To see growth from SEO, you need a strategy. Understanding SEO basics and focusing on your target audience is a great start. But, to see growth you need a strategy that keeps you focused. Here’s how to make an SEO strategy with five easy steps.
Step 1: Set Your Goal
The first step in determining your SEO strategy is understanding your goal. What is the end goal? Do you have a paid course you want people to register for? Do you have a book you want them to purchase? Do you have a SaaS (software as a service) tool you’d like visitors to sign up with?
Figure out what the primary goal is for your SEO efforts. What are you hoping your site visitors will eventually accomplish on your website?
Step 2: Create a Lead Magnet
Next create a lead magnet. The lead magnet should be a bridge between your free content and your end goal. The lead magnet should help the reader overcome a hurdle that is stopping them from completing the end goal on your website. This should be a downloadable cheatsheet, a resource, or a guide that helps prepare them for your primary goal. It can even be a course if that makes sense for your website and goal.
Instead of a dollar amount, the lead magnet should be paid for with an email address. This allows you to start to communicate with the person on a regular and deeper level.
The lead magnet information should be available on all of your blog articles. Remember to prioritize the user experience. Instead of setting the lead magnet to pop up as soon as someone visits, add it at the end of the page. That way, people who read the whole article now have information to learn more and connect at a deeper level. There will be less people that read the article than load the page, but they will be more likely to be your target audience. Don’t worry about attracting everyone, worry about attracting the right people.
Step 3: Perform Keyword Research and Create Content Calendar
Once you have your goal and lead magnet in mind, start doing keyword research. Your keyword research should align with your goal and lead magnet. That way, someone who comes to your free content from search engines would be more likely to sign up for your lead magnet and eventually convert.
Once you’ve done your keyword research and found relevant content ideas, create a content calendar to make a plan. This will make it easier to know what to work on when and will help hold you accountable.
Step 4: Blog in Batches
Once you have a plan, create blog content in batches. Set some time aside to create all of the blog content you have planned for the entire month. Whether that is one, two, or four articles, get them done at the same time so you aren’t stuck doing nothing but blogs all month. You want to blog, but you don’t want it to consume all of the time you have available for your business.
Step 5: Perform Daily Digital Marketing Maintenance
Once you have your blogs scheduled out, spend some time each day performing digital marketing maintenance. These tasks can range from social, organic SEO, monitoring data, and making conversion improvements. For a shortcut, you can use the ClearPath Online DIY SEO tool. It’s prepopulated with prioritized digital marketing tasks. And it’s already set up to stagger them out so you have a short list each day based on your personal digital marketing needs.
In Summary
Creating consistent content that is focused on the needs of your target audience is the best strategy for long-term SEO success. To also see your business grow you need an SEO strategy in place. So, set your goal, create a lead magnet, do keyword research and create a content plan, blog in batches, and then take the time to conquer the digital marketing routine outlined in the ClearPath Online DIY SEO tool.
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