Build Your Expert Community
Like content length, there’s a lot of debate about link-building. What we do know for certain is that Google plans to phase it out eventually. For now, however, it matters.
That means there’s only one way to do it that matters now and will still matter once Google makes the change. Build a fantastic community.
You see, there are whole communities of people who want to know about what you do. You serve a number of different markets, and each of them have experts that will refer you to their clients. A physical therapist might do well to build expert communities of athletes, physicians, and surgeons. Since they aren’t in competition, they can happily give each other referrals.
Do similar for your business. Find others who publish content on the web meant for an audience you share. Publish guest content on their sites, and ask them to do the same. Have them link to your site any time a related topic comes up, returning the favor on your site. If you do it well, inviting their audience to try your services, and everyone wins.
Be Organized
Seriously, I shouldn’t need to go too in depth about organization. Your website needs to be well organized for the search engines, and for your readers.
The technical part of that needs to be left to the technical pros.
However, on your end of things, make sure your navigation is up to best practices in the modern sense, that it matches the current version of your site, and that it’s easy to use. Place your best content in easy-to-find places on your site. And link to the best stuff often. That way your audience keeps finding and benefiting from it.
Boring Sucks
Perfect SEO isn’t a guarantee.
Seriously, don’t be boring.
If your content sucks, nobody will link to it. Nobody will visit your site when your information is as stale as a high school gym locker room. You can’t get a recommendation if your site blends in to the thousands of others like it.
Oh, your niche is super narrow and there’s only one other person writing about it in the world? Nope, you still can’t afford to be boring.
There’s More Than SEO
Would you make bets on your business if you only had one stream of income? Not unless you’d been hit pretty hard on the head.
If Google is your only source of traffic, you’re in a bit of a pickle. They don’t really care about your business. Not even a little.
You need to take advantage of as many traffic sources as possible. Social media, email, and even paid ad placement on other sites are great options to help expand your site traffic. Use all the tools available to you, and always keep your eyes open for new opportunities. Jump on board with anything that shows big promise, especially when there is a low barrier to entry.
That email part is important too. With a strong email list, you’ll always have a way to reach out to your most promising visitors.
SEO Is All About Visitors
When it comes down to it, anything you do that helps your site see visitors and convert them to leads is worth doing. Pay attention to the specific changes you make and the type of content you create that works so you can use the same strategies over again. Test out changes where you can to find out what works better. In the end, whatever works to convert visitors to leads is the most important tool.
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