What You Should Know Before You Start an SEO Campaign

SEO campaigns are critical when it comes to the growth of any brand.

While good website design and a well-planned marketing strategy are both important, you won’t be able to succeed without knowing and being able to use SEO to drive traffic to your website. If you don’t have a valid SEO strategy, you could be missing out on hundreds, even thousands of possible customers.

However, just because SEO campaigns are essential to your company’s growth, doesn’t mean you should jump straight in without learning how to properly apply it. A good SEO strategy takes time, effort, and investment, so it’s worth making sure that you’re prepared and know exactly what is required.

Before you start your SEO campaign, you need to learn and apply the following strategies if you want to succeed and stay ahead of your competition.

#1 Determine Your Goals

There’s is more to SEO campaign than simply to boost traffic and website rankings. A significant part of making your plan successful is knowing what you want to accomplish. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for SEO so everyone’s goal will be different

What do you want to improve with your SEO campaign?

• Do you want more customers to visit your website using search engines like Google?
• Are you looking to improve brand awareness and get your website on the search engines for the right keywords?
• Do you want more clicks and conversions from your target audience?
• Or do you want them to buy your products or services or request a quote?

Whether your goal is more page views, more organic traffic, or more sales, knowing what you want to accomplish is the first step running a successful campaign. It can also be helpful to think about what your readers might be looking for and what they expect from you.

Once you know what you want to accomplish with your SEO strategy, it’s a lot easier to start putting a plan in place that takes you from point A to point B.

For instance, if you want more traffic, you might focus on earning more backlinks from other reputable brands or creating more high-quality content.

Search for the keywords that you want to be ranking for online and find out what your competitors are doing to get ahead of you. Make a list of things you need to implement into your own SEO strategy, from backlinks to improving your content.

#2 Audit and Optimize Your Website for Lead Generation

Once you know what you want to accomplish with your SEO campaigns, you need to evaluate your website to make sure it designed to convert visitors into leads.

If you’ve never audited your website before, try looking at it as one of your customers. What do you think they look for and how can you best serve them and answer their questions.

When you end up on your website, think about how you can improve your chances of people converting. After all, SEO doesn’t just mean ranking for the best keywords. Google will look for evidence that you can offer your customers a great experience too.

Ask yourself whether it’s easy to navigate your website and find information about you and the products you sell. Consider whether your current site is clear and easy to use on every device, including mobile products like tablets and cell phones.

Do your pages load quickly? Page speed is a huge factor in SEO ranking, but it’s also something that many companies often overlook. If you’re weighing your site down with plugins and big images, then now might be the time to make a change.

#3 Learn the Basics of SEO

The world of SEO can be simple and complex at the same time. Learning basic SEO is not that hard. Once you understand on-page optimization, backlink building strategies and content marketing you already know a big part of what it takes to succeed with SEO. However, there are also more advanced skill levels when it comes to SEO. The algorithms are constantly changing to suit the browsing preferences of an ever-evolving digital audience. What worked yesterday, might result in penalties today. Keeping up with the latest digital marketing trends and learning basics of SEO will guarantee that you will know how to run successful SEO campaigns.

Staying on top of the latest SEO changes and reading popular marketing blogs can make a huge difference in your knowledge. There are also many youtube videos that will teach you how to properly use SEO to grow traffic.

#4 Consider Hiring SEO Professionals

While learning SEO is an excellent way to stay ahead of the curve, many businesses simply don’t have the time to do it themselves. Learning and applying SEO principles can be extremely time-consuming

Learning and applying the best practices of SEO is great, but for many business owners, spending time learning SEO is the luxury they can’t afford. Instead of optimizing their website themselves, often the better option would be is to find an experienced SEO professional or a specialized SEO agency. There are many SEO professionals and companies that offer a variety of solutions to help brands achieve their goals. The cost of these services can vary greatly so it’s important to do thorough research to ensure the expert or agency you find fits your needs and budget.

Summary

Search Engine Optimization is one of the most valuable tools that any digital business can have in their toolbox. However, it’s important to be prepared and be knowledgeable about different aspects of SEO and how to apply them.

SEO is constantly changing and it’s crucial to stay on top of all the latest developments and trends if you want to be effective when it comes to driving traffic to your website using search engine optimization strategies.

Helpful SEO Learning Resources

About Author: Joe Peters is a Baltimore-based freelance writer and an ultimate techie. When he is not working his magic as a marketing consultant, this incurable tech junkie devours the news on the latest gadgets and binge-watches his favorite TV shows. Follow him on @bmorepeters