You have a website, you have products – physical or downloads – and you are producing content. But you don’t see a lot of traffic, and your conversion rate needs some serious work. So what are you missing? SEO. You are missing search engine optimization. And while ideally, you are going to work with an SEO company to really get it right, in the early days you might like to do some simple things yourself. 

Keyword Research

You don’t know what you don’t know – as the saying goes. And keywords really are driving that point home. You only think you know what your customers want. In fact, when they are looking for your products, they might not type in the technical name at all. They might type in something very obscure. Keyword research will give you an understanding of the phrases and words that consumers are using to find you. Google Keywords Planner is a great place to start. Ubersuggest and SEMrush are also incredibly useful for gathering this information. 

Competition

If you understand your competition, then you know where you are in the game. Search for your services, and see who comes on top. Then have a look through their website. What is it that propels them to the top?

• What content do they have that you don’t?
• Is their site easy to use, and does it load fast? 
• Are the keywords in the first paragraph of their content? 
• What are the best features on the website?

Don’t copy everything they have done, but think about the questions and see where you can make changes to how you do things. 

Optimize

It is no good putting all of the research in if you aren’t going to optimize your website. You might need to outsource some of this work. Your website needs to be mobile responsive. And it must load quickly. Google has said that more than half of the searches come from mobile devices, which should tell you all you need to know about why your site needs to be mobile-friendly. 

And if you think it doesn’t make a big difference, then you should know that Google also ranks all organic searches based on a site’s mobile experience and page speed. 

Consistent

No one is saying that you need to write hundreds of pieces of content per week – unless you want to. But, you need to produce something in order to keep your site updated. At least once a week as a minimum.

The more often you update, the more you are telling Google that you are active and relevant. Just remember to post things that work towards your keyword goals. 

Study and read up on SEO blogs like Moz,  Search Engine Land, and Google’s own guides. They will give you a real insight into what can be achieved with great SEO.