Are You Afraid of SEO? No worries, mate! It’s really not that scary.

What do you think of when you see the letters S-E-O? Do you think of a man in a hockey mask, carrying a chainsaw, chasing you through your home? Or, maybe the neighbor’s Rottweiler is “joining” you for your morning run? If so, you’re not alone. Many website/blog site owners are afraid of SEO, even more than a trip to the dentist; while the actual phrase “Search Engine Optimization” will send them back to bed to pull the covers over their heads.

Fear not! As usual, the team at TD Fall is here to help you overcome your fear and optimize your website to the max!

Is your website optimized for search engines?

Do you have a list of effective keywords for your content?

Has traffic to your website stopped growing?

What is SEO?

First things first – and let’s keep it simple. SEO is not some kind of mysterious, online magic that can only be performed by uber-geeks. On the contrary, Search Engine Optimization is a set of techniques and strategies that are used by successful websites to generate interest from the search engines, helping them to direct visitors to your website. Basically, if the search engines are the traffic cops pointing folks in the right direction, then SEO is the map that they use to safely and efficiently lead those folks to you.

Now that you know the purpose of SEO, you can begin to understand its value as well.

Many people seem to believe that Google and the other search engines are like God; all-seeing, all-knowing, and all-loving. Well, while the first two may be true, Google, Bing, and Yahoo will only “love” you, and by that we mean send prospects to you, if you give them a reason to. In other words, when your site is properly optimized, you give the search engines a reason to point people in your direction – to show you some love.

So, what does all of that mean? It means you need to develop a list of high-value phrases (also known as keywords) to drive your content. Then those phrases and their synonyms need to be plugged into the Metadata for your pages and posts, as well as all images and videos.

In other words, you need to learn a bit about organic SEO.

What is Organic SEO?

In short, organic SEO is a strategy of using targeted phrases to direct the search engines toward your content. The techniques for doing this vary, from “on-page” to “off-page” SEO.

On-page SEO involves using assorted keyword phrases within the content you publish, such as titles, headers, images, and page URLs. This also includes your “Metadata”, the information that exists “behind the scenes” of each page, but which the search engines use to identify and rank your content for their search results.

Of course, variations of your targeted phrases will also be used within the text you create, as well.

Off-page SEO focuses on increasing the authority of your website through the act of getting links from other websites; a completely different strategy.

How does SEO help me?

OK, you're asking now, what’s the payoff for doing all of this work? Again, let’s keep it simple:

• Improve your ranking in the Search Results (SERPs)

• Improve your Google Page Rank

• Increase traffic to your website

• Enhance brand awareness on your website

• Build your online reputation

• Make more sales

In an increasingly competitive online marketplace, it has become ever more important to use every tool available to get yourself seen and heard. Ignoring website optimization out of fear or confusion is no longer an option.

Besides, if it’s simply more than you can handle, we are “in the know” with folks who can help you optimize your website for all the search engines. (Wait, you mean there’s more than ONE?!?)

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the idea of search engine optimization, and are still afraid of SEO, we can hook you up. So, feel free to…   Contact TD Fall today.

Design Business Website Launch Checklist

Are you struggling to launch or improve your design business website? If you're new to online marketing, you're not alone. Launching or redesigning a website can be daunting, especially if you are not working with an expert to help you get it done.

We recently redesigned our website and, even with the help of an expert website design service – it took forever. (Well, not quite forever.)

So, if your business website is new or going through fundamental changes, we offer this invaluable website launch checklist from the design and development pros at YourOnlineMarketingTeam.com:

A Website Launch Checklist

Please remember that the list below outlines the essential elements that you need to have in place to launch your business website.

• Page content – A business website should display a minimum of three pages: Home, About, Services/Products. Each should describe in detail your purpose, as well as the benefits of doing business with you. Beyond these three critical pages, you should also have a Contact Us page and a Blog.

  • Home page – This is the most important page on your website, with 60% to 80% of visitors landing here first and, since first impressions are so important, the copy you create for this page will be critical to your success. This is a great place to share your vision and mission, as well as your purpose.

  • About page – What makes you unique? What are your qualifications? Do you have specialized training? Why are you so committed to the path you’ve chosen to pursue? How have you helped others, and how can you help the reader? Answering all of these questions will go a long way toward generating interest from your target audience.

  • Services/Products page – Benefits, benefits, benefits… will be the key to selling your services or products. In other words, while sharing features and details are fine, you must also answer the age-old question of all consumers, “What’s in it for me?”

  • Video & Images – It’s important to remember that interior design is a visual realm and that video and images of your work will go a long way toward convincing visitors to your website that you have what they need in terms of talent and creativity.

  • Testimonials – Modern word of mouth advertising has evolved into testimonials and online reviews. This is especially important for a service business like interior design and, if your website is lacking testimonials – it’s time to add some – NOW!

• SEO – Search engine optimization is, and will forever be, a critical element to a successful launch, and there are a few crucial steps to consider:

  • Word count – While Google won’t necessarily ignore a page with little content, they will not consider it very important if you can’t publish at least 300 words. This is true of your pages and blog posts. If you can’t offer 300 words on a subject, what you have to say must not be very important.

  • Meta data – Your page titles, Meta descriptions, and tags should all be tailored to the content you publish. All should be descriptive and compelling to attract both the search engines and your target audience. Titles should be 60-70 characters, while descriptions should not exceed 156 characters (otherwise, it will end in ellipses in the search results).

  • Image alt tags – Hidden in the code behind the images you publish, image alt tags are hints of the image content to the search engines. They can typically be added in the same menu you use to edit or publish your images.

• Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (Courtesy of DreamHost.com)

  • A privacy policy is required by law if you’re collecting any personal data. This policy spells out exactly how any information (emails, contact information, and more) will be used.

  • Terms of Service (TOS) statements are not legally mandatory in most cases, but they can still be valuable. Your TOS states the ground rules for visitors who want to use your site.

• Set Your Site to Back Up Regularly

  • If your website crashes or is hacked, or if you install a plugin that causes a problem, having your files backed up regularly and automatically is a lifesaver.

  • There are many ways to approach this task, but one surefire way to keep things running smoothly is by using managed hosting for your website. That way, your provider can take care of restoring backups and automatically archiving them for you.

• Set up a Comprehensive Site Map

  • Sitemaps play a vital role in how search engines read and index your pages. While a sitemap won’t directly improve your rankings, it can help to ensure that your site is indexed correctly.

  • If you use WordPress, there are plugins available to help you generate and manage sitemaps. Google also has an established process for submitting your sitemap directly.

• Add Analytics Tracking to Your Site

  • Once your website is up and running, you’ll need a way to measure how well it performs. That’s why it pays to set up an analytics tracking solution before even launching your site.

• Connect Your Social Media Accounts

  • Promoting your site on social media can be vital to reaching your target audience. Providing icons so your visitors can easily find your social media pages is one of the best ways to do that.

• Check for Responsiveness on Mobile Platforms

  • Whether you’re writing a blog post or operating a Shopify store, it’s vital that your site looks good and performs well on devices of all sizes. One easy way to check your website’s mobile responsiveness is with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool.

While this is not a complete list of all that needs to be done to ensure your website is ready for launch, these are the minimal steps that must be taken to reach take-off (so to speak). If you're unsure whether you can handle all of that, we can introduce you to a website design team that can help. Get in touch with TD Fall today.