A top PR firm in Raleigh NC, McKeeman Communication, has ALL the SEO answers!
McKeeman Communications (a PR Firm in Raleigh, NC) recently had a conversation with the CEO of Conversion First Marketing, Tyler Krause, about the importance of SEO for the role of business marketing. We have learned so much through Tyler’s team, and after using their services to increase our SEO reach, we wanted our people to know just how important creating a good SEO plan for your website is. You might not know what your website is missing, but after reading through this article – we hope you see how much value these items will add to your business!
What is SEO?
If you’re like us, you’ve heard this word before and nod, but really have no earthly idea what it is. SEO is an abbreviation for “Search Engine Optimization”. To make that even more understandable, Tyler tells us that it is the goal of getting your website on top of a Google search. Facebook, Youtube, and Yelp are also Search Engines in a sense. But here comes the functionality of an SEO-first website…
Marketing desperately needs SEO.
Most people do not understand the beauty of marketing and how it works as a traffic source. Customers will come and go. How they get to your business and website can be up to you, and why they leave can also be your responsibility. Maybe everything looks wonderful on your website in regards to design, but you have created no avenues to bring them there — like being ranked in search engines for relevant terms people might be searching to find businesses like yours. Getting people to your website is incredibly important and not everyone knows how to do it successfully.
What is SEO First Web Design?
The whole idea is this: When you flip the thought process of, “Let’s make a website that looks good” to believing that the most important relationship your website can have is actually with a robot, aka “Google”, that’s the best answer there IS. The way Google’s algorithm works, it doesn’t function like a human. It could care less about how the website looks, but rather what the website says about who you are.
For instance, let’s say we have a blog about how Duke University students with a major in PR can intern with us. Since we are a PR firm in Raleigh, N.C., we would be diligent as to see which keywords would attract those people.
It’s breaking up the thought that the only thing that matters is the design. Don’t get us wrong – while that is important – we see the top priority as being what our website says. Google wants you to use specific keywords to boost your optimization and bring it to the top of the search results. It rewards those who use the right words – not just what looks pretty.
How do you start to improve your SEO when you have a small budget?
If you have a small budget, there are great sources you can use to understand this area better. Hop on over to Youtube and look up how to understand keywords in SEO. Countless videos will help you discover this! Put your mind in the shoes of your customer- what are they saying? If you took away all of the design on your website, would it be clear what it is you do? If “no” is the answer, start creating the story and figure out which keywords you need! After you figure that out, look up an on-page SEO tutorial. Those tutorials will guide you to know where your words need to go on your website.
Another way to help you is to create a Google Ads account. This will help you practice how to do anything keyword-related and it’s extremely inexpensive.
What about online leverage?
Google has a way to establish which websites get authority over another one. The websites that have the most number of other websites pointing links back to them have the best authority. All things being equal, a site that has a hundred other websites pointing to it – also known as backlinks – is going to be viewed as more authoritative than a site that only has ten. What’s fun about this is you can control which pages these other websites are linking to. That’s one way to optimize for backlinks. If you’re planning for future backlinks, make sure that the links you give to a news organization are tailored to the pages you want to rank for. Each page of your website has its opportunity to be a fully-ranking entity.
Is SEO truly the most important thing for your website?
We go to Google for everything, so it’s no surprise that design shouldn’t be first when you are thinking about optimizing your website for inbound traffic. It should always be what your website carries, what it has inside of it, helping ensure that it’s bringing people to you. If people aren’t coming to your website, what are you missing? Don’t just rely on sharing your website through social media platforms. Getting it to rank on Google and other search engines is incredibly powerful. So the answer here truly is — SEO.
A top PR firm in Raleigh NC, McKeeman Communications works with companies that are experiencing rapid growth or change. We help localize and share messaging that builds awareness and trust for their brand. Call (866) 341-2650 or email info@mckeemanpr.com to learn more about SEO and how you can increase your brand awareness through optimized SEO strategies.
Categories: Public Relations