In earlier blog posts for our SEO series, I’ve shared quite a bit of information with you about building a solid SEO strategy that can boost your rankings, as well as the traffic Google and the other search engines send your way. I haven’t exactly spelled this out yet, but Google is where you want to focus. It is your best shot at traffic, and if you optimize well for Google it will work well for the rest of the search engines, too. Here are the steps and strategies you need in your SEO plan:
1. Start By Setting A Goal for your SEO Plan
The first step of any good strategy is to set a goal for what you want to accomplish. Without a goal, you can’t know if you’re succeeding or failing. You also can’t evaluate what it takes to reach your goal. To begin your SEO planning, decide how much search engine traffic you want from your content by the end of the month or the quarter. Then get to work. Start by taking an educated guess at how much you need to publish to reach that website traffic goal.
2. Determine Your Topics and Your Publishing Schedule
Next, it’s time to make a list of topics that you want to write or record video about and come up with a publishing schedule. This doesn’t have to be set in stone, but you’re much more likely to get it down if it’s on the calendar. Commit and do your best to stick to it. Then it’s time to start writing.
3. Find Your Keywords
Do your research and find the keyword that you think will give you good results. There’s no way to know for sure if they will work for you until you try. The good news is that you can tweak and change this part of your SEO plan as needed, or simply create more content based on additional keywords. Remember, you want to rank for keywords that indicate that people are looking for what you have to offer.
4. Publish and Monitor Rankings
Publish as you go along and keep an eye on rankings and traffic. Make a spreadsheet of your keywords and look at the rankings – using an incognito web browser – once a week or so. Install Google Analytics and keep an eye on the traffic you have coming in through search.
5. Work On Social Signals and Incoming Links
Each time you publish a new piece of content, spend some time to share it on social media. Get the ball rolling and share it around. If you have an email list, email them about it on a weekly basis. The more your content is seen, the higher the chances someone will naturally link to it.
6. Rinse and Repeat
Keep writing and recording. Keep publishing. And keep sharing both old and new content on social media. You’re in this for the long haul.
7. Track, Test, and Adjust As Needed
Last but not least, take some time to stop every once in a while and examine your data. Is your strategic SEO plan working? Is it working as well as you’d like? If not, what could you try to do differently? Maybe it’s publishing less frequently, but writing longer blog posts. Maybe it’s using more social media friendly images. Or less. Maybe it’s investing the time to create four new video tutorials each month. Keep learning about SEO and tweak your strategy as you learn and try more techniques.
