2012 is finally underway! A new year means new resolutions to keep, and although some of those resolutions may be harder to accomplish than others, it’s important for your site’s sake that you stick to your SEO resolutions. Now that you’ve back at your desk and ready to tackle a new year of SEO, here are 4 SEO resolutions to add to your list if you haven’t already:
I will start a business blog/invest more in my existing blog.
A business blog is arguably the second most valuable piece of online real estate your brand has (next to the company website of course). There are so many ways that a business blog can help your online brand (regardless of the industry you operate in) that not having one could actually hamper your SEO efforts. In addition to building your online brand presence, establishing your industry authority, creating a stronger internal linking structure and educating your target audience, a business blog is a critical component of both your content marketing and social media marketing campaigns. Content remains King in 2012! Without great content propelling your campaign forward, your SEO will never be as successful as it could be.
I will focus on the quality of my inbound links, not the quantity.
In my opinion, 10 quality links from trusted sources is worth so much more than 100 spammy links from low quality websites. Don’t take the easy way out with your SEO link building! While it may take more time to find new, quality and trusted sources to earn inbound links from, the long term SEO value is well worth the work. Remember, the search engines want to see a diverse approach to link building. Generating 1,000 links overnight might look good to your boss, but it is going to throw a red flag up for the search engines and could result in a penalty. Build your inbound links from a variety of trusted sources for a stronger link portfolio that can really carry your SEO through 2012.
I will use social networking sites to connect with, engage and drive visitors to my site.
Too many companies treat their social profiles as the final destination for a potential customer. Your social profiles should act as the doorway through to your company site! Use your social profiles to catch the attention of your target audience but never forget that you end goal is to get them to do business with your company. Give them a reason to check out your website and you’ll have a much greater chance of converting them in the end.
Also, don’t use your website to send visitors over to your social profiles! Would you rather have someone Like you on Facebook or will out a lead form? Save valuable website real estate for your call-to-actions and lead forms and keep the “Connect with Us” buttons for somewhere else.
I will make onsite SEO decisions based on my analytics.
It’s important that any on site SEO changes you make in 2012 be based on your site’s analytics and aren’t just pulled from thin air. “Well, it works for the competition” isn’t good enough of a reason to make changes to your website. Before you start targeting new keywords, rewriting content, removing/adding lead forms and so forth, dig through your analytics. You don’t want to accidentally remove an SEO element that was actually helping your website convert!