SEO & Marketing Secrets for Business Success
Catherine Riley
........Why this is the most important factor
........How to find who your audience is
........How to use this info to build a plan
About Me
catherine riley
- Business Owner
- Strategic Marketing Professional with 15 years expertise marketing for large corporations, small businesses, eCommerce stores, non-profits and more
- Expert in marketing strategy, digital (SEO, email, social) and turning analytics into actionable insights
Goals for this Workshop
Transform your online presence
Kick-start your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) action plan to boost your website’s visibility
Learn key strategies and tactics for effectively targeting customers no matter what channel you’re focused on
The Role of Marketing
customer
problems
business solutions
Marketing helps your customer understand how you
can uniquely help solve their problem
the 4 p's of marketing
PRICE:
The amount a customer pays for a product or service, considering various factors such as production cost, competition, and perceived value
4
4p
PRODUCT:
It is the offering that satisfies the customer's needs, wants or demands.
PLACE:
The distribution channels and locations where customers can find and purchase the product or service. For example : your website
PROMOTION:
The activities that communicate the value of the product or service to potential customers, such as advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion.
tactics
Who
customer journey
Post-Purchase
Evaluation
Influence
Awareness
The journey from awareness to purchase can be 1 day to over a year or more depending on your industry
Purchase
Consideration
Research
The journey is not a straight line. Sometimes people will skip steps or go back a step depending on their mindset and needs.
While it is important, it won’t tell you the why
But this will give you the insights you need to really speak to your audience – needs, wants, motivations
who are they? what matters to them?
Search Engine Optimization: SEO
"An hour of planning can save
you 10 hours of doing"
Dale Carnegie
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is focused on people searching online for a solution to their problems.
And they search a lot.
There are over 8.5 billion searches
every day on Google.
But people use voice search and are also using TikTok like a search engine.
seo definitions
Local SEO, SEO, International SEO (the difference is your target audience)
technical seo
This is how your site functions, is it
mobile optimized, and how fast it loads.
on page seo
This is the copy you use on your web pages that aligns to the keywords in search.
off page seo
Who is linking to your site and the authority they have.
This is where PR and
Influencer marketing comes in.
This is key: search ranks pages, not websites. The top priority is search intent of the user.
why does this matter?
As Google notes
“it’s not about what you can sell to them, it’s
about what you can solve for them.”
seo
step 1: research
The bulk of your time is spent here
Where to start?
The key to SEO is understand your target customer and they keywords they would use to search. Do not focus on search rankings.
SEO takes time but once you create a site that connects with your audience and tells them how you benefit them, this is where the growth can happen.
Exercise: Use the template to write down questions for each stage in the buying funnel for 1 persona.
Determine how their search terms are impacted by where they are in the funnel.
verify in search
Go into search: Enter the keyword phrase you want to rank for (choose a specific stage in the journey)
❑ Revise to select your target phrase: Look at how it is typed & the related suggestions
❑ Format: Look at the type of pages that rank for that keyword
❑ Look for related keywords: Check people also ask section (expand to 30 questions), Look at related queries section
❑ Build a hypothesis of keyword clusters for each stage in the journey for each persona you create
what is search intent?
There are 4 basic ways people search and it is the cornerstone search engines rank your web page
NAVIGATIONAL
User wants a specific page – XYZ login or XYZ company. Make sure your login and contact us page are set up, and your company name shows up in all of your titles in search. Usually this is globally set for your site.
TRANSACTIONAL
User wants to buy something. For example buy candles Collection, service, product pages should focus on these types of searches.
INFORMATIONAL
User wants to find an answer to a specific question. The majority of searches are informational. Formats that work best can include Videos, Blog posts, FAQs etc.
COMMERCIAL
User wants to do some research before buying something i.e. best children’s toys This area can be the most difficult to rank for as you’ll rely on 3rd party sites to write a review.
free tools
FREE chrome extension:
https://surferseo.com/keyword-surfer-extension/
Helps identify related queries & search volume.
Google Trends:
https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=CA
Free tool to look for trends in your keyword by location.
Google Keyword Planner:
https://ads.google.com/intl/en_in/home/tools/
Go into Google Keyword Planner to get search volume and competition levels for the keywords.
Other free tools:
https://www.semrush.com/features/keyword-research
Limited/ $ eventually.
Map key search terms back to your web pages
homepage
content cluster
category page
category page
- Check to see if you’re already getting quality traffic for these terms.
- Is that keyword on the right page? (informational keyword on an FAQ page or is it on a product page?)
- Is it traffic that converts?
- Check Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
Check if your competitors targeting this keyword in a more efficient way? Download Screaming Frog to get an overview of competitor site structure & key buckets they’re focused on: https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seospider
homepage
content cluster
category page
category page
Rank best opportunities to optimize your site.
✓ Fix Gaps, Remove Duplicates
✓ Optimize High Click, High Bounce Pages
(a high bounce page is one that users leave quickly)
✓ Add Relevant Internal Links
Next: Look at removing any content that doesn’t align to a need, and refresh existing content that is ranking at spot 11-20.
