Are you looking for the magic bullet to give you great SEO?

image by Frederick Md Publicity

I hear conversation from people about SEO from so many different sources. I have to ask why that is such an issue with so many people. I think instead of worrying about SEO, you should focus on what you really want and decide if getting better SEO will get you there.

Should you be looking for high traffic?

Personally though as a writer, I love being read by as many people as possible, I am not looking for high traffic. Though there many be some options in the future for products that don’t involve me (Julie) delivering services directly, right now my services are tied to Julie delivering the services. I know how many people I can work with at DesignResumes.com and there will be a specific number of people I can work with here on The Marketing Results Blog.

What kind of reader do I want?

I want to reach people who would find working with me to be something they really want to do. I also want to provide a resource to people who will never work with me but would benefit by my information. I can’t do that through plugging in an SEO formula and kicking in key words that are meaningless to my business just to get readers who will never want to work with me and who have no interest in my subject matter.

I want committed people who have a desire to learn. I want some of those to be people who understand the value of investment and are willing to see our working together as an investment in their future.

What have I found that works to increase the SEO for my blogs?

1. Write interesting content applicable for my subject matter. If I want people to find me on this blog, I will talk about content marketing, social media, blog organization, entrepreneurship, and other things related to the main topic of Marketing Results. On my other blog for Design Resumes, I focus on job search, career marketing, resumes, and how to cope with the attitude issues of being unemployed.
2. Since this is a WordPress blog, I make full use of all the areas within WordPress’s backside (the post writing area) to make sure I have created searchable content and do have key words, such as the title, categories, tags, and the content itself.
3. Use the Headway theme (affiliate link) tools. Not only does using Headway let you create an attractive looking site, the team at Headway has built-in SEO tools. When I write a post, I can enter in the title, a brief summary, and several key words that fit the topic of the post.
4. Use sharing tools. Right now this blog is using ShareThis which lets people share to many different platforms. Since the top sharing for me is on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Stumble, I have chosen those tools for my blog. As soon as Google+ is included in ShareThis, I will include it because that is one more platform I am using regularly.
5. Be visible on the social networking platforms you enjoy using. People share things for people they know so build relationships.
6. Check to see what is bringing traffic to your blog. Jim Connolly suggested that I use Woopra’s app in addition to Google Analytics. Woopra has real time analytics which I can use to determine who is on my site, what queries are attracting them, and what keywords are being sought. Potentially, I could focus my topics and writing to meet the needs of the people who are visiting or tailor my posts to focus more specifically on what I would like people to be searching for on my blogs.

I know SEO has value but I think people worry about it too much and fail to realize that numbers are not their goal. Unless you are selling small widgets and can push them out in high volume, most small businesses need clients or customers who value your services or products and will share your message. I want to build advocates who understand what I offer and see me as a resource for themselves and someone they feel comfortable recommending to friends and family. If I can create content that builds those advocates, I have accomplished my goal.