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Class 6: Content Creation and SEO
Search engines like Google love fresh unique content. Updating your blog/website often with fresh posts/articles will help get you listed on the search engines, but have patience. While some of your content may get listed in a few days, other posts may take a few months.
Don’t forget about adding pictures and videos to make your site more interesting! People love pictures and videos! If your site is all text, it will look very uninteresting. Remember to TAG or RENAME the file names of the pictures and videos with keywords (before you upload them to your site) related to your niche to help your site get found by the search engines.
SEO - Optimizing Your Content For Search Engines
“Keywords” are very important to use within your articles. These are the words that people use to search on Google. For instance, if you are starting a new business to teach people how to play guitar online, your blog post/article title would include ‘How To Play Guitar”. You could even get more specific like...“How To Play Guitar Chords” in the title. Then, in the article, be sure to list those keywords a few times. Google loves this. When someone searches on Google “How to play guitar chords”, Google may show them your website in the search results.
Let’s use another example. What if you are selling handmade wool winter hats. “Handmade Wool Winter Hats” would be a good keyword, in general. What if these wool hats were for girls? Then your title should be more specific; “Handmade Wool Winter Hats For Girls”. This new keyword phrase is called a Long-tailed Keyword. Why is this important to understand?
Here’s why. If you title your blog post/article only “Hats for Girls”, you would be competing in the search engines (google, etc.) against thousands of other websites that are selling “hats for girls”. However, if you were to title your post “Handmade Wool Winter Hats For Girls”, since it’s more specific, anyone searching this “long-tailed” keyword phrase may be sent to your website first. Google loves websites with great content and niche targeted keywords! This is called SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
More About SEO
Search engine optimization is the practice of increasing both the quality and quantity of website traffic, as well as exposure to your brand, through non-paid (known as "organic") search engine results.
SEO is as much about people as it is about search engines themselves. It’s about understanding what people are searching for online, the answers they are seeking, the words they’re using, and the type of content they need. Knowing the answers to these questions will allow you to connect to the people who are searching online for the solutions you offer.
Search engine basics
Search engines hunt for billions of pieces of content and evaluate thousands of factors to determine which content is most likely to answer the typed in question (query). Search engines do all of this by discovering and cataloguing all available content on the Internet (web pages, PDFs, images, videos, etc.) via a process known as crawling and indexing, and then ordering it by how well it matches the query in a process we refer to as ranking.
Why SEO is important
While paid advertising, social media, and other online platforms can generate traffic to websites, the majority of online traffic is driven by search engines.
Organic search results cover more digital real estate, appear more credible to savvy searchers, and receive way more clicks than paid advertisements. For example, of all US searches, only 2.8% of people click on paid advertisements.
SEO is also one of the only online marketing channels that when set up correctly, can continue to pay dividends over time. If you provide a solid piece of content that deserves to rank for the right keywords, your traffic can snowball over time, whereas advertising needs continuous funding to send traffic to your site.
Here are some basic seo principles to follow:
Make pages primarily for users/consumers, not search engines.
Don't deceive your users.
Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings.
Think about what makes your website unique, valuable, or engaging.
Here are some seo things to avoid:
Automatically generated content
Participating in link schemes
Creating pages with little or no original content (i.e. copied from somewhere else)
Cloaking — the practice of showing search engine crawlers different content than visitors.
Hidden text and links
Doorway pages — pages created to rank well for specific searches to funnel traffic to your website.
TAGS / HASHTAGS - More SEO Opportunities
Keywords are sometimes called “TAGS” on other websites or platforms. Always use the maximum amount of keywords allowed in keyword/tag fields. For instance, when uploading a video to Youtube, you’ll be required to complete a description field before you are able to post a video. Youtube then provides other fields, like a tag field, which you should take complete advantage of. Enter as many keywords as you can that are specifically related to your video/content Maximize your SEO opportunities.
In addition to using proper keywords in all of your content and titles, use #HASHTAGS on your Facebook, Instagram, and other social media accounts. This will open your visibility to many others on the platform who share your same interests. This is a great way to start growing your followers.
What Does 'Hashtag' Mean? # = HASHTAG
A hashtag is simply a keyword phrase, spelled out without spaces, with a pound sign (#) in front of it. For example, #doglovers, #chocolatemakers, #jewelryfad are hashtags.
Place hashtags anywhere in your social media posts: in the beginning, at the end, or anywhere in between.
These hashtags tie public conversations from all different users into a single stream, which you can find by searching for a hashtag, clicking on one, or using a third-party monitoring tool. Note that, in order for a post with a hashtag to appear in anyone's search, the post must be public.
Call To Action:
Blog Post: Time to post your first blog post in Wix. Maybe you can start by introducing yourself and what you will be offering your audience and tell them what makes you different from the competition.
Write your first blog post in Google DOCS.
Make sure it is between 500 and 2000 words.
Use proper keywords in the title and within the article.
Copy the article in DOCS and then open up Wix.
Create a new blog post in Wix and paste the article in the Blog Page on Wix. Add the title. Check the left side of the Wix editor page for SEO info. Update that if needed.
Add an Image if you can find one that you like.
Publish your first Blog Post
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