SEO on a budget

This week, we’re talking about search engine optimization (SEO) and ways to improve your search engine ranking without breaking the bank.

I’ll walk through three things:

Let’s dive in!

Mike

Let me tell you my main focus when it comes to the topic of SEO:

People search for solutions and so, good SEO starts with a problem.

For example, people enter something into a search engine like, “the best pizza in New Haven, Connecticut” or “How to market my business with no budget.”

Your content should hold the answers to these questions for the topics that relate to your business. I go into more detail about this in the free article below.

If you don’t read that article below, just remember to think like the people you’re targeting and ask yourself what they’re typing into search engines that you can solve with your business.

But really, take two minutes to read it.

Now, let’s talk about six steps to follow as you create content with SEO in mind.

Find keyword opportunities aligned to your products or services and the problems they can solve for people. Prioritize terms that have sufficient search volume and low competition. Tools like Google’s Keyword Planner can help generate ideas.

For each target keyword, publish in-depth, evergreen articles that comprehensively answer related customer questions. These pillars will attract search traffic for years, especially as people link to it over time because they find it valuable.

When publishing new content, include your target search terms naturally in titles, headers, meta descriptions, and body text.

For example, if you decide to link to an article about using ChatGPT to turn your YouTube video content into a blog post, make sure your target search terms are in that link (just like I did with that link about converting video content).

Make sure your site architecture guides visitors to your fresh content. It could be by having a menu item easily visible called “Blog” or “News.” You can also include a section on your homepage and throughout your website that shows the most recent articles. Add intuitive categories and effective internal linking.

Encourage backlinks and social shares by reaching out to influencers and sharing your new content on social media. There are ways you can reach out to influencers and content creators without spamming them. Consider a content amplification campaign across social media channels.

Monitor your crucial SEO metrics — rankings, organic traffic, backlinks, etc. Identify what’s working and continue optimizing.

That leads us to the final point I want to make about SEO.

SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. Play the long game and don’t expect overnight success. Incrementally improving your content and site structure over months and years will gradually strengthen your organic growth.

Be patient, focus on serving your audience, and always seek improvement.

This mindset will serve you better than any gimmicky SEO tactic. You’ll almost always be better off creating new content to help people than you will be chasing an SEO shortcut.

Read up on the latest SEO strategies or find YouTubers focused on it. Follow one of those personalities you feel you can trust so you don’t miss out on any major changes in the SEO world; those might require your quick attention.

Otherwise, stay the course and solve your target market’s problems with your content over and over. Be the answer people are searching for.

Thanks for reading! See you next week.