4 Easy Steps to Increase SEO

Nothing is as unforgiving as SEO when it comes to “what have you done for me lately?”  In this case, what have you “done” for SEO would include any monitored online activity and the engagement and influence it creates within and outside the audience to whom it is being distributed.  That means that even if in the past a large amount of content was created and put out into cyberspace and was creating placement at the top of the search engines, if you stop generating activity with your brand you will lose placement. 

Those brands who get 1^st and 2^nd page hits with little “activity” do so because they are using paid advertisements that put them on the sidebar or at the top of search engines regardless of how active the community or brand.  

Small and mid-size businesses cannot compete with large organizations when it comes to paid advertisements and the cost per “keyword” method of reaching your target audience.  When the “cost per click” for the keywords that create 1^st page ad placement are excessive they will quickly eat up the profits on a low margin product. 

That’s why activity based SEO is so important – especially when it is supported by simultaneously developed social communities that can go dormant but be available as soon as a new morsel of content is offered for their consumption.  

I believe that everything is a process and the better the process, the better the result.  Let me walk you through 4 easy steps to increase SEO for your business so that it can be searched and survive against organizations with large advertising budgets.

Step 1.  Develop a Process

Developing an activity based process for increasing SEO whether you have only manual or automated capabilities is equally important.  The best automated processes were once manual.  From manual and consistent process, automation is born.  So as I said earlier, activity is the fuel the feeds the SEO monster. 

Create a content development and distribution process that not only creates a conversation for your community, but creates the community at the same time through using social platforms for the distribution of the content.  This allows you to develop an “audience” of fans or following that are able and ready to engage your content when it is made available. 

This “instant on” engagement will immediately catch the interest of the search engines moving you closer to the top for those who are looking for what you or your brand has to offer.  Search engines are always after what’s trending now – your process should consider that too.

Step 2.  Perform the Process

Just as there are 4 easy steps to increasing SEO – there are also 4 basic platforms that you need to perform the process.

#1 –Blog (The content – Google particularly loves Word Press)

#2 – Google+ (Because Google has an ego and loves its own pluses most)

#3 – Twitter (A good platform for sharing blogs through Tweets and Retweets)

#4 – Facebook (Because there are 165 million users of Facebook in the US)

The process goes a little something like this.  Write a blog that is relevant to the type of audience you are looking to attract.  Include within the content of the blog keywords that are in alignment with how your audience would look for you. Close with a question or a call to action.  Then post the blog, share it to Google+, Plus it – get all your friends to plus it, and ask your following to plus it too!  Then post it to Twitter and include a trackable link.  Integrate Twitter with Facebook page so that the Tweet posts to the wall at the same time.  Create a schedule to Re-share and Re-Tweet periodically on various days and at various times of the day.  Post directly to Facebook and promote the post.

Step 3.  Measure / Improve Process Impact

Review the statistics, determine where the most traffic is coming from, what type of content gets the most activity, times of day the activity increases and decreases.  Modify your process accordingly to improve impact.

Step 4.  Repeat the Process REGULARLY

SEO optimization is a continuous process – so is content development and distribution.  In order to develop an engaged following the content must be kept current, relevant, and on track with the trends.  As the trends change, so must your approach to engagement.

The Indexed Web contains at least 13.72 billion pages as of Monday, 29 April, 2013.  That makes it pretty clear that getting to the top of the search engines is no easy feat.  It either requires lots of cash through advertising OR effective, frequent, and community based engagement through blogs and social platforms.  The latter being the most trusted means of consumer research, offering the highest level of buying confidence.  My final question to you. 

What have you done for SEO lately?