So you have optimized your website to conform to the best SEO practices. The titles and descriptions are hitting the sweet spot in character limits and the H1 tags, image files and text, all include relevant keyword phrases. The content creation has been streamlined and relevant and informative content in your vertical is consistently being published on and around your website.
These efforts should have catapulted you to respectable rankings on the SERP’s. But at this stage, it’s common for SE optimizers to feel a vacuum of new ideas as to what more can be or should be done.
In order to further advance in the battle for supremacy on SERP’s you will have to engage a host of new tactics and strategies.
In this article we offer some methods that’ll help you rise higher on the success graph and gain even more visibility and popularity in your niche.
Target New and Varied Keywords
Once you have optimized your website for the keywords that directly pertain to your niche, it’s time to expand the scope of your keyword research by including new and varied keywords.
This process will involve a lot of intuitive understanding of user behavior and how the average searcher reaches from point A to C on the web. But the rewards of targeting an ever expanding range of keywords that hold varying degrees of relevance with your vertical can be great and worth every bead of sweat you invest in it!
Focus on Conversion
In the race to reach the top, it’s easy to forget that the ultimate of aim of all your SEO efforts is not just to bring more and more visitors to your website but to get them to do or buy what you want them to.
Conversion. That should be the eventual goal. If optimization has raised your site’s ranking on search engines, then it’s time to start strategizing how to convert all the new traffic into paying customers.
Structure your On-page content and design to provide maximum motivation to your visitors to follow your call-to-action.
Harness the Power of Video
One of the most underused resources by business and corporate websites to reach their audience is the video format. A high quality video that delivers your message along with useful information or engaging entertainment can have tremendous effect on your online visibility and popularity.
Based on the number of monthly searches, YouTube itself is the second largest search engine in the world. Create a video that would appeal to your target audience and publish it on YouTube.
And why stop there? If you have invested time and money to create engaging videos, post them on Vimeo, Dailymotion, YahooScreen. Each of them boasts hundreds of millions of unique daily visitors.
Video content is easy to watch, easy to share and it’s the most powerful medium to reach generation Y.
Google Isn’t the Only Answer
Google is a behemoth. But it’s not the only place where you can engage your potential visitors.
If you are selling products designed to appeal aesthetically, like artistic furniture or custom jewelry, then Pinterest is a great platform to promote your products.
If you provide B2B services to major corporate clients then Linkedin and many similar business community sites would be the places you should focus on. The point is – be where your potential customers are likely to be. Fish where the fish are!
Local Search Matters
With Google’s changing format Local search is becoming more and more relevant for small local businesses.
If you search Google for plumbing services, then instead of some highly ranked plumber’s website, Google will provide listings of plumbing providers in your locality. These listing are ranked on the basis of user reviews among other things.
So for small local businesses that exclusively rely on local customers, it makes absolute sense to focus on web portals that provide such listings. Yelp and Yellowpages are great places where you can direct your energy and resources to improve your local standing.
Target International Consumer Base
If you are in the business of selling eBooks, or eServices or products which can easily be shipped overseas, then including foreign traffic in your optimization can open vast potential markets to you.
Find out where else in the world people would be willing to pay for your services or products and focus on becoming visible in those markets whether they exist in Eastern Europe or South East Asia.
Adopt a proactive Approach to Lead Acquisition
If you are an expert in your niche or possess intricate knowledge about the products, share it with the world. Reach out. Instead of simply relying on traffic that Search Engines will bring in, adopt a proactive approach. Publish guest posts; participate in seminars, webinars, anything and everything that gets the word out that you are an authority in your niche. These efforts will draw potential customers, who are looking for your products or services, directly to you.
SEO, day by day is becoming a more and more dynamic process, where single lane strategies will find it very hard to succeed. To gain an edge in the competitive market it’s become imperative to go in all guns blazing and keep up the barrage until you succeed. Hope these suggestions help. Happy Shooting!
