No BS SEO ( Search Engine Optimization )

With more than 5+ years of experience helping small to medium size companies improve their websites. I find some folks believe they understand SEO but don’t realistically know what their SEO staff can or should accomplish.

Because most of you are a small to medium size company and might only offer niche or highly specific products and services, you will NEVER see the kinds of traffic Amazon gets. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

SEO is not hard–but you can’t rank well without consistent work.

Leaving a site untouched for months is a killer for rankings. SEO takes consistent effort from a staff member to update and review site weekly, year after year, to make sure it provides your visitors with a good experience.

Realistically, a new site or updated site, without using black hat tricks, can see a reasonable increase in the # of visitors in 6 months to a year, yet most likely it will take longer.

Lots of SEO firms insist you need to do a million adjustments to your site to rank well. Believe me I am here to tell you don’t do it. I have tried them all for clients looking to improve ranking–but what I have learned the really, really hard way— you can do all of these minor technical issues and spend lots of $$$$—— a not get results.

The reality is that most of these activities will increase your domain authority score and rankings only slightly.

It is not worth the money you will have to spend to fix everything on a site.

So don’t be fooled by anyone telling you need a full site analysis for $5,000- $10,000 and then more $$$ to fix the site. Today, after running SEO reports on 100’s of website, I can find out what is really wrong in about an hour or two. Costing you only couple hundred dollars.

Here are some SEO activities I found that will matter for rankings.

There are three main areas of focus to ensure success of your website and rankings:  Technical, On Page and External Links

Technical:

Again, there is a long list of items you can worry about.

The one goal for the tech side is to make sure the site operates efficiently and is live 24/7.

First pick a good server host for your site. We have switched a lot of clients over to AWS (Amazon Web Services) because their site was down often due to their current provider or in-house server failing. AWS is reliable (rarely goes down), and can more secure compared some other options, without needing a expert on board.

The website must be secure–HTTPS–if not visitors could get the page of death.

This site is not secure we recommend not visiting.

There is no way anyone wants the IT department breathing down their necks because they visited an un-secure site.

All URL’s need to work–no 404 errors

Limit the amount of redirects, this helps improve website speed.

On Page: Content/Content

The main goal is to keep people on your site longer and not bounce.

Good content on each page is a must- No Fluff! You need to make regular updates by posting at least 2-3 items per month—blog posts, images, or updates to product/services sections.

Make sure all Page URLs and IMAGES include relevant descriptions. Good descriptions makes it easier for the search engines to know what the page is about.

For example: www.TTToys.com/kids/trucks/green/10dollars.

Regularly add good videos and other interesting graphics. No budget for these. Just use your phone camera/video.

External:

This is the hardest to do and takes a lot of effort— earning high quality backlinks.

You can realistically add least 6-9 really good links per month with effort every week. The links can be from a vendor site, high quality directory and publishers, Social Media (Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter), influencer pages, trade shows you exhibit, and everywhere else on the worldwide web that make sense.

Again, please don’t be conned by SEO firms wanting big $$$ for fixes. The bottom line–offer a site that operates smoothly, with good content your current and potential client want and can be found on other credible websites.

Contact me to learn how I can help you with your SEO program: nanette@nsg.consulting

Professional and Business Online Presence #OLP

There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about- Oscar Wilde

Today, everyone wants to make business decision quickly without needing to have meetings or walk into your store, as meetings and traffic are time consuming. The place where the majority of people will learn about you and/or your business will be online.

This is a positive direction.

Why?
Because if someone can find everything they need about you that gives them the confidence to purchase a product or set a meeting, the faster the decision comes to actually hit the Purchase, Submit or Email button. This happens before ever stepping foot in your building or meeting space. This is why it is important to care about your online presence.

Stop reading and take a few minutes to type your name or business name in Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. search box. What links show up on pages on 1- 5? Are you even a result within the first 5 pages?

Yes?
Great! Are they links that help you sell or build trust with customers to buy/do business with you.

No, or just not sure?

We are available to help you answer those questions, contact us for a free 30 minute consultation.

 CONTACT NSG TODAY

Today you can no longer just have a website. People need 5-10 trusted sources before deciding to buy or schedule a meeting. They want to see your reviews on Glassdoor, Google, Yelp, Facebook, or even BBB. They will look at your customer’s comments and reviews. They want to see that you are covered in key media outlets as a leader in the industry and much more.

So now—go back to those first 5 pages of search. Do they include links to your LinkedIn company page, an article in a trade journal, videos, trade shows, associations….? If not, you have a lot work to do.

Now many marketing firms will tell you to run ads to increase your SEO. But ask yourself before you do—when is the last time you really wanted to click on one of those paid ads? You might have clicked only because you needed information right away. But if you had other choices on page 1 to get the info, you will more than likely skip the ad.

We have nothing against running ads but you also have to do the hard stuff. Realistically to get great links on pages 1-5, you may need to hire a person or an agency to help you reach your goal of good organic results within a short time frame.

Here are 5 key items that you can do to help you improve your online presence quickly:

1- Hire someone to write content for your website, social media and trade media.

2- Hire someone to take photographs— because you are going to need a lot of them.

3- Think about topics for videos for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc. Then get someone to create at least one a month for the next 6 months or so.

4- Get someone to send press release, product info, photos, videos, etc. to key media to earn high quality backlinks.

5- Make sure your website is current, looks clean and attractive, is mobile friendly, easy to use and is on the right server platform. – NSG uses AWS

There are always more things that you can do to improve your online presence. But if you do at least some basics task’s you will be much further ahead than your competition.

We know that your first meetings/engagements with potential partners/customers will be more successful when you are able to build trust from your online presence and you can show them that you are a company they want to do business with or even to buy a single product from.
To learn how NSG Consulting Inc can help: chase@nsgconsultinginc.com