Your website is a lead-generation machine (or it should be). Business owners don’t make websites to build up their egos or to play web designer; they do it because websites drive business. So if there’s a cost-effective opportunity to improve your website so that it generates more leads and eventually sales, why not jump on that? Improving your SEO is just one of those opportunities: Improved SEO practices often see some of the highest return-on-investment of any common lead-generation opportunities, and as such should be treated as a “must-do” for your website and web presence.
What is SEO and how can it help generate leads?
SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization and comprises a set of tools and practices to ensure that your website shows up (or “ranks”) highly in search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. Think back to the last time you used a search engine: how far did you scroll or look before finding either the result you wanted or a result that answered your question? Odds are, it wasn’t very far, and the data backs this up: 90% of search users never go past the first page of search results.
And we don’t need to explain how search results can turn into leads: if your website addresses a search user’s query, meets their needs, and is visible in their searches, that search user is significantly more likely to become a future customer. This is why it’s imperative that your website ranks as highly as possible, and SEO is how you achieve that!
How to capture more leads with effective keywords
Fundamental to improving your SEO is choosing effective keywords. Simply put, keywords are the words or phrases that people enter into search engines, and it’s up to you to determine what sorts of keywords you want your site to rank highly for. Typically, what we call “medium-tail” and “long-tail” keywords are the most effective for lead generation: these are longer (usually multi-word), more specific search terms may receive less traffic than shorter, more general searches, but really signal a search user’s interest and intention. For example, “wedding dresses” may get searched by a huge number of users, but “affordable wedding dresses St. Louis Park” will probably result in more leads for a local bridal shop.
Once you decide on the types of keywords you want to rank for (focusing on specificity as well as an understanding of what sorts of needs and questions your potential customers actually need to be addressed), you’ll want to integrate those keywords into your website copy in a way that’s clear, natural, and conversational so that search engines don’t see you as just “keyword stuffing” (filling your website with words and phrases that aren’t helpful to actual website users just for sake of improving SEO).
Clean up your website to boost search rankings
Search engines and businesses trying to generate leads are both looking to achieve the same result: making the site user happy. Smart business owners know that once someone lands on their website, the site needs to be quick-to-load, responsive, easy-to-navigate, and offer clear and concise information in order to entice the user into traveling further down the sales funnel. Because search users are happier when they find great websites that address their needs, search engines prioritize websites that offer that same great user experience. Make sure all your photos load, make sure your site speeds are solid, and make sure that users have easy access to all the answers they need, and you’ll simultaneously generate more leads AND better SEO (which in turn will generate more leads!).
Less intuitive but still important are all the site tags and metadata that many less-web-savvy business owners tend to ignore. Does every image on your website have a descriptive ALT tag? That’ll help it show up in Google image searches. Does each individual site page have an informative description? If so, that will entice search users to click if it shows up in searches. Are all your links live? If not, search engines may think your site is broken. If you need help with the technical side of things, we’ve got you covered here at Skol marketing!
Localize your search for better results
Lastly (although really, we could go on forever with tips and tricks), make sure that if you’re a local business trying to attract leads from your specific area, you’re localizing as much as possible. For example, if you’ve been looking at keywords like “best bridal shop,” consider localizing to “best bridal shop in Minneapolis.” As a savvy business owner, you know that a few quality leads are always better than a lot of terrible leads, and making sure your website is focused on where your customers are and where they’re looking will ensure that the SEO leads you do generate are as high-quality as possible. It’s also important to claim any local listings: If you’re a local business that hasn’t claimed your Google listing, do so right now–not only is it another marketing tool in your toolkit, but Google regularly prioritizes claimed businesses in its rankings over unclaimed businesses.
Looking to expand that local focus to all your marketing efforts? Skol Marketing can handle all your digital business marketing needs, including making sure your website’s SEO is bang up-to-date. If you’d prefer one-on-one guidance or would like to discuss how our assistance can help you improve your search rankings, please don’t hesitate to contact the local SEO experts at Skol Marketing.
