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Do you see the value of people finding you online?  When you’re working on a new website there are 6 simple things that you can do on a low budget.

By going the DIY route on SEO for a while you can earn a few clients and then eventually hire an SEO team to get even better results.

1. The Basics: On-page SEO

Do you know your keywords? Don’t guess at them, do the right kind of research.  You can easily figure out how to pick the right keywords by using the Google keyword planner tool. For guidance, check out our presentation: How to Pick the Right Keywords to Attract More Customers 

You need to add these keywords to your page titles—especially your homepage, meta description tags, website copy and blog posts.

Depending on what kind of website system that you have, you’ll need to find where you can edit the title tags.

  • Login to  your website
  • Find the right pages that you want to optimize
  • Edit title and description tags for each page

If you don’t have a CMS (content management system) like WordPress, you’ll have to edit the code on your website.

Example of what a title tag looks like:

<head>

<title> Best Business Plan Software – Business Planning Software   </title>

</head>

Example of what a description tag looks like:

<meta name=”description” content=”Are you looking for the best business software? Our business planning software provides solutions for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Contact us today!”/>

Snap shot of what it looks like in a Google search result once you’ve optimized the page.

DIY search engine optimization

2. Building Backlinks

Backlinks are referrals from quality sites that act like votes sent to Google. They help build up your site’s credibility. Here’s are a few ways that you can start optimizing your website with backlinks:

  • Add your site to industry directories. There are both paid and free directories out there, so be sure to research them accordingly.
  • Comment on blogs that allow you to include a link to your website.
  • Write a press release and add it to a free press release distribution site. Don’t forget a link to your website. http://www.onlineprnews.com/

3. Creating Quality Content for SEO

Creating content that is related to your business can be fun. Our clients are often surprised at how EASY generating pages and blog posts can be. The more pages your website has, the more powerful of a resource it is to Google and your clients. Sometimes all you need is to sit down with a cup of coffee and brainstorm some ideas with someone.

Starter questions for generating blog topics:

What questions do your customers often ask you? Write it down.

  1. What industry questions do you get and you DON’T know the answer. Research that and answer it in a blog post.
  2. New employee? Write a blog post about them and their new role.
  3. Sponsor events? Or attend events? Take pictures and post about the event.

When writing these pages and posts, always keep your SEO keywords in mind. Revisit your keywords that you generated from Step 1.

4. WordPress SEO

Do you have a WordPress website? Great! We recommend installing the WordPress SEO plugin or All in One SEO plugin to help search engines optimize your website. Plugins don’t cost anything. But you don’t just install and go, you need to fill in the correct fields.

 5. DIY SEO for Naming Your Images

Image alt-text tags have SEO power. So make your images more SEO-friendly.  Instead of naming your images something generic, name them with a keyword.

For example, a Chicago pen supply company might name their blue pen product “blue-pen-2”. A better name for Chicago SEO would be “Chicago-pen-supplier-blue-stylus-pen”.

6. DIY SEO: Get Social

Sharing content from your website on social media helps bring more followers to your social media profiles and helps build your rankings. Link to your website content on social media.

  1. Create an awesome blog post, infographic or video.
  2. Upload it onto your website
  3. Paste link into social media and share 🙂

Optimizing your social media content for local events, stories and topics helps your content rank too. The key is to be timely. You’ll want to post as the event is going on or nearly after See example below for a successful meetup group doing just that.

Example search for: “Festival of Colors Naperville”

A local Naperville photography group’s Meetup appeared at the bottom of search results.

DIY SEO social media

Already do all of this SEO stuff? Stay tuned for Part 2. We’ll be crafting up a post for those who want to invest seriously into SEO. If you want help with the SEO basics, contact our SEO team today.