Can SEO be a one time thing? / ep 143
To answer this question off the bat, no SEO is not a set it and forget it kind of marketing. In order to be able to get consistent results with SEO, it needs be an ongoing thing - like going to the gym.
Imagine going to any gym and saying to the personal trainer, hey! I want a 6-pack by doing a one-time workout. First of all, he’ll think you’re nuts. And secondly, what is the fun of doing one thing once. The whole point of developing your marketing and content is to learn and grow in the process.
I know, I know..it would be so much simpler if it was something you just got done with once but it’s just not the way it work.
In this episode, I get into the benefits of ongoing SEO.
I’ll also be talking about the difference between a foundational one-time setup (which is something many SEOs and Web Developers offer) and doing ongoing SEO.
Let’s dive in!
The first thing you need to know is that SEO takes time. If you want to learn more about this, listen to episode 142 of the podcast “Why SEO takes time?”
Benefits from doing ongoing SEO
There can actually be a lot of benefits from doing ongoing SEO.
Reviewing your analytics and learning from it. Getting awareness about your Search Marketing, including the keywords you may already be ranking in right now, how your traffic has fluctuated over the last few months, and what you need to be focusing on in the short term to get the best results can be a very exciting and eye-opening part of doing SEO. It can also feed into the rest of your marketing by letting you know where you’ve gotten the best return on your marketing. You can use Google Analytics, as well as the Search Console to get more awareness. This is a big part of my AIM process that is part of the Assess phase.
Finding shortcuts based on what is already working on your site. Continuing on from the last point, understanding the different tasks that you can work on when it comes to SEO isn’t enough. You need to be able to set a priority and level of involvement. This way you can be really strategic about what you want to work on now vs. in the future. For example, maybe doing a site refresh/redesign is important to you but based on the traffic you are getting right now and your blogging plan, you figure you can hold off for 6 more months before investing in that. You can actually build more blog content and then migrate to a new template. This is all because you got the awareness from your data.
Improving existing content based on data. SEO can tie well into your blogging and content plan. If you know what blog posts are already ranking on your site, you can focus on optimizing those posts (including keywords, adding images/videos, adding more content to make it more useful, restructuring the overall content flow) instead of randomly creating new blog posts. This can be very freeing to those of you who already have a large body of content on your site.
Continuing to create content based on targeted keywords. And if you are in the mood to create new content, then you can do this while choosing the right keywords for your website. Picking keywords is both an art and science for me and something I love to help my clients with. And this process can integrate with your launches, services, products or whatever you are selling in the next few months.
Shifting based on goals and what you are launching. When you have awareness around your data and Search Marketing, you can be more intentional about the marketing plan you create to reach all your goals. It stops being this random thing you are working toward, and instead very intentional and thought out. For example, you want to sell 50 new courses in the next 3 months. So you decide you will build one blog post per month that is targeting specific keywords that you know a potential course student would want to buy. At the end of the blog post, you have an intentional opt-in (that may lead them to the course) or you pitch the course directly. Having this direct intention toward something you are selling can be very motivating. SEO stops being this random thing you “should” be doing and instead a very clear path for you to grow your business.
Link building is ongoing task. Building quality backlinks is probably you are already doing naturally. This can be being featured on podcasts, doing guest posting, or getting media features. Whatever it is, it should be an ongoing thing that is exposing you to new audiences and creating natural links back to your site. This is a big part of SEO that many people don’t really think about.
What if my Web Developer or VA is providing an SEO setup service?
Doing a one time SEO setup is fine, as long as you realize that you need to continue doing SEO after this setup is complete. The foundational setup is a great starting point, but after that you still need to blog, generate backlinks, and make sure your website continues to be a nice experience (fast load time, minimal site errors, easy to navigate).
If you are looking for an easy checklist of the foundations of SEO, here is my SEO Audit Checklist -> digitalbloomiq.com/seo-checklist. This is a good starting point whether you are just starting to get into SEO or have had your site online for awhile and want to be more intentional about your Search Marketing.
Here are some crucial parts to a good SEO setup:
Good URL structure - Make sure you URLs are clean and easy to understand. For example, your About page should be www.yourdomain.com/about. Your blog should be www.yourdomain.com/blog. This is good SEO!
Good overall site flow - If we think about our website as a house, imagine having guests over and making it super difficult for them to get the washroom. They have to step over furniture and hop over a large hole before finding the washroom. That will probably be the last time they come to your house! Make sure you don’t have a similar experience happening on your site. All the main navigational links should be working. Minimize all your 404 errors. And make sure your site load in under 3 seconds.
Handful of good blog posts - When you are starting, having some quality content ready to go can really speed up your SEO results in the long term. You can batch write these so that once the site goes live, they are published and Google starts tracking them.
Conclusion
You will see better results when you integrate SEO intentionally into your current marketing plan. That doesn’t mean it has to take up all your time; this is all about being more intentional and thoughtful about how you want your website and Search Marketing to play a role in your business.
Want more information about working 1:1? Check out my AIM process here. I also have some low-cost retainers that you can ask me about here.
Other episodes I mention:
In this conversation, branding and design coach Calvina Nguyen and SEO expert Cinthia Pacheco discuss the pros and cons of DIY vs. done-for-you approaches in branding and SEO.