Why you should know what SEO stands for...

I will save you the trouble of reading the whole article and tell you that SEO stands for "search engine optimization." SEO is important because a growing number of consumers are heading to the internet to search for services and products to do research before they even pick up the phone.

You may be well known among your competitors and past and current clients, but are you getting leads from your website? Do you have an inbound marketing campaign? Do you blog, maintain your social network profiles and generally interact online?

If the answer to one or more of those questions is "NO" than you might consider why online marketing hasn't been something you looked at more seriously in the past

What are the best ways to perform SEO on my website?

There numerous companies out there that claim to perform SEO services. Some are better than others but there are commonalities in their methods. Here is a short list of common techniques used to improve the number of leads to your website using SEO.

1. Use effective metadata keywords
2. Make sure you have inbound links on other websites/blogs
3. Check your current rating on google with different search terms for a general idea of your current competitiveness
4. Look at the results your competitors are getting
5. Study what your competitors are doing
6. Use an analytic tool likes Hubspot's Webgrader to get a general feel of how your website is viewed by search engines like google
7. Get a SEO professional to point you in the right direction.

Number seven above is one of the key steps. Even as a consultant I often rely on professionals in the industry more knowledgeable than I. If you don't have the money to work with one of these individuals do a little homeowork and search around on the web for ideas and advice on website optimization. There are many resources available to those who don't mind spending a good half an hour scouring through Google results.

Once you've spent some time looking around on the internet, you'll get an idea of what common themes exists and which ideas are more unique to the originator.

If all of the above makes absolutely no sense than please give me a call and I'll be glad to help explain why you want your website "optimized."

Regards,

Paul Hitchings

www.hitchingsconsulting.com