Great SEO for Non-Content Creators

We all want to win at the search engine optimization game, but what does that really mean? We’re not all content creators, and If you don’t want to rely on content creation to spearhead your marketing and promotional efforts, that’s okay too.

Whether you try one alternative path, such as community building or optimizing your existing web presence, or combine the items in this list into your own unique blend is up to you.

1: Great branding

If you go back a few years, everyone was trying to build their websites on domain names that exactly matched their keywords. This worked for a while, and you could rank these websites near the top of the search engines with very little effort. These days, the SEO game has changed, and brandable domains are the way to go.

Brandable domain names are typically a non-keyword name with no particular descriptive meaning. In other words, it doesn’t explicitly spell out or tell people what the business is about the first time they see it. This gives you an opportunity to create a unique brand around it that makes instant name recognition a snap.

2: Build an intuitive, responsive website.

If you have a brick-and-mortar business, it’s easy to imagine that the quality of your website isn’t especially connected to the quality of your goods or services. Consider this, though: your website is the public face of your company, and a slow, unintuitive or unresponsive website is a barrier to both customer satisfaction and sales.

There are plenty of DIY options for website creation out there, but if the quality, speed or ease of use isn’t where you want it to be, consider hiring a professional developer to help.

3: On-page SEO

To rank highly, it’s important to optimize your website. Ensure that each page on your website is optimized with a title, heading tags, and properly labeled images. Choose keywords that are appropriate for your website.

Worry less about ranking globally, and instead try focussing on local listings that give you a narrower category to rank in. “Restaurants” will be incredibly difficult to rank near the top in, but “Restaurants in Oregon”, or even “Thai Restaurants in Portland” have considerably fewer competitors to beat to the top.

4: Verify your business with Google

If you want your business to appear on Google Maps, you’ll need to verify it with Google My Business. Once you’ve done this, your business will have a greater chance of appearing on the

map on the first-page search results.

5: List your business on web directories

Citations are when your business name, address, and phone number are listed publically on the web. These citations help to boost your visibility on Google Maps and search results in general. The more of these that your website has, the better your website should perform.

Remember to be consistent with the wording of your listings across the web. If you’re not consistent, you’re watering down your keywords and it may harm your overall visibility.

6: Great reviews from customers

The best marketing strategy has and always will be word of mouth. Encourage your customers to publish reviews of your products or services, and tell the world about your amazing products and fantastic customer service. These reviews help the search engines know that you’re the real deal, as well as building trust within your local community.

7: Building a community

Are you great at bringing people together? Consider creating a forum or social media presence to bring prospective customers right to your door. The added reassurance that you’re a trusted expert in your field goes a long way, and as this community grows, you can then send your audience towards your now-customized offers.

Another tactic is joining local business associations and/or your local chamber of commerce. Yes, you might be interacting with some competitors, but is that really so bad? Between the opportunities for mutual aid and customer sharing between compatible businesses, and the opportunity to scope out your competitors, there’s a lot to recommend this strategy.

What are your tried-and-true promotional strategies? Share them in the comments below, and keep CodeDesign in mind the next time you or someone you know needs web design, digital marketing or custom content creation!