Advice to folks starting a second career as a solo entrepreneur.
This post is a continuation from How to improve your SEO Ranking Part 1.
Step 4 – Optimize Your Site for Mobile Devices
As I’m sure you know, mobile use is on the rise. According to Statisa.com 63% of search engine requests came from mobile devices. In some Asian countries the percentages are even higher. In Indonesia 88% of all purchases were made via an App. Obviously, Google recognizes this and ranks sites accordingly.
Fortunately, webpage services such as WordPress also recognise this and will ensure your site is mobile friendly.
If you’re not sure what the status of your mobile experience is, you can also use Google’s Mobile-friendly test to determine the status of your site and uncover resources for improving mobile usability. It is easy to run the test. To access the Google test Ctrl+Click here
Here is screen shot of the results for thegeriatricentrepreneur.
If you find your site is not mobile friendly, again Google is here to help. Google provides extensive advice to webmasters including how to make your site mobile friendly.
Consider a Mobile App
You probably think I’m crazy but it is clear that creating a mobile app can help bolster your SEO. Google is indexing apps on Google search. Of course, Apps are costly. According to Cleveroad in a recent post (July 2022) the cost of producing an App starts at $40,000 and goes up from there. To learn more and to read their article Ctrl+Click here.
That is beyond my budget but if you are planning to build a 7-figure income it would be investment. I did find an ad for a company that claims it will build an App for you for $5,000 in two weeks. I would imagine for that you get very limited functionality, but if you want to say that you have an App, take a look.
Format Your Page
Take your time when you’re coming up with a layout for your website. It needs to be neat, clear, organized, and uncluttered. Consider things like your font size and typography. Use coloured text, bold font, and italics sparingly. Things such as bullet points and checklists make it easy for visitors to scan through your content. If your website is cluttered with too many pictures, colours, and blocks of text, it can appear untrustworthy.
Should you accept adverts for ancillary services on your site? For me this is a resounding no. Your website should reflect your professional persona, not a marketplace. Certainly, place affiliate links, with the proper disclosure that your will receive a commission. Generating affiliate income should be one of your planned income streams. If you decide to accept advertisement on your site, then be selective and sparing on the types and number of ads you agree to post.
Provide Appropriate Contact Information
It almost goes without saying but all your contact information should be clear and in plain sight for people to find. You have created a website to attract clients so make it easy for them to contact you. If viewers cannot find contact information they may begin to lose trust in your site. Do not give them a reason not to come back
Step 6 – Encourage Sharing on Social Media
Every business and website needs to be active on social media. That’s pretty much common knowledge. But what’s not as well known is that you can get your SEO ranking improved if people share links to your website on social media.
One of the best ways to do this is by including social sharing icons on all your content. You should also share links on your social media pages. When the information on your site resonates with your readers, all it takes is just one click for them to share it.
Consider producing content that is targeted on encouraging folks to share with their contacts. A particularly helpful infographic that deals with an issue you know much of your targeted audience faced.
Use Keywords Appropriately
Despite rumours to the contrary keywords are still an important part of Googles ranking algorithm. I spoke extensively on this topic in Season 9 Episodes 30 and 31. So I will not go too deeply in this subject today but in summary
You want to include words people will search for throughout your content. But do it sparingly. If you go overboard saturating your website with keywords, Google will pick up on this, and it will have an adverse effect on your ranking. Keywords should fit naturally into sentences.
Particularly if you are in a saturated field or competing with internet giants such as Forbes or the Mayo Clinic use long-tail keywords, which are three or four word phrases that could be found in a search.
For example, someone probably won’t just search for the word “phone” when they’re looking for something. But they may type in the phrase “best phone for texting” as an alternative. If your keywords match their search, your website will have a greater chance of getting ranked higher.
Write Click-Worthy Titles and Descriptions
When it comes to writing titles for search engines, the first thing you have to know is this…you only have 65 characters to write your headline. You could write the greatest headline, but if it’s over 65 characters, it will get cut off.
Here are some other tips to keep in mind when creating click-worthy titles:
Front-load your titles with keywords – You should front-load all of your keywords in your titles. People will typically only scan the first two words of a title.
Keep your promise – Your title should click-through to a page that meets the expectations you have created in the mind of the user.
Clear – The reader should know what your webpage is about in 65 characters or fewer.
Make it emotional – Dan Shure wrote a great guide to writing titles, and one of his most important lessons is to make your titles emotional. His view is that all things being equal there are 7 ingredients to an ideal title:
- Curiosity Your title should be clear enough that people know what they’re going to get when they click, but also leave a n element of curiosity – so you almost can’t help but to click.
- Benefit people will visit a page because there is some sort of benefit to them. Useful content, entertainment, or even content that will make them look good if they share it. Make it clear how they will benefit from visiting your page.
- Emotion People also act on emotion – excitement, fear, hope. Your title should conjure the right emotion in viewers.
- Tangible – make it real, the concept here is to make your idea stick with your audience.
- Appearance – Does the title look pleasing. Note some experts recommend that titles should be seven words long. Note to myself must do better in future.
- Sound Read your title out loud. How does it sound? Stilted? Or does it flow smoothly? Many people internally speak titles as they read them. Make sure you title sounds attractive
- Expectation Create an expectation in your reader or audience but then make sure you meet that expectation.
Dan comments in his article although the article got over 100 likes, it also got a number of dislikes, so even a great headline writer like Dan did not meet the expectations of some of his readers.
To read Dan Shure’s full article Ctrl+Click here
Write a Great Meta Description
I’ll confess that until recently I did not pay much if any attention to my meta-descriptions. The name along seemed too technical for me. But it turns out a meta-description is just the snippet of information below the blue link of a search result. Its purpose is to describe the contents of the page to the searcher.
So, in future I will spend more time to optimize each article’s meta-description. Because I use WordPress and its SEO optimization tools my articles have had meta-descriptions. But maybe they were not optimal.
As always Google has made this easy by giving you tips on how to create good descriptions. Here are the two most important:
Make them descriptive – If you want a guide consider using “Who? What? Why? When? Where? How?” That’s a formula journalists use to report. It works equally well when writing descriptions.
Make them unique – Each meta description should be different from other pages’ descriptions.
Make them short – Google limits meta descriptions to 160 characters or fewer. While meta description is not as important your heading is when it comes to getting clicks because people don’t seem to pay nearly as much attention to the description, it is still important from an SEO ranking perspective. So don’t ignore it!