How to D-I-Y your blog SEO on a shoestring budget |
It doesn't require expensive instruments to conduct SEO for your blog and it shouldn't cost a fortune either. This is how you can do it yourself in 7 simple steps.
As you approach the New Year hits its stride it's likely that you'll be going over budgets and expenses and trying to determine the reasons you put aside so much money last year and how you can cut down on your spending this year. We've all been there, and it's no picnic.
In the search for ways to save money, it's not uncommon to identify strategies and methods that you've used for a while and can cost a significant amount of money, and find ways to either eliminate them or take the tools in-house.
For some reason, most marketers think using an SEO (SEO) professional or tools to support the work they do in that field is a must. This is why I'm here to inform you that it is possible to really make your own SEO for your blog and spend no cash at all.
Is your mind blown?
SEO plays an important component of the overall strategy of marketing.
In reality, 61% of marketers' top priorities in their marketing through the internet is improving their SEO and growing their presence on the internet. And I'll bet that with voice search continuing to rise in popularity, the percentage will only increase year-over-year.
Ensuring your SEO is up to date and increasing website's organic traffic could put you ahead of competitors in your space as well as increase the accessibility of the people who conduct web-based search results.
How do you DIY your SEO strategy
1. Create a keyword list
The initial step in implementing your SEO strategy yourself is to identify your keywords through the research of keywords . They can be longer or shorter tails , but essentially it should include terms you would like your content to be ranked for, as well as phrases that your target audience searches for related items to your field on the internet.
In the case of an agency that's specialized in design and marketing it is recommended to start with a plan that appears like this:
Agency for marketing
Design agency
Design and marketing firm
Design of high-quality
Marketing strategy
Your long-term keywords may look similar to this:
What is the best way to implement a successful marketing strategy
The best design tactics for email marketing
How to identify marketing goals
Marketing strategies of various kinds to employ
These are only instances. What you'll need to identify is special areas of expertise and expand from there.
It is also a good idea to talk with your sales team to see the questions your potential customers are seeking out and what concerns they're saying they require assistance with. This could inform your keywords list as well.
Don't forget to examine your current rankings so you'll know what keywords to build on, as well as examine your competition's rankings, as well. This will provide you with the idea of keyword that is not being used, to help you concentrate on them and gain the advantages.
2. Establish or create pillar pages
Pillar pages are designed to serve as a one-stop-shop for a specific area, that will also tie into one of your keywords. They are usually larger, since they do not leave a one unfinished and cover as much ground as is possible.
There are pages on your site which require updating, or you need to build the pages. If you are creating or updating these pages, ensure that you explore different areas of the theme.
For instance suppose you're creating a website pillar for keywords like "marketing strategy".
You'll want to discuss how to put a strategy together, the goals a strategy can help you reach, different mediums and methods that a strategy consists of, how to measure your strategy's success and also how you can implement your strategy.
In the case of every word or keyword you want to rank for You'll need a site that is a pillar. That way, whenever you make use of that term in your writing you'll be able to hyperlink back to that particular pillar page, which will contribute to increasing that website's potential to rank in search results for the word.
3. Identify duplicate content and broken links
If you've been putting together blog content willy nilly it is likely that you've many outdated and duplicate content out there, perhaps even some broken pages. It is imperative to fix those problems if you want your site to rank highly, since they'll end up working against your site.
Create a spreadsheet that lists every keyword and blog posts that are tied to this keyword in some manner. And if you have a lot of blog content You may need to create subgroups for each keyword. Check out the picture below to understand what I mean.
It will also help you plan your efforts so you can quickly determine the blog posts that are most similar to others.
Be sure to also make a separate spreadsheet that houses any broken links you encounter when doing this research in order to easily remove the links and redirect them.
4. Make updates and redirects
When you're finished creating your spreadsheet, review the similar blog content carefully. If any are extremely repetitive or reiterating similar ideas, you should redirect those less well-thought out or outdated blog posts to the more current, better-quality websites.
This can reduce the self-competing content (yes, your content can compete with itself in the search results) It will also ensure that the right pages rank for the right keywords.
This can also be a great occasion to refresh all blog posts that don't have to be changed however could benefit from more information or refresh.
In the event that you're going to keep the pages you've created, it's important to ensure they've got the right keywords used in them, and that they contain the most up to current information that is available.
5. Link to the pillar pages in the text
After your blog has been clean and all duplicate content is eliminated along with any broken links, it's time to go through your pages and verify that the appropriate ones are linking back to your the pillar pages .
Review your subgroupings and the links that are listed beneath them.
Now, suppose that there are three blog sites that correlate to marketing strategy and marketing via email . Review each article and add a link to your marketing strategy pillar page by using "marketing strategies" as anchor the text.
6. Make a linking plan moving forward
You'll want to make sure you're sticking with this strategy to all new blog content you're creating. After all, you went through the hassle of updating past content, and the only thing that could harm that effort is if you aren't consistent.
I'm sure I've talked about spreadsheets a lot and yet they're the best option when it comes to this approach. They can help in every stage, not just this. I suggest listing every keyword, and in the next column, the pillar post assigned to them.
It's not a bad idea to offer a variety of anchor text or long-tail keywords which could be employed for each one as well.
If you can identify which article is associated with which keyword(s) by defining which pillar post belongs to which keyword(s), you'll ensure that you the potential team participants on the same page and provide an easy reference to refer to while you're editing and reviewing any blog posts you'll be writing in the future.
Also, it helps to maintain SEO at the forefront of your mind when you write your web content.
7. Follow up on results
Check in on how well your strategy is performing each period of time, or every quarter. You'll want to indicate whether or not your site is starting to rank higher in the search results, or if it's staying in a rut, and aid in identifying any issues.
It is possible to use tools for free such as Moz , or you can conduct a search using your keyword from time moment to determine whether your website is showing up.
In all likelihood, if you're wondering how to monitor it and don't want to go in on the SEO software like Moz and Google, I've got one last word for you, and it's one that we've spoken about a number of times today in the past: spreadsheets.
SEO does not have to be expensive
The need to have an SEO strategy is crucial for you to ensure that your business is found easily online by your clients. Hiring an outsourced SEO specialist can cost a lot however it's not necessary.
If you move your SEO work within your company and following the steps previously mentioned, you can put your blog in order in order that the best blog content starts to rank, and continues to rank as time passes.
The basic procedures are as follows:
In assembling a keyword list
Making pillar pages, or, if your already have a page that is popular to utilize, you can transform existing pages into Pillar pages
Scoping out duplicate content
Refreshing old, outdated content and granting redirects to the content competing against it
Seeding the links to your cluster content from the pillar pages
Implementing a link strategy
And, of course keep an eye on your results.
Easy-peasy.