Our “How to Increase Web Traffic” series has so far focused on understanding target audiences and implementing website promotional strategies on a local basis. But if your organization has a wider reach (national, for example) we’ve got ideas for you, too.
In the last installment, we mentioned the use of a few SEO strategies that are helpful for increasing local web traffic. Now we’ll hone in on these five SEO approaches that will help organizations looking to reach national audiences:
- Get serious about your keywords! There are several ways to optimize your keywords, but it starts by learning which ones your target audience is most likely to use. The best ways to find out are:
- Make a Science Out of Using Links: If keyword optimization is the number one SEO element, then an intelligent use of links is a close second. All of the major search engines rank sites that have a significant number of relevant backlinks well ahead of those that don’t. The key term here is relevance, because a reciprocal link from The Wall Street Journal will be far more effective than one from your brother in law’s investment blog. In a similar fashion, a link to a site that is related to yours is worth more than a link to a site that’s not. Using our hair salon example, you’ll get a higher ranking with links to sites about hair styles than you will with links to sites that sell hiking boots. Additionally, you can get a lot more mileage out of using keyword text for links instead of the outdated method of using “click here.”
- Use SEO Tools: In addition to the Google Keyword Tool mentioned above, experienced SEO pros make it a point to use resources like LinkScape (for analyzing link effectiveness) GSiteCrawler (for creating Google-optimized site maps) Google Webmaster Tools (for everything from diagnostics to important metrics) and the Google indexing page (for adding your site to Google’s index). As we’ve mentioned in past blog posts, we also think it’s critically important to use Google Analytics to measure the results of your efforts to increase your web traffic.
- Avoid These SEO No-No’s: The three most important SEO “no-no’s” are: 1) don’t use the same exact title on every page of your website (to avoid search engines mistaking all the pages as identical instead of unique); 2) resist the urge to overstuff your meta elements and copywriting with keywords, because search engines actually penalize this now; and 3) don’t use doorway pages, because they are designed for machines rather than breathing visitors, which search engines far prefer to focus upon.
- Keep it Fresh: As we’ve stressed in the past, one of the best ways to get the attention of search engines it to update your site on a regular basis – especially if you can do so with interesting and relevant content. Once again, “relevant” is the key word here; if you’re using a blog, you’ll get a lot more traction with articles that discuss your space in a creative way than you will out of an endless stream of advertisements or commercials. That doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to use keywords in that fresh new content, of course. Quite the opposite! We recommend using thoughtful keywords about once per 100 words for best results.
1) to use the Google Keyword Tool for researching how often specific keywords are typed into the Google search bar; and
2) poking around on your competitors’ websites to see what keywords they are using in their content.
For example, if you are interested in what competing hair salon websites are using for keywords, try to imagine what the typical target visitor will type into a search engine to find hair salon information. Then, record the number of local and global instances reported by the Google Keyword Tool, research how your competitors are using those keywords, and weave the ones most important to your offerings into your page headlines and content. Simply put, your keywords are the most important tool in your SEO arsenal, especially if you’re trying to reach a national audience.
Our clients have found these five SEO tips very effective in helping to increase web traffic with national audiences. We’re sure you will, too – but if you have any questions or would like to learn more, don’t hesitate to download any of our free web design guides or contact our customer service team.
We hope you enjoyed our “Increasing Web Traffic” series. We also hope that you’ll stop back regularly for more tips about how to build a website and making the most out of your investment in a successful web presence.
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