In addition to writing good copy and adhering to the principles of good web design (both of which may already put you ahead of the competition when it comes to search engine rankings), keeping in mind the following best practices should help give your website an additional edge when it comes to ranking in the search engines.
1. Determine good keywords for your business website – in other words, what are people entering into Google, etc. to try to find businesses such as yours? Brainstorm keywords (2-3 word phrases) and make a list of around 10-20 keyword phrases.
Tip: If you serve a local area, your main keyword phrase should generally contain the local area you serve – for example, a photographer in Boise, ID might choose the keyword phrases “boise wedding photographer” and “boise wedding photography” as the main keyword phrases for the homepage of his or her website. Other pages on the website might be “boise wedding photos” (Portfolio page), “boise photographer reviews” (Testimonials page), etc.
2. Pick one or two keyword phrases to target on each page of your site, and try to theme each page around those keywords by incorporating your chosen keywords in some or all of the following places:
a. Page URL (ex. www.mywebsite.com/my-keyword-phrase/)
b. Title Tag*
c. Header Tag* (H1)
d. First paragraph of text, and as appropriate throughout the rest of your page’s content
*If you have hired a web designer to develop your site, he or she will know how to edit these tags within your website’s HTML code.
Note: Make sure that as you write, you place your keywords in the copy as naturally as possible, using variations of those keywords when it makes sense to. Remember that you are writing content for humans, not search engines; you are simply trying to optimize the content so that the search engines can figure out what topic you’re writing about it and index/rank the page properly.
3. As mentioned in the section on writing copy that sells, make sure to include a call to action on all or most of your website’s pages (“Click here to view our portfolio,” etc.) Not only does this encourage a longer length of time spent on your website by a prospective client, it also decreases bounce rate*. Both of these signals are important when it comes to SEO as it tells the search engines that your site is more engaging (higher time on site) and relevant (lower bounce rate.)
*Bounce rate: the percentage of visitors that leave a website after viewing just one page, without clicking through to any subsequent pages.
4. Establish off-page signals that are a legitimate business by setting up profile pages for your business on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and linking back to your main business website from those pages. As we’d seen in 10 Web Design Rules for Wedding Professionals, adding social media following and/or sharing buttons on your business website will help continue the conversation about your company past your website alone. Linking back to your website in various posts on your social media properties (and ideally, having others link to your website by sharing your posts or writing their own) will help complete this feedback loop of social interaction and will be a strong signal to Google and the other search engines that people are interested in and talking about your company and that they should probably place more trust in your website as a result, leading to better rankings in the long run.
Tip: If you are a local service provider (i.e. you cover a specific geographic area rather than the entire country), be sure to claim local listings for your business in the major search engines and fill them out as completely and accurately as possible. These pages will similarly send a signal to the search engines that you are an established business and should be considered as such when they rank their sites in the organic search results. The following are the three local place listing pages for the major search engines.
Google My Business: https://www.google.com/business/
Bing Places for Business: https://www.bingplaces.com/
Yahoo! Small Business: https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/local
5. Write new, unique content for your website regularly – as much as once a week or more if possible. If you completed Step 1 above and have any keyword phrases left on your list after assigning the rest to each of your main pages, this is a great place to start. Simply use those additional keywords to spark ideas for new content or resource pages you may want to include on your website – such as new blog posts, helpful articles for your clients, etc. Search engine spiders LOVE sites with new or updated content and generally keep coming back for more on those sites, so keep them (and your human visitors) happy by regularly adding good content like interesting and informative articles to your site.
One final note about search engine optimization: if you have a new or relatively new website, it may take some time to see your pages begin to rank in the search engines, and even more time to get first-page rankings, even if you’ve accomplished each of the above steps. If you don’t see results quickly, be patient – your hard work will pay off!