Add value. Yup, that’s the secret! Customers will skip advertising when it provides little to no value. It’s not really a secret at all. If your content speaks to your customer or addresses an issue they might have, they won’t skip it. Value plus good SEO = successful content marketing.

YouTube has perfected this algorithm. You will notice that if you watch a lot of wood working or home improvement videos, the ads within your videos will be for tools and other equipment you may need. You will soon find yourself completely enamored with a video advertising a kreg jig to help you create a more polished end table and walking out the door to go get one because you realize it’s something you MUST have to complete the project. Content marketing at its finest!

If your business solves a problem, you have ample material for content marketing. Begin to brainstorm with the team about what you find fascinating about your business that others might not know. Put yourself in the shoes of someone looking for what you offer and imagine what search terms you might use to search for a solution. Then, base videos, articles, podcast episodes, etc. around those topics.

The number one goal is to consistently post new content on your website, social media channels and any other outlets, to build a very robust web presence with lots of relevant information that benefits both your visitors and your SEO. If you’re adding valuable content, you’ll find yourself with a tribe of supporters who are grateful for your expertise in no time!

SEO and content marketing

According to HubSpot, 75% of searchers never go past the first page of search results that come up — this is why it is so essential to rank on the first page of Google.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is how companies position their site to show up first on Google, Bing or other search engines.

Despite the acronym, SEO is as much about people as it is about search engines themselves. It’s about understanding what people are searching for online, the answers they are seeking, the words they’re using to find answers, and the type of content they wish to consume. Knowing these answers will allow you to connect to the people who are searching online for the solutions you offer.

To determine the relevancy of a page (SEO) search engines use bots (also called crawlers or spiders) to scour billions of pieces of content and evaluate thousands of factors to determine which content is most likely to answer your query.

All of this is done through discovering and cataloging all available content on the Internet (web pages, PDFs, images, videos, etc.) via a process known as “crawling and indexing,” and then ordering it by how well it matches the query in a process we refer to as “ranking.”

SEO is all about including essential information updated and accurate across all sources (like your location), placing #keywords that visitors use when they’re searching (i.e. emergency pest control), and producing consistent content that speaks to your area of expertise (a blog named “How to raise chickens without inviting mice over for dinner” with photos). That way, when someone searches for “emergency mouse exterminator near me,” your business shows up on the first page of results.

There are a number of techniques you can use to build out both the frontend and backend of your website so your content is indexed in search engines and your customers can find you, easier.

According to SEM Rush, here are some of the elements to focus on to grow your website traffic and visibility:

1. Align your content with search intent
2. Write a compelling title tag and meta description 
3. Optimize your images
4. Optimize your page speed
5. Use internal linking
6. Improve the user experience on your website
7. Include keywords in your URL
8. Focus on getting more authoritative backlinks
9. Publish long-form content

There are lots of great resources on the web as well as books to help you learn about search engine optimization, but there are also lots of professionals who can help you achieve your SEO goals. Don’t shy away from spending money on an expert to make money! A few resources I recommend: 

1. Anything by Neil Patel
2. Moz.com
3. SEMRush.com

Recommendations for finding an SEO specialist

When looking for an SEO specialist, ask them for results that they have gotten for other websites, and ask them for recommendations and the process of what they would do to your site to make it more SEO friendly.

When you talk with an SEO specialist, ask them about the elements we outlined above with the elements to focus on to grow your website traffic and findability and what you can do to boost this information on your site.

Also, when you are done having the site optimized, don’t forget to continue to build out more content that fills the void that people are searching for online. The more dense and rich with keywords you want to be known for the better the chance that you’ll be found online easier.

Download a copy of our free team marketing worksheets here. Want to learn even more? Check out our book and video course, Unify Your Marketing.