If your background isn’t really in SEO, it’s easy to get it wrong. We see lots of business, both new and more experienced make the same mistakes. So we’ve put together a list of the most common ones to avoid.
Keyword overload
This is pretty common for businesses who have recently discovered what SEO and keywords are. They tend to think that more keywords will equal more traffic and sales and will stuff them into every piece of content on the site.
While keywords are important, no one wants to read something that’s written just for search engines. Your website visitors will be off your website in a flash if they see content that’s just there for the clicks and they probably won’t click on your links again. So keyword stuffing can have a negative effect on the website’s user experience.
Instead of writing for the search engines, write for your audience. They’re the ones you want to sell to after all.
No blog
One of the simplest ways to keep your website fresh is to have a blog full of new content. This makes search engines more likely to recommend you because your website is highly active and full of relevant content that can pull in traffic.
Blogs are a great way to show your expertise in the industry, they help to build a relationship with your customers by giving them helpful advice or interesting content that starts a dialogue.
Underestimating social media
People either under or overestimate the power of social media. A few posts on Twitter aren’t going to result in hundreds of sales, but social media has some other, less obvious benefits. It can build and strengthen your brand persona in the eyes of potential clients.
It’s a direct channel to communicate with your customers. This is particularly important if you run a business solely online as you’ll never get that face to face communication you can get from someone popping into your shop or office.
Not using analytics
How do you know what’s working on your website if you’re not looking at analytics? It’s important that you know what traffic is like on your website. You need to know where people are going, what they’re looking at and how long they’re staying.
This will give you some insight into what people want to read and learn about so that you can create more content like it.
Analytics might seem like a waste of time but it can, in fact, end up saving you time and effort because you’re directing your strategy where it works.
Not optimising for local search
It’s important that you are covering your local area in your SEO efforts. You can start this by including region-specific keywords in your page titles and meta descriptions. You should also make sure you have an address and local phone number on your contact page and in your header or footer so you’ll turn up in local results.
Focusing on link quantity over quality
If you’re looking to post guest blogs on other websites, this is a great step to give your website a boost. However, it’s important to remember that one link on a well-established and respected website is worth more than 20 links on low-quality websites that no one visits. So make sure you’re valuing quality over quantity.
Not dedicating enough time
SEO is not a simple process of following instructions, you need to be constantly reactive to change in the industry too. This means that if you don’t have the time to dedicate to checking stats, updating content or keeping up to date with new Google changes on a regular basis, you’d be better off outsourcing your SEO.
Handling it all yourself
In the early days of a business, it’s typical for business owners to do a bit of everything. One of those things may be marketing and SEO. While this can be a great way to save money in the beginning, it can end up eating too much of your time. Anyone would struggle to give SEO the care and attention it needs when you’re trying to run a business at the same time.
Want some help?
At Team Organic, we focus on ethical, organic SEO that gives your website a boost to help you compete in your industry.
We offer a free website review which will give you a chance to see what’s working and what isn’t. If you do sign up with us you’ll get your SEO managed as well as any social media profiles. You’ll also get well-researched blog content to keep your website fresh.
If you’re interested in going a bit further we also offer website hosting and video production for small explainer videos to use to promote your services.
Get in touch via hello@teamorganic.co.uk for more information and your free website review!
