Need SEO Help? 5 Tips to Reel in Customers
Posted by Beth Hrusch on Tue, Aug 24, 2010
SEO is all about getting people to your site, right? But what about keeping them there? Countless websites out there are awfully good at the first part. It’s amazing how good—if you ask the guy next to you for SEO help , he’s likely to say something like “Oh, yeah. Do your analytics. Find out which keywords to use. Put ‘em on your site at like 3-5% in the text. Write a bunch of paragraphs that have a lot of keywords in ‘em. Add your name and city name. Put ‘em on your site. You’ll be on the first page in a month.”
I’ve written keyword-stuffed fluff (sadly, it’s true), and I’ve written useful content. What’s the difference? Beyond the obvious, the difference lies in which one gets people to stay on your site long after they’ve gotten there. Why should you care if people stay? Well, the longer visitors stay at your site, the more likely they are to perform the desired action, whether it’s buying goods and services, opting in for a newsletter or picking up the phone to give you a call.
So, here’s some free SEO help! Check out the following tips that will get visitors to your site and keep them there:
1. Provide quality content. Yes, we’re big on this. Information is key with consumers. Tips, suggestions, helpful articles – all of these keep visitors on site longer. And, if you update that information frequently, you’ll create site stickiness, meaning that visitors will not only stay but return regularly.
SEO help tip: A great way to provide good, regularly updated content is to post a blog page on your site.
2. Create interesting titles. There are lots of ways to make your titles stand out. Your title, or headline, should identify a problem and offer a solution, or pique the visitor’s curiosity. You have less than 10 seconds to capture the attention of a site visitor. Those ten seconds are where the time you took with the titles pays off.
3. Simplify site navigation. Is it just me, or is a confusing, convoluted site an invitation to exit? If you want real SEO help, just remember—keep the navigation unambiguous, intuitive and in the same place on every page. A navigation bar at the top of each page is typical, but if you have a lot of navigation links, use drop-down sub-menus to get visitors to where they want to go.
4. Describe benefits. A clear, concise description of “here’s what’s in it for you” is where the money is. Your visitors are selfish. They don’t care about you or what interests you. In fact, they don’t even think about you. So tailor your content and your site to them. Describe the benefits found on your site: how your visitors can save money (big), get what they want easily, get free shipping, etc.
5. Go easy on the sell. If you’re serious about getting SEO help, you’ll pay attention to this one. Please don’t ask for anything right away. For instance, an opt-in box on the home page is a turn-off for many people. Most visitors don’t want to give you their information until they know you’re credible and the only way to show that is with all of the above. First.
Another bit of SEO help: Go ahead and skip the hype about how great you and your business are. Visitors care about their own needs. You are here to help them, which will eventually—help you!
Yes, there are many ways to get visitors to your site. But, before you take that guy’s advice about stuffing keywords into your precious bit of Internet real estate, consider the power of real SEO help. The kind that comes from content geared toward your visitors, not search engines. And, the kind that keeps in mind the kind of experience they will have once they are in your space.
Fluff doesn’t help your visitor. And if it doesn’t help your visitor, then it doesn’t help you.