[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog text” use_border_color=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” _builder_version=”3.6″]
If you read our last post on common SEO mistakes, you’re already a few steps ahead of many others. However, getting the most out of your SEO efforts requires more than simply knowing what not to do. Next, we’ll discuss some of the steps you should take with your SEO efforts now that you know what mistakes to avoid.
Conduct an SEO Audit of Your Website
Before starting a major SEO initiative, it is important that you first audit your existing website and optimize it for search engines. More often than not, websites have a number of elements that are negatively affecting SEO that should be altered or eliminated before starting anything else. There are dozens of elements that can be assessed during an SEO audit. However, eliminating duplicate content and cleaning up URL formats are two quick and easy things that can be done right away.
Know Your Audience
In order to get the most out of your SEO efforts, it’s essential to understand who you are trying to reach. By building one or more audience personas and tailoring your SEO strategy towards that group, you’ll be able to more accurately target your audience while also providing them with information they find useful, relevant and engaging — all while increasing awareness of your organization.
Important questions to address through your SEO efforts include common concerns or objections of your target audience, their goals and objectives, and common search queries they are likely to enter into Google or another search engine.
Research What Others Are Doing
One of the best things about SEO is that the most successful organizations also tend to be the most visible. Researching other blogs and websites is a powerful way to replicate what works and avoid what doesn’t in your own SEO efforts.
For church marketing in particular, looking at churches and other organizations in your region that are ranking for your top target keywords is a great starting place when developing your own SEO strategy. In addition, there are a number of tools, such as SEMRush and SpyFu, that can provide additional insight into the keywords other organizations are targeting.
These are three steps that can get you going in the right direction with your SEO efforts. For?more detailed and specific information about SEO, including each of the steps discussed above, check out the following sites and resources:
- Moz (This?beginner?s guide?is a great place to start)
- Read Google’s SEO Guidelines
- Search Engine Land
- HubSpot
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
