Imagine owning a store that sells bespoke clothing. Your store is located in a popular shopping center next to a major thoroughfare. You have signage that is not only highly visible but is also visually appealing. The storefront has attractive displays of custom outfits and you have a large banner that advertises an ongoing promotion where visitors get freebies and discount coupons for stopping by. On a busy weekend, hundreds of shoppers may stop by, but how many of them actually drop money on custom clothing?
Attracting the Right Customers
As a business owner, you understand that an Internet presence is absolutely necessary. Whether your website is a starting point for potential clients to conduct business or it’s an actual online store that facilitates financial transactions, you know the importance of a professional-looking site that is attractive, functional and optimized for use on various platforms, including that of mobile devices. As in the store example above, there are steps you can take to increase traffic to your website, but you need more traffic that will actually result in more sales or conversions. Your online strategy has to prioritize attracting visitors that will actually buy what you’re selling.
Understanding Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization or SEO refers to the process of boosting a website’s traffic by increasing its visibility in search engine results. When it comes to SEO, major focuses include the following:
- Understand how search engines work
- Understand the algorithms that drive search engines
- Understand what users look for
- Determine how search terms or keywords relate to results
- Assessing which search engines certain users prefer
When it comes to your business website, an SEO strategy might focus on the type of content and keyword implementation that would result in your site having a high ranking in search engine results. The idea here is that a higher ranking is preferred because users looking for a particular search term are much more likely to click through results that show up on the first page rather than subsequent pages.
Creating High-Quality Content
If the goal is to have a website that attracts the right traffic, the presumption is that your website has content that is worth the attention of users looking for the information provided therein. You might think that great content is in the “eye of the beholder”, but this is not a sufficient strategy for an online presence that results in actual sales or conversions. High-quality content is well-written and engages the right audience. This content is also authoritative, interesting, useful, readable and original. The information on your website should also include meaningful use of keywords that helps answer a user’s questions. SEO content writing is a major part of your online strategy and it’s worth hiring a pro to make sure your website has the information that a target audience actually wants.
Targeting High-Quality Traffic
Targeting high-quality traffic starts with making sure that you’re using strong keywords in your content. Well-optimized keywords usually meet the following criteria:
- They’re considered “low competition.” Huge corporations can afford certain keywords. You don’t want to be in direct competition with these businesses for the same search terms.
- They have a decent monthly search volume. Your keywords should be terms that people are actually searching for.
- They are relevant to the content on your site.
Imagine having a website for the custom clothing store in the example. You’d want keywords that you’re not having to compete with Amazon or Walmart for, but they’d still need to be terms that people looking for bespoke apparel would actually use. “Ready to wear” might not be a good choice because customers looking for bespoke fashions aren’t necessarily looking for off-the-rack outfits. Consider using keywords that are specific to your industry, location or other criteria that filter out visitors who can’t buy or aren’t interested in what you’re selling, also known as low-quality traffic.
With respect to website traffic, quality may be more important than quantity, especially if you’re hoping for visitors to become customers. While SEO may not be a hard science, you can’t brute force good traffic to your site by stuffing keywords into every inch. You need a thoughtful, strategic approach that prioritizes generating high-quality content and integrating relevant, well-optimized search terms that attract users who are likely to buy your products or services.
