Working hard?… But is it hardly working??

So now you have a shiny new website and you know you need to get it found. You even know how to blog or write SEO pages, GREAT! You have listened to good advice and you know that in order to start getting found, you HAVE to add content regularly to the site….. and you are more than willing. So you studiously set to work writing content and you grow and grow.

Fast forward several months and countless articles later and…. wait a tic, your inbox is still empty. How can that be? Surely you are ranking well for numerous searches aren’t you? But WHAT is it that you have been writing about all of this time and does it even come close to matching HOW your customers would be searching for your services?

Don’t feel bad, most people miss this all important part of SEO. In fact, in our industry its actually a fun little game to play with a perspective client. Lets say you have an auto dealership in Atlanta. In our first conversation I would ask you what you want to be found for, what are your customers going to search that you would absolutely want to show up for? Inevitably you would tell me something like “car dealerships”. Sounds reasonable doesn’t it? Now, think like your customer for a second. WHERE is your car dealership? Do you specialize in a certain make? Do you sell new or used cars? This is a step you cannot afford to forget… after all, if you are going to put the work in towards helping your website show up for different searches why on earth would you not make sure they are searches that are ACTUALLY being done?!?

Finding out how people search and what the most popular (and profitable) search terms are isn’t as hard as you think. There are many tools available online and if you happen to implement a Google Adwords campaign, you can get search traffic numbers straight from the horses mouth. If you haven’t gotten to that stage but you still need a little advice on what the most popular searches are, simply go to your Google search bar and start typing in a search for your town and your area of business. As you are typing, Google will give you suggestions in an effort to help you find what you are looking for. These results are based on what the most popular searches are …. voila, you now know where to put your efforts.

You cannot be expected to become an SEO writing genius right out of the gate and if your budget permits, a wise course of action would be to combine YOUR efforts with someone who IS and expert. At Appnet, we have many clients who write two pages for every one that we write for them. Not only are they getting one heck of a boost from a professionally written SEO page but they also can use what we provide them as a sort of map or cheat sheet if you will. To put it another way, if every weekend you found yourself in a foursome with Tiger Woods and every weekend you followed his tips and tried to mirror his swing, how do you think your golf game we be in six months… or a year?

On a side note, if you ACTUALLY DO have a car dealership in Atlanta and you ARE looking for help, do yourself a favor and check out our Atlanta SEO page.

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