SEO… ugh
SEO: Simple Tweaks You Can Make to Your WordPress Content So Your Clients Find You
I know you’re probably thinking some or all of the following.
- Search Engine Optimization is way too scientific for me–after all I’m an artist
- SEO is way over my head–I’m a coach, not a techno geek
- SEO looks incredibly boring. My eyes are glazed over even now
- SEO is done by geeky guys who work in their parent’s basement and never see the light of day
- SEO is illegal and, if caught, Google will banish you and your biz forever from search results
But in reality, SEO is a very powerful business skill that can get you a lot of traction in the competitive world of the internet. It’s really only a series of little tweaks you can make in your blog posts and on your pages that can amount to a huge rush of traffic, and clients that are finally able to find you in the search engines. (Of course, you can go much further than little tweaks and hire yourself an SEO strategist for big $$, but why not start small to see how it works?).
SEO is about “organic” search, meaning that you optimize your posts and pages for the people who don’t know a thing about you (eg: they are not friends on Facebook, Twitter, or other social networking sites) They are the people who need you but don’t know it yet. They are the people who are in Google search right this minute, and are madly typing words into the search field trying to find a solution to their problem or answer to their question.
The words (keywords) they are typing into the search field are the only link between them and you (remember, they have never heard of you). If the words you use on your site (your keywords) match their search terms, then you will show up in the search results. The more exact your words match theirs, the higher you will show in the results.
You can probably see now that if you aren’t using the words (keywords) that this person is using to find answers, then you’ll never show up in the search results as a viable solution or answer to their problem(s). The better your site answers the searchers questions, the more Google will send you the highly coveted “organic” traffic.
So here is a summary of what SEO is:
SEO is the shortened term for Search Engine Optimization. As an online business and WordPress site owner, you need to know that SEO is what helps drive visitors to your website. And without visitors…well you know.
Search engines have names like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. When someone is searching for information on the internet, they type phrases or keywords into the Google, Yahoo, or Bing search field. They press “Enter” and receive a page with a list of search results.
SEO is “spoon feeding” your relevant content to the search engines so that it matches the searchers’ queries.
A search engine is a program that searches documents on the World Wide Web for a specific word or phrase. ~ Dictionary.com (SEO is tweaking your site to match those words).
Kathleen
PS: If you’d like to try your hand at Keyword Research, here is a free instruction guide: Keyword Research Tool and Instruction
Related articles
- What Search Engines Do (and how this affects your website’s search rankings) (thesavvyva.com)
- 6 Simple Tips to Writing Search Engine Optimized WordPress Blog Posts (thesavvyva.com)
