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Writer's pictureVast Strategies

SEO Help for Small Business


Help with SEO/Search Bar Image by Central PA Marketing Firm Vast Strategies.jpg

You want to show up on Google first. Right away. For free! Who doesn’t? Unfortunately for you and me and every business owner out there, that’s not going to happen. I know it’s tough news, but thems the brakes.


However, if you follow these steps for our most important search result recommendation, you’ll be on your way to getting to that top page, or – at the very least – getting much closer than you are now. During this entire initiative, keep in mind: the most important qualities that you will need to hold onto are patience and perseverance.


You Are Now a Blogger, FYI.


The #1 thing that we recommend to all of our clients to help with their Google ranking is to write a blog.


As I sit here writing my fourth blog this month, I think to myself, is it really worth it? Does anyone actually care about my blog? I bet my mom does. She’s very proud of me. But no one really engages with it when I post on social media, so what’s the point, right?


Well, maybe none of your followers really care about the different kinds of phone systems you offer or your ratings on paint finish from Gliden, but there is one important little robot out there who truly does care about what you write: it’s Google.


Google loves to have its little crawlers read your blog to help them better determine the type of activity or business your website is based on.


I argue that a blog is not about client or prospect engagement, but about search engine optimization – commonly referred to as SEO. (You can read about the definition here.) Your blogs help Google figure out who you are, what you do, and where you should be categorized in someone’s search results.


How to Write a Blog That Google Loves


We are not Google experts or Google trainers or paid by Google in any way (though Bitsy is a slight fan girl). That being said, these tips – as long as they are adhered to – are ones that we have consistently seen work for our clients. Remember what you’re holding onto? That patience and perseverance will serve you well for what’s ahead.


1. Make sure your content is original. No copypasta (copy/paste). No plagiarism. No thinking that no one will find out. Your clients might not, but Google knows. And Google hates it. I know hate is a strong word, but I got confirmation that I could use it here.


2. Write your blog monthly. If you choose to write more, no more than once a week. To be honest here, we have not seen a huge different between clients who write once a month and those who write once a week. They all seem to work their way up the ladder in the same amount of time.


3. Write about one topic and stick with it. For this blog, I could have also included several other ways to help your website SEO. However, as you notice, I am only writing about blogs. That being said, it’s the biggest helper with SEO, so it’s the most important SEO blog in my opinion.


4. Front-load that one topic on titles and descriptions. Check the title of this blog. SEO is the first thing I mention because that’s what we’re talking about. In the back-end of the website, I rewrote the paragraph that shows up on Google search to include SEO in it almost immediately. Since I do not include it in the beginning of this blog, it’s important that I do that on the back-end.


5. Share this everywhere. Even if people don’t engage with you, they will still click on it. Our last blog we shared had minimal engagement, but we had hundreds of visitors to our site that day. You know who likes it when people visit your site? You guessed it! Google does.


6. Blogs around 500+ words are totally fine, but occasionally write a long-form blog that’s about 1,700 words or more. I know you’re thinking, “Lady, you are nuts!” But, as I type this sentence, I’m already at 690 words. We have clients ranking really well who have never hit anything over 600 words. Which means I could stop right now, but I have a conclusion, so let me add my final point and then finish up.


7. This takes time, so make some tea and take a deep breath. We have clients who shoot right to the top of their desired search in six months because they are in such a niche market, but most of our clients take 1-2 years to get onto page one of Google. Though, that only happens if they are following these steps and sticking to them.


You Can and Should Do It! We Believe in You!

Writing blogs for your website takes time and energy, but it will also help with your ranking in search engine results. You can absolutely hire someone to write for you – we have a lot of clients that hire us – but if you’re looking for a free option to increase your rankings with SEO, this is it.


Set aside an afternoon every month to write a blog. Do not schedule anything else in that time frame. Just sit down, and get it done. You can do it! And you should!


 

If you’d like to talk to us about writing your monthly blog so you don’t have to, reach out to us here.

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