It’s almost that time. New Year’s resolutions for 2019 are going to start rolling in as Thanksgiving and Christmas blow by us in the coming months. If you’re a business owner or marketer, one of your New Year’s resolutions is probably to expand your business, right?
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to expand your business, especially when you’re starting fresh for the year. Before you begin though, it’s helpful to have a successful marketing strategy — which begins with your search engine optimization (SEO) keywords and planning.
We are here today to help you uncover some great SEO tips to help you start 2019 with a bang. Although Google’s algorithm is constantly changing, there are consistent ways you can get more page views, more click-throughs, and more conversions by leveraging the power of the search engine.
Let’s dive in and have a look.
Think Ahead
One of the most vital things you can do to boost your SEO in 2019 is to plan ahead. When it comes time to deliver content, you don’t want to jump in when everyone else is getting clicks and mining popular keywords for rank.
The sooner you write targeted content, the more likely it is to rank when that topic becomes relevant. Have you ever noticed before new games and movies come out you’ll often see a ton of articles about the topic?
Let’s look at the latest blockbuster game – Red Dead Redemption 2. It launched for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 26, 2018, and grossed a stunning $750 million in 3 days — making it the second highest 3-day sales on an entertainment product ever, according to Fortune.
It was predicted that Red Dead 2 was going to do this well. Months before it released articles popped up along the lines of “10 Things We Want from Red Dead Redemption 2.” The goal? When this inevitable “boom” happened, these content creators wanted to be ahead of the game. They used the keywords “Red Dead Redemption 2” before anyone else so that they could rank high once the game released.
Plan ahead for all of your content. Write a few holiday articles months in advance, make sure you’re always a couple of months ahead of the trend if you want to rank going into 2019.
Make Your Posts Shareable
Many factors go into determining how high a page ranks. You should never take the shareability of your posts for granted. If your blog post gets organically shared throughout various social media outlets, you’ll stand a better chance at ranking high in 2019.
First, you should make sure that your content is easily digestible for your readers. Your audience shouldn’t need a dictionary to understand what you’re trying to say. If it helps, ask someone else to read your blog post before you publish it to see if they can skim through it without any issues.
The second thing you should do is make sure your content contains trustworthy links. Your visitors should be able to look into any statistics you use. Relay valuable, relevant, fresh information in every article you publish.
Videos are another way to make your posts shareable. It’s predicted that videos are going to be the main draw of folks using the internet for browsing. If you’re able to include a compelling video with quality, ranking keywords you’re more likely to bring more traffic to your page through both Google and YouTube SEO.
Examples of Social Share Buttons: https://www.jqueryscript.net/social-media/jQuery-Plugin-For-Embedding-Custom-Share-Buttons-with-Counters-pisocials.html
Finally, add a social share plugin to your website so your visitors can quickly post your content to their social media pages. This last step is vital to getting SEO ranking from shareable content.
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Speed Up Your Website
Have you ever visited a website that took a bit to load? If so, you probably backed out because you knew other websites could deliver you the same information, but instantly.
Almost everyone has this reaction to websites that take forever to load. One report shows that a mere one second delay can reduce conversions by 7%.
There are plenty of plugins you can use on your blog to speed up load times. If you’re not sure whether or not your site is too slow, ask a group of people not affiliated with the company to give you an honest response on the load times.
If you have to install a plugin, many can help you clear out your cache, find troublesome images/videos, and help you figure out how Google ranks your loading speed.
Invest in Backlinks
Backlinks are a great way to boost your SEO rank. If you’re not familiar with backlinks, it’s when a reputable high-domain authority links to your website on one of their posts. How do you get backlinks?
An excellent way to get more backlinks is by writing for said high-authority websites. Most of these sites have the option for guest posts, which are articles written by people who don’t work for the publication.
It’s not easy to get a backlink from a high-authority website, but it’s possible. Make sure you read their guidelines and send a top-notch pitch to the editors. If they like your pitch, deliver an informative article and include relative links, including a backlink to your website.
If you don’t want to write articles, but still want backlinks, you can reach out to the editors/owner of the high-authority website to ask if they would be interested in linking to you. The following example shows a good way to ask for a backlink. You have to make sure that your backlink is relevant to their website, and you have to prove that you’re a reputable source worth linking to in the first place.
Backlink Email Example: https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-to-build-backlinks/
As you build more backlinks, you’ll appear more reputable to Google and increase your SEO ranking.
Conclusion
Marketing trends come and go, but SEO seems to be forever. As long as Google is around, and let’s be honest — it’s not going anywhere soon, SEO is going to be one of the best ways to make your page visible and profitable.
If you use these tips going into the New Year, you’ll be able to turn your website into a high-ranking powerhouse.
You have to remember, SEO rank normally doesn’t climb overnight. You have to actively work on this area of your business if you want to rank with the best.