Key Elements for SEO on a Page
Page Title
- Most important
- Include your main keyword at the front.
- This also tell people what the page is about.
- 30-60 characters
Meta description: 155 to 160 characters
Additional pitch to get the user to click
H1 tag
- This reconfirms to the user that they are indeed on the right page. There should only be 1 H1 tag
- Usually the first header that contains your main keyword
- Should be under 70 characters
Add a variation of your main keyword in the first paragraph & Image Alt text. And don’t forget to add related keywords throughout your page
interpreting analytics
1
2
3
Focus on securing impressions first
1
2
Then dial up your content to drive more clicks
3
Finally focus on conversions
Local SEO
tip #1
Get Listed/ Remain Consistent
- NAP Citations (Name, Address, Phone) are an essential component of local SEO but won’t get you a higher rank
- Think Google My Business, Bing Places, Apple Maps
- Check how many citations your competitors have and match them (each industry is different)
tip #2
Get More Reviews
- Add review page to your website
- Respond to both positive and negative reviews in a timely and professional manner
- They signal that your business is trustworthy and credible
tip #3
Leverage (Unique)
Local Links for SEO
- Establish relationships with other businesses in the area
- Check out what your competitors are doing and see if they have any unique links that you don’t
Unique links can help you pull ahead of your competitors in search rankings.
Don't be afraid to get creative!
do's and don'ts
do
✓ Focus on the audience first
✓ Focus on content you are an authority in
✓ Use (voice) search to guide your content
✓ Ensure your site is mobile friendly
✓ Reduce size of file images
✓ Keep your site up to date
don't
X Don’t buy backlinks
X Don’t offer incentives for reviews
X Avoid keyword stuffing
X Avoid writing on topics that are outside your
authority just to drive traffic
X Don’t hire anyone promising page 1 rankings
Strategy
awareness
ACQUISITION
RETENTION
What is their journey to purchase?
3 Main Strategies
Target audience is most important, then
the offer and lastly the message.
awareness
ACQUISITION
RETENTION
3 Main Strategies
Target audience is most important, then
the offer and lastly the message.
awareness
ACQUISITION
RETENTION
Questions to ask: Does anyone know about my business? Do they care? Am I the 1 of the 2 companies/products that think of when they’re ready to buy?
Can be in the form of content, formal ads showcasing the products/ services, etc. These should increase a certain perception of your business rather than driving an immediate sale.
Messaging: Storytelling and brand message works well here. This helps people know what you’re about and how you can help solve their problems.
How to measure: Awareness is typically measured year over year in recall and recognition, engagement, online sentiment - People need to see something 8-14 times to recall a brand
If launching: Focus on frequency first, reach second in select media. Then pair with acquisition offer.
Questions to ask: How do I get new customers to make a purchase now? Vs if they would without this.
Different ways to drive the sale can include: leveraging social proof like reviews, creating limited time offers to drive action, testing of different types of offers (like BOGO vs 25% off vs free product) to see which will appeal.
How to measure: Can be measured over the short or long term. For example: your email subject line droves the open, the copy drives the click and the landing page drives the sale/lead.
Works best when paired with retention so you can keep customers coming back.
Messaging: Best practices are to have an offer to drive immediate action with an end date. For example: Get free shipping for the next 48 hours. Hurry and don’t miss out!
Questions to ask: How to get them to buy from me again and again and again? Do I know how often someone in my industry takes to make a 2nd purchase? Am I losing customers month over month?
Standard Strategies are Upsell(moving them to a higher priced offer) and Cross sell (getting them to buy additional products or services).
This is the area eCommerce businesses should focus on first
How to measure: Can be measured over the short or long term in average order value, frequency of purchase, % retention of customers
This can be overlooked but is critical to driving growth. Amazon attributes 35% of sales to retention techniques
Other Channels
email
- Your targeting is the most important, offer comes second, messaging is third
- Subject line is critical ( if the email doesn’t get opened, the email isn’t read). Ideally try A/B test to continue to increase open rates.
- Focus on one call to action.
- Keep it simple.
- Test the email and journey end to end
- Check unsubscribe rates. A sharp spike could be a sign that your targeting is misaligned.
- Need Inspiration: https://reallygoodemails.com/
social
- Follow 3 people in your industry and outside your industry to get inspired.
- You have 0.3 seconds to get them to stop scrolling. Imagery and hook are critical.
- Focus on best practices for that channel.
- Engagement and time of day is everything. Test for a few weeks to see what works just for your audience.
- Add a call to action. Align it to your strategy
- Ensure the journey works and is clear to the user.
- Leverage influencers / cross promotions to grow
podcasts | radio
- Local stations, Podcasts and Spotify
- Ensure to check for a media kit. It will tell you the audience and their reach. Make sure it aligns to your target.
- Spotify is a great low cost option to test
- Depending on the podcast, you can have them weave in a special offer for their audience or brainstorm with them on fun ways to integrate your brand.
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