Everyone wants to have a successful SEO strategy; however, often too many times all people speak about are the tactics. Unless these tactics are backed by a solid strategy they amount to little more than busy work.
Your SEO strategy starts with several very important questions:
What problem do you solve?
Until someone has a problem, they don’t search for a solution. If they aren’t searching for the solution, they aren’t going to be looking for the service(s) you offer. As you think about presenting your business online, think of key words your customers might use in a sentence like this: How can I fix my…… or How can I improve my……
What makes you unique?
If you do exactly what your competitors do, you won’t stand out in the real world, and you won’t stand out online. For example, there are lots of companies which offer carpet cleaning services. If one company offers a money back guarantee, that company will stand out. When someone searches for carpet cleaning companies lots of companies appear. When someone searches for a “carpet cleaning guarantee” only one company will rise to the top of the list.
Who will help deliver your message?
You can’t do it alone and you don’t have to. One of the best ways to get your message noticed above all the noise is to find several companies willing to post your content on their site. In return you can share some of their information with your audience. These cross links make it easier for search engines to find their way back to you.
For example, if the carpet cleaning company writes about how to protect your carpet and a company selling carpet might write about stain resistant carpet. A blog swap between these two companies makes perfect sense to human beings and search engines.
Now you are ready for the tactics.
Once you have an SEO strategy in place, it will be easier to develop your key words, write compelling meta descriptions and page titles and seek out links to help search engines and people find you.