When you don’t have the time or budget to drive traffic to your brand.
Author: Dan Craddock
October 24, 2017
How Do I Become Number One on Google?
This is a question we get with every website we build. Every small business we talk to. Every Vice President of Peanut Based Sales, from whatever company does that. It’s a question that is up there with things like Coke or Pepsi, McDonalds or Burger King, Target or Walmart, the Cleveland Browns or a Potato. All of our clients want to know how they get to be higher in the Google ranking, SEO or PPC.
The answer is….neither! At least, if budget and time is a concern. Which for most small business owners it’s a major concern. The reality is that unless you’ve got some spare cash to throw our way each month, you won’t be able to take advantage of SEO. And unless you have a lot of spare cash to throw Google’s way each month, PPC (pay per click) isn’t a great option either.
So How Do You Stay Relevant and Impress Your Business Friends?!
You have to create content. Plain and simple. You have to give people a reason to think you’re relevant and impressive. You have to take advantage of the tools given, like your blog! That thing with all the words and dates that you haven’t looked at ever since we built your site? That’s your blog. It is your platform for tips on how to grow better radishes, or the best way to sell your house in November, or whatever thing you need to tell people about. It’s free, aside from time spent. But there are even apps that will allow you to do it from your phone!
And you don’t need to create a post every day. Just once a week, or even twice a month. Because really, where you’ll spend most of your time is on social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, even LinkedIn are amazing places where there are literally hundreds of thousands of cat photos floating around. But it’s also a great place to generate content for your users to consume.
I find the best practice is to decide who your target demographic is, figure out what they like to read or see, then just share stuff in that genre to your social media pages. Get them interacting with your video of a cow who thinks it’s a puppy, or whatever.
Now that you’ve got them losing their minds over dog-cow you can sprinkle in a little bit about your product or service. My clients don’t like to hear this, but the truth is, nobody cares about your success or your self pat on the back. They’re not on Facebook to hear about the new contract you landed. They’re there to see dog-cow. Sure, they’ll be happy for you when you do have a great announcement, but you only get so many of those obligatory atta’ boys before people dismiss your page completely. I’ve seen a lot of different content ratio strategies out there. I personally like the 30-60-10 idea. It’s not an exact science, so those numbers are loose guides really. Here is the breakdown:
- 30 percent should be your own stuff, so like this blog post, or a video talking about the importance of your service.
- 60 percent should be curated from outside sources…so just like dog-cow.
- 10 percent should be a CTA or a direct promotion of your product or service. Something like 25% off your purchase of bananas when you purchase one house! That’s a really great offer by the way…
Social Media Sharing Made Simple
Some of our clients use their blog, and their social media accounts, which is great! But they do things a little out of order. The whole idea of sharing your original content on your social media page is to drive traffic to your site. So when they’re finished reading your blog post about whether or not an African or European Swallow could handle the weight of a coconut…maybe they check out the rest of your site and give you a call.
I’ve created a little infographic that you’re welcome to save and use as a guideline. It makes things easier if you visualize the journey of content. Or so I’ve been told after I try and explain it awkwardly for twenty minutes in person.
Just remember, the goal is to get people to click the link on your social media account and go to your website! That’s the key to driving traffic to your site when your budget doesn’t allow for SEO services.
Now it should be said that this process will not make you number one on Google. That goal is steep, and even with professional SEO services, is a long term project. But it will start to cultivate a small following and fan base around your business if done correctly. Just remember, you have to provide people with a reason to keep checking back on your social media accounts. I like to check in with people who frequent the Metro Nova Creative Facebook page and just ask what they’d like to read about. Simple as that.
