There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to marketing. Every business is different and has different goals. That being said, there are certain basic principles that can be applied across the board regardless of the industry.

One of the most fundamental and important principles of marketing is search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is the process of affecting the rankings of a website or a blog within search engine results pages (SERPs) through a series of structured and unstructured ways.

You can use SEO to your advantage to help your business grow. With just a few easy steps, you can significantly increase the traffic to your site from organic search engine results. From there, you can expand your reach to attract new customers and establish brand loyalty among existing ones.

Pay Attention To Your Local Area

Not only does Google consider geographical location alongside other criteria when determining search engine rankings, but it also takes into account the physical location of the user when they perform a search. That is, if someone in London types in ‘gym wear’, they will see results for Nike, Under Armour, and other brands, but also for London-based gyms such as P90X and SoulCycle. In other words, if you want to market your company online, you must first consider your local area (i.e. London)

If you’re new to SEO, it can be a daunting task to know where to start. The good news is that there is a lot of documentation out there that can help guide you along the way.

Keywords Are Key

One of the first jobs you’ll need to do is to identify the keywords or search terms that people in your target audience are actually using to find what they’re looking for. You can use free tools like Google Keyword Planner to help get you started.

Simply enter your website’s URL (i.e. www.example.com) and fill out the simple form. From there, you’ll be presented with a list of suggested keywords and phrases that you can use to optimize your site.

As you can see in the screenshot below, you’ll find a variety of suggested keywords and phrases along with their estimated search volumes (i.e. the number of people who will possibly be searching for these terms).

You can use these tools to find popular keywords and phrases that you should incorporate into your content strategy. For example, ‘gym wear’ is a popular keyword but it has low search volume. That means there are not a lot of people searching for that phrase but you can bet your ass they’ll be searching for something related if you incorporate that keyword into your content.

On the flip side, ‘p90x’ is a relatively unknown keyword but it has a high search volume. That means there are a lot of people searching for that keyword and it may indicate a potential audience that you should consider reaching out to.

Create Keyword Dense Content

If you want to be found when someone searches for “gym wear”, you’re going to want to create content that is as relevant as possible to that search term. To optimize your content for search engines, you want to create a keyword-rich environment where each phrase, sentence, and word is optimized for search engines rather than plain old humans. To achieve this, you can use tools like WordAI or Google Keyword Tool to help generate text for your content.

When utilizing these tools, you must enter your target keyword or search term and select either “Keyword” or “Exact Match” in the “Use these keywords” section. Make sure that you’re using the same keywords in your title, the first few paragraphs of your content, and throughout your content.

For example, let’s say that you’re creating an ebook on the topic of SEO and you use “SEO” and “search engine optimization” as your target keywords. In that case, your title, the first few paragraphs of your content, and the rest of your content would all need to include those two terms.

When creating content for online marketing, you must keep in mind that people reading your content are almost always going to be doing so on a screen. As a result, you must make each phrase, sentence, and word count. While writing, you must also consider the flow and rhythm of the text as well as how each phrase, sentence, and word builds on the previous one.

Use Structured Data

Google has created something they call “structured data” which is essentially a format for presenting information.

This format allows for greater machine parsing of content rather than natural language which means SEOs can more easily implement tactics such as keyword stuffing and keyword density in a structured format. You can use structured data in three ways:

• on your website (e.g. using h1, h2, or h3 tags),
• in your blog posts (e.g. asides), and
• in your Amazon product descriptions (e.g. brief descriptions).

For example, if you own a shoe store and you’re using Google Shopping to sell your products, you can benefit from structured data by using the h3 tags to create a more appealing description for your products. Your h3 tags should be used to create concise, descriptive content that provides value to your target audience.

Structured data can also be used to create appealing page titles and meta descriptions which help with SEO and attract more organic traffic to your website. In other words, you’re using the h1, h2, and h3 tags to affect your SEO and get more people to your site.

Avoid Longer Text

If you want to be found when someone is searching for “dog grooming products”, you’re going to want to create content that is as short as possible. While longer text can sometimes be beneficial when writing an academic paper or a novel, in the context of SEO, longer text typically means that the content is less relevant to what the user is searching for. When using keywords in your content, you must make sure that the text is as short as possible while still including the key terms. For instance, if you are writing about SEO for dogs, you may want to go for a minimum of 2000 words while using the keywords “dog grooming products”.

As a general rule of thumb, the shorter the text the better when it comes to SEO. In fact, the ideal length for each piece of content is between 600 and 1,000 words. Anything shorter and it risks being difficult for the reader to complete the thought, let alone find the information they’re looking for. Longer content might also pull the reader away from the objectives of the content.

Use Images

As mentioned above, Google takes into account the physical location of the user when they perform a search. That means if someone in London types in ‘gym wear’, they will see results for Nike, Under Armour, and other brands, but also for London-based gyms such as P90X and SoulCycle. In other words, if you want to market your company online, you must first consider your local area (i.e. London)

This is where images come in. If someone in London types in ‘gym wear’, they will see a picture of Kelly Rowland from the popular US reality TV show, “Dancing with the Stars”. Although the show is based in Los Angeles, the star has a home in London and often visits her hometown. As a result, the picture shows up in the SERPs for ‘gym wear’ in London.

This is just one example of how images can significantly increase the appeal of your content and help get it found online. When creating content for your company’s blog, you can use tools like Canva to easily design a quick, eye-catching image to accompany your content.