When you launch a brand new business, there are going to be aspects of it you might not know how to tackle. SEO is an area we are very familiar with at Delivered Social. It can define how and why people find your business online. 

As a digital marketing agency in Surrey, we discuss SEO with our clients on a regular basis, and why it’s so important for you to approach in your business strategy. 

Here are our top tips for boosting your SEO on a budget.

What is SEO and why is it important?

From a business perspective, you want as much traffic to your site as possible, because that will result in the highest amount of leads, and a better conversion rate. That’s what it’s all about right?

But you won’t begin to get that until search engines like Google recognise your content. For that to happen, your content should be relevant and reader-friendly.

This means you can’t think of a word you want to appear for and throw it in 100 times to a single blog post. Because that isn’t reader-friendly and the fact you’ve stuffed it full of keywords will flag up and actually have the opposite effect.

A good thing about using SEO tactics is – you don’t have to pay for the organic traffic that search engines bring you. This is because it simply involves your blog or website ranking highly and showing up for people to see. Now, the better your SEO, the higher you will rank for content relevant to your business.

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Here are some tips from a digital marketing agency in Surrey, that will help start you off on the right foot in terms of SEO:

#1 Start a blog!

Just like our blog, the aim should be to inform and educate your audience. It’s a good way to start ranking for some keywords you really want to be found for. You are the experts, after all, so you will have plenty of valuable nuggets of information!

If you are a pet grooming business, for example, you may want to write a blog on ‘5 things every pet owner should know’. Because this would help you push your content to the right audience. It’s also the type of content people share with others. Chances are – if they find it useful, they’re going to want to help other people out with what they’ve just learned so they’ll pass it on.

This is why blog content is so useful for brand exposure. It’s filled with rich information and topical words that your audience will be looking for.

You can also use your blog for adding visual content to your website. These can be a great source of backlinks that will help search engines trust you and see you as a credible source.

A picture is worth a thousand words. It was even noticed that Facebook posts containing a photograph saw over 35% more engagement than those without. It just goes to show how invaluable it is to use various forms of content.

When you add pictures or videos to your blog, it makes your content more accessible for creating new social media posts too. You can link pictures back to your blog and you’ve got yourself some valuable organic traffic. As said previously, you’ll see more engagement on the posts that include a picture, so even if it’s a snippet – link the photos straight back to your website.

Although, if you’re writing a blog, it needs to be because you have things to say. Don’t use it as a keyword generator because that is not what Google is looking for. 

Original, relevant content that you can produce consistently is key for this tip.

#2 Take advantage of social media

As we said above, social media can be great for linking back to your website and blog. You can post snippets of a new article or links to a recent press release and direct the traffic right to your website. 

Also, hashtags. When used properly, they can drive long-term traffic very well. 

Hashtags like #SEO or #DigitalMarketing will catagorise your content and make it more visible for people who genuinely want to learn more about those topics. You’ll make sure you are targeting the correct audience and makes it likely to be shared widely.

However, grouping media and using hashtags still relies on it being well written and optimised. This means you can’t put a hashtag in front of every word, but a few nicely integrated might do good things to your ranking.

So just as you would with keywords, make a note of what’s trending and what your target market is currently looking at online. Having a bank for recurring use will come in handy when it’s time to schedule your social content.

#3 Produce content with a longer shelf-life

In Surrey, we have lots of noteworthy events every week and we know it’s important to keep up with the current trends. But if you’re exclusively posting about what’s happening in the current day – it might seem too much like a news channel. 

We’re a digital marketing agency that loves evergreen content. These are pieces that stay relevant, no matter when you post them. It can be revamped and used again and again. It’s also great for helping you rank in those top keywords for your business. 

Making it relevant to what you do will be a vital resource for your audience as they’ll know they can come to you for expertise on certain topics. 

It doesn’t have to be repetitive though, marketing them in different ways or making minor changes will keep your content fresh.

Another perk of evergreen content is that you can create a ‘bank’ full of it to give you a constant stream. You won’t have to worry about running out of ideas or not posting to social media for a few days. Just look back on some topical content you have stashed away and use it to remind people what you’re all about.

#4 Put the reader first

Before you begin writing any content, whether that be for a web page, product description, blog, or social media – think about what your audience wants. Don’t worry about the search engines just yet.

If you jump right in with an SEO brain, your readers aren’t going to get anything out of your writing. First and foremost, the content you release should be meaningful to your audience. What solution can they find from you and how will it benefit them?

Any digital marketing agency in Surrey, or anywhere else for that matter, will tell you that although SEO is important, it won’t get you anywhere if you’re not providing something valuable for your customers.

At the end of the day, it’s not search engines buying your products – it’s people. If you can weave in the SEO parts seamlessly into your human-friendly content, it will provide much better results. People first, SEO second.

Now at the beginning, we said that SEO is important because it drives the people to you. Which is very true. However, you can’t forget that search engines and algorithms are extremely clever. So even they’ll know when an article isn’t suitable for anyone. That’s their main job. They hunt out the best, most relevant pieces of information and put them at the top for everyone to see.

Oftentimes, search engines are going to know better than you do what your potential customers are looking for. This brings us back to why SEO is so important. Although, it’s because of this that we have to remember to write for our readers. If we don’t, there’s nothing of any real value there for the search engines to push to the top ranks.

Things to think about

It’s important for your company that SEO is a critical part of your marketing strategy. Without it, it is going to be very hard for your target audience to find you. SEO helps you rank more highly for topics relevant to your business and aids in converting those clicks to leads.

Give your customers something to come back for again and again. Ensuring you keep your content informative and appropriate to your sector will see you pop up in categories and for keywords, you want to be known for.

Advice from a digital marketing agency in Surrey

Still not sure which direction to take your SEO strategy? Not to worry, our Free Social Clinics are a great place to start! If you fancy more, we have a whole range of Digital Marketing services for you. Contact us and tell us how we can help.

Want some more tips and advice? Check out these:

LinkedIn Top Tips From A Digital Marketing Agency Surrey

Top Tips for Understanding How to Track Blog Traffic In Google Analytics