine which keywords and phrases your target audience is using to find the information they need. Once you have an idea of what keywords your competitors are ranking for, you can decide what keywords you should be targeting. There are free tools available that can help you easily find the right keywords without having to run around looking for inspiration.
Content Curation & Planning
Just because you found the right keywords doesn’t mean that every piece of content you create for your website will rank well. You need to make sure that everything you put out there is relevant and useful to your target audience. This is where content curation and planning come in.
Curation is the process of creating content that covers all the aspects of your niche. Ideally, your content will be comprehensive enough to compete with larger publications. However, don’t overdo it and make it so detailed that it becomes difficult for your readers to follow along. Plan out a schedule for the type of content you’ll create and the order in which you’ll post it. Doing this will help you establish a pattern for your content and get more out of your content creation.
Link Building
This is the process of earning links to your site. You can do this naturally through content curation or you can hire someone to do it for you. When other websites and blogs link to you, your website’s authority will increase, which will, in turn, cause your website to rank higher in search results.
Building links is a long and tedious process. However, the pay-offs can be invaluable. If you want to take the steps to build a strong foundation for your small business, then investing in link building is a necessary evil.
Creating a Marketing Plan
Now that you’re equipped with the basics, it’s time to put everything together into a cohesive plan! Start by making a list of all the marketing activities you’ll undertake. This can include things like email marketing, social media marketing, and search engine optimization. Next, make a list of all the skills you need to complete these tasks. This could include building a website, writing content for the site, performing SEO tasks, and so on.
From here, you can map out your plan and the specific objectives you’ll use to measure its success. Be sure to include both short- and long-term goals, as well as any benchmarks or metrics you’ll use to evaluate your progress. With your plan in place, you’re ready to begin marketing your business!
Marketing Plan Template
If you’re looking to take your marketing efforts to the next level, then you might want to consider creating a marketing plan template. Putting together a plan that’s tailored to your specific needs and goals can help you ensure that you make the most of your time and resources. However, going through the process of creating a plan can also help you identify areas where you need to improve. If you’re looking to get feedback on your plan or need help putting it into action, then the template is a great place to start.
Where Do I Start?
Depending on your business size and existing resources, you might want to consider starting with SEO. There are free tools like Google Keyword Planner, which can help you find the right keywords without having to go through the effort of doing so yourself. You can use the tool to find keywords you want to target and get a clear idea of how many searches there are for each keyword. From here, you can see how many people are searching for your keywords and how competitive the market is.
If you don’t want to take the time to manually enter your keywords, then you can opt for a tool like KeywordTool.io, which does all the hunting for you. There are also a number of specialized SEO tools that can help you get the most out of your efforts, such as RankTrack.io and Moz Pro.
Backlinks: How Useful are They?
Backlinks are links pointing back to your site. When a blogger or website mentions your product or service in a favorable light, they’re making a backlink to your site. Backlinks can also appear as a Google My Business profile, which is helpful for local SEO.
However, backlinks can also be harmful if overused. In Google’s SEO guide, they specifically warn against using backlinks as a measurement of SEO success. Instead, they suggest using other methods to determine your SEO performance, such as content creation and traffic analysis.
While backlinks are certainly useful, you have to remember that they aren’t everything. Building a large number of backlinks won’t necessarily cause your site to rank well in the search engines. That said, creating backlinks is still a necessary evil for SEO. It’s simply a matter of finding the right balance between doing this work naturally and hiring someone to help you get the ball rolling.