SEO is one of those buzzwords that leaves you feeling confused. For most, the primary questions are:

• What is it?

• Why should I care?

• What can I do about it?

• How much does it cost?

Here is the good news, it is free, it is not hard, and I will tell you the basics.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is basically optimizing your website so that it is a top search result when someone searches the web using a keyword tied to your products or services.

Ex: I am a designer in Fort Worth, Texas. If someone is starting a new business or is a business owner and wanted to rebrand their company they would probably Google for local talent. Some of the search terms may be:

• Fort Worth Logo Designer

• DFW branding designer

• Logo designer in my area

• Logo design DFW

• Creative agency logo

My goal is to show up on the 1st page of the Google results (or any other search engine).

This is where SEO comes in. There are a few things you can do to make sure they find you and you are on the 1st page and maybe the top choice in the result.

why should I care?

After understanding what SEO is it may be a bit more clear the importance.

If people can find you easily you get more traffic to your website and more clients/customers. More good news, it is not hard stuff.

What can I do about it?

I must first mention that some of your position on a search engine is frankly out of your control. It is up the algorithm but you do have a few tools at your disposal. Don’t worry, it is possible to position yourself to be seen/found.

Things to do on your site

Google will scan your website pages for keywords that fit the searched terms and any related terms. Make sure you are including basic terms on your site that tie back to your goods or services.

Ex: A business selling t-shirts should include terms like t-shirt, tee, and graphic tee. A suit tailor offering services should use terms similar to suit tailoring, suit alterations, and mens formal.

This all sounds basic but it is important you include basic terms on your site.

Google also looks at the age of your site to help place it in the search result ranks. Your new website will probably not be on the first page results on launch day unless it is truly a one-of-a-kind business in your area. Starting a ski equipment rental business here in Dallas/Fort Worth would be one-of-a-kind and would probably rank #1 fairly easily. Although, I am not sure business would be great.

Sorry to burst your bubble, SEO takes time. You will not be an overnight success but with time and doing the things I will share with you here, you will be on the right path.

Start small

No matter what kind of site you have there are probably a million others offering something similar all around the world. Focusing in on a niche for your business is your best bet to stand out.

Ex: Think about buying a new sweater. How many companies came to mind? At least 3-5 and they are probably big well-known brands. Now think about buying a sweater that is handmade out of Angora wool. I don’t know about you but I could not come up with one brand or site to visit. I would have to Google that. What if I want to buy one in the city where I currently live? Wow, no clue where to start. I would search “Angora wool sweaters in Fort Worth, TX” to start. One Etsy shop popped up but not much here locally.

The example above shows how starting with a niche and locally can help you corner the market but at a small scale. This is the best way to start gaining SEO traction. Don’t try to take over the world on day 1. Start as small as you can and master that market then enlarge your scope little by little. In the example above if I were a new business selling Angora sweaters in Fort Worth, my next move may be to corner the market in Arlington, Grapevine, Irving, then Dallas. Slowly growing my target radius to include all of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. That cornering the market in the country's fourth-largest metro area, with 7,637,387 residents. From there move on to other big cities in Texas. Eventually, you will have a good SEO hold on all of the South Central region.

Start small! Baby steps.

Photo alt text

Behind every photo, you place on your site you have an opportunity to embed more keywords. The alternative text for a photo is meant to help screen readers read a description of the photo. Be sure you use this space to not only describe the content of the photo but to inject a few more keywords. You also can name the photo with a few keywords to go the extra mile. A photo named “candle2.jpg” really is a missed opportunity for Google to find you. Something like “YourBizName-location-candletype-scent.jpg” would be a better name and could be just the thing to help a local customer find you.

Headlines/Titles

The headlines on your site play a role believe it or not. All sites have a few headlines or title sizes. Each size on the backend (in the code) has a label. I will show my headline sizes as examples.

this is my headline size 1 (H1)

HEADLINE size 2 (h2)

headline size 3 (H3)

Some sites have up to six sizes (H6). You need to be aware of this because Google cares. Google will scan your H2’s on any page on your site to see if it would be a good fit for a search result. So pump more keywords into your headline size 2.

What to do outside of your website

Backlinks, this is when another site links to your site.

Ex: A blog includes you a post with a link back to one of your pages or someone post a link to your site on social media.

Backlinks are important to widening your web footprint. The more coverage you have on the web the better in Google’s eyes. Not all backlinks are created equally. A link to your site from a Forbes article has more weight than a blog with 300 readers. Forbes has more traffic on its site, of course, but it also packs a big SEO punch all its own. Since it is a high-ranking site it then pulls you up with it. It is true, sometimes it’s not what you know but who you know.

The more backlinks the better. Grow your web footprint and that helps your Google rank.

how much does SEO (an h2 keyword 😉) cost?

Well, nothing! Everything here is free, including the knowledge. SEO sounds confusing but in reality, it is simple to implement it just takes time.

Looking forward to searching and finding all of your sites soon!