Can you do your own SEO?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) essentially means optimizing a particular site or page for easy navigation for the search engines such as Google , Bing, Yahoo and others. By optimizing a page you can essentially start to move up the ranks in the long list of sites before you. Being on the first page of Google or others will ensure more views, clicks and ideally more clients. What it takes to optimize a page can be very detailed and tedious and change every so often without notice and you must keep up with those changes to stay on top of the game.
I think that’s why I like it so much. It is a game. It’s a challenge to always stay ahead of the competition and while things change, the methods and reasoning behind actual visitors do not. People create the buzz. Create the results and interest and it for those that one must optimize for. The rest should follow. But how to optimize, write and design for both is still the challenge.
Anyone can do their own SEO but like many things, it takes time, research and constant integration of the latest techniques, ideas and information. Most people that have a website, have it for their business that is not SEO or internet related. Just about everyone has a website now for anything from hair barettes to online dating and beyond… WAY beyond. We are all online these days and whether you are selling homes in Ruidoso New Mexico or Vacation Spots in Lake Chelan people typically start online to find you.
Relationships are everything and getting personal with clients can really go far when developing that connection we all so earnestly desire. When people know you and can relate to you, they are more likely to respond to you with business than a faceless name in a book or online. This is the key to online optimization but it is not the end all result.
You are not selling yourself to the search engines but to actual people that will buy your product or service. You must design your pages and posts and links to appeal to the search engines and the people. Individual business owners may have time to do this in the beginning of their business when it’s not take off as robustly as they would like. Larger companies and brokerages like our associate in Alabama homes and real estate just doesn’t have the man power to do one more thing. Larger companies can outsource their SEO and be perfectly fine with it. They are focusing on all their agents, clients and hundreds of other aspects of their business.
Individual agents and one-man business owners can really shine when doing their own SEO because they can integrate personal experiences and local feel for their area in their pages and posts. This can really bring that personalization to the table when talking about relationships in your business. People want to know they can relate or trust the individual before signing on with them. Larger companies and brokerages are more the faceless names on the Google search list and can be trusted if the site is worthy of exploration. But once a client is on the site regardless if you are an individual or company what is keeping that potential client there? Do they want to surf through hundreds of blogs for relevant information?
No. They want property searches, answers and contact information. Perhaps they came for a specific topic you did on Staging Tips for Tacoma Homes but they still came to your site to read, learn and get information for whatever their need may be. That’s when you need every page to be optimized and ready for a client. You need contact information if they like what you say. Even if you are doing a local post about the Walla Walla Wine country events you may gain a client because they have seen you know the area and know what it takes to buy or sell a home in that area.
If you do plan on doing your own SEO there are some simple tips to keep in mind when optimizing a site or page.
- Keep your titles subject specific. If you are doing a post on Selling Klickitat County Homes don’t make it a catchy phrase like “Why bother selling your house” – It means nothing to people or the search engines.
- Use specific keywords that you want the page to be known for frequently but not un-naturally.
- Use In-Bound linking often when you can. Think WikiPedia. If you are talking about Montana Ranches for sale in the buyer section of your site, then link back to that page that specifically talks about that. Not only is it helpful to readers that want to know more but it give the search engine bot something to track, follow and record that the site is heavy on deliberate navigation and also it’s a vote for that specific page every time you link to it..
- Bold keywords so they stand out not only to readers but to search engines as well. If you have a page that talks about Abilene TX real estate buyers, make sure that is highlighted several times on the page. They see your site as a cloud and emphasize the more predominant words bigger than the rest. This categorizes your page into where they thing you should fall making your site come up for certain words over another.
These 4 simple steps can help you optimize any page or site as a whole. Make sure you are writing what people want to read and make sure your niche and your speciality or area are highly emphasized throughout the pages and site as a whole. The more you do this and the more often you do this, the higher your site will rank and the more legitimate traffic you will gain.
So can you do your own SEO? Sure! It just take a lot of time, effort and tedious work on your part to make sure every page you produce is doing it’s job in the search engine world for your business. Many people and companies just don’t have the time to devote to learning another vocation and industry when it’s no their top profession. Having a trusting SEO company to come along side and help carry you for a while or at least let you get a good hold of the ideas and concepts behind optimization is a great place to start.
Get Found, Get Business, Get Personal SEO ~
We want to offer you a full list of options to choose from when designing, organizing, optimizing or writing for your site or blog. Whether you need just a little SEO Training, full website design, existing SEO marketing or any social media set ups Personal SEO would like to help be your business solutions provider. Feel free to email us for references and examples on content writing. [email protected] 425-344-0677