If You Absolutely Had
To Rank Your Website, Do This First!
It is a new year and SEO consultants everywhere are putting out their updated strategies and lists of what to do, what not to do, and what has changed at Google.
Stop.
I built my first website in 2002 for my carpet cleaning business. I build them now and they rank on the search engines. A lot of times, our client’s sites rank for multiple pages.
It has nothing to do with keywords, meta tags, citations, back links, white hat or black hat gimmicks. Don’t get me wrong, they are important and will help you rank one or more of the pages of your website on the search engines. However if you do this one thing right, and you can do a lot wrong and still get ranked.
So What Is It?
High quality, relevant content. Yeah I know, earth shattering isn’t it. Here you were expecting some mystical secret, like sacrificing a nerd on the alter to Google, but the reality is, the one thing that worked for me thirteen years ago, still works today.
High quality, original, relevant contant, that answer the questions, or solves the problems that searchers have is still the very best way to rank in the search engines.
When you think about it, the search engines have one goal. That is to create loyal followers, that will continue to use them to find their answers and solve their problems. The more user loyalty they have, the more people that will potentially click on their ad links to generate revenue.
So Google really is about delivering a great user experience so you will continue to use their engine, click on their ads and generate billions of dollars in revenue.
There I Said It…
Google is a profit driven machine that requires an exceptional user experience to drive their business model. It is dependent on websites they rank high to create that exceptional user experience.
It is up to you, the business owner, looking to attract new clients to your business to solve problems, answer questions, and end the visitor’s search. The very best way I know how to do that is with high quality, relevant content.
Let’s Backtrack A Bit, Shall We.
Remember when I said I built my first website in 2002? Well to be honest, I was pretty clueless then. I had no understanding of html, or any other computer language. I was barely proficient in Microsoft Word. My background was in carpet cleaning, and direct response marketing.
I was, and still am a student of direct reponse marketing. So that first website, was built using the concepts and strategies of direct response. Each page, was essentially a sales letter for each service we offered. Even the about us page, was selling myself, and why people would want to hire us to clean their carpets.
It had valuable information, it educated, it informed, and it positioned me as the go to expert. It was structured this way, simply because I saw this website as yet another delivery tool to deliver my message to my market. So I delivered that message the way I was taught to.
Little Did I realize I Had Stumbled Across Google’s Secret.
I didn’t know it then, but I discovered the power of high quality original content. That little site was rewarded with high rankings, and great conversions. You see, by writing the content for the end user, to convert the visitor to a buyer, and being ignorant of the tricks, games and gimmicks to artificially rank a website, I received tons of traffic, answered questions, and solved problems with my content, enjoying a very low bounce rate, and the people that visited, hired my carpet cleaning company.
Fast Forward Thirteen Years
What I had been using, and advising since that first website, is the new mantra for 2015. It seems like everyone is now on the content marketing machine. What was once fiercely argued and debated on SEO forums has become the new gospel of Search Marketing.
What nobody shares is…
How Do You Create Content?
I will reveal my favorite method and strategy for content creation and why I use it. It is video. I love video. If you are not using video, then our clients are stealing your customers away from. It is by far, the most effective content creation tool you have available. Let me tell you why.
You know your business better than anyone. Yet who has time to write all that down? You are busy, running your business, taking care of clients and babysitting staff. You already devote, fifty, sixty, seventy hours or more to your business each week.
You do however, love to talk about your business. It is your baby, your passion. You will talk about your business to anyone and everyone.
That is where video comes in. We record that conversation we have about your business. We will talk about your company, your history, about you as a person, about your products and services and why you are the very best choice to purchase those products and services from.
Now obviously the video will get edited and uploaded to YouTube. That is a no brainer. It will also be used on your website, to help you create authority and celebrity. Plus video on websites tend to keep people engaged a little bit longer.
Video can also rank well on the search engines. giving you added exposure, as well as traffic to your website. Syndicate that video on other video sharing sites and gain more exposure. more traffic, and possibly more search engine listings.
Content Creation Made Easy
With video I don’t have to worry about whether I have a good memory or took good notes, as I have a record of our conversation. From that video, we now have the ability to create tons of content.
Did you know, there are transcription services out there that will transcibe your videos for a dollar a minute? That means for just sixty dollars, you can get an hour of video content transcibed. With a little bit of editing, you now have your website content. This is how we build websites for our clients. I shoot and transcribe video. It is your voice and expertise that appears on your website. That allows you to connect with your website visitor.
There Is More You Can Do With Transcripts
The video content you transcribe also makes great articles, blog posts, Linked In posts, that you can syndicate everywhere. Now we do try to edit and rewrite these articles and posts so they look natural and unique, while still containing the same message. Again this syndication of content, can create additional traffic to your website, as well as listings on the search engine results pages, giving you even more exposure.
Collect enough of these transcripts together, and you can publish a book. This is exactly what my co-author Rob Anspach and I did to write our book Optimize This. Imagine the credibility and positioning you would get being a published author or even a best selling author. That has opened a lot of doors for both Rob and I. Also having an author page on Amazon can be another listing for your business on the search engines.
Another place I like to share the content from transcripts is on Social Media. Facebook, Linked In, Twitter and yes even Google Plus. Pick the media, your best clients are most likely to hang out in, and publish your content there. It gives you exposure, credibility, and traffic to your website.
By The Way, There Is One More Thing
In addition to creating written content from video, podcast it. It is very easy to remove the audio portion of a video and save it as a MP3. A podcast is yet another way you can reach your target audience. All you need to podcast is content saved to a server, a rss feed, and a publisher account to deliver that feed to Apple.
People all over the world are streaming content to their computers, phones, and even into their cars during their commutes. Podcasting elevates you to a global stage. You will be using content you already created once, and delivering it to your audience through podcasting.
The cool thing about podcasting is as your audience grows, you can start selling advertising on your podcasts and generate more revenue for yourself or your business. More importantly, you have more exposure, more celebrity, more traffic, and possibly additional listings on the search engine results pages.
Now It is Your Turn
I just handed over to you the step by step market domination plan we use for our clients. You can do one of two things. You can sit there and say, “Wow Paul, what a real cool article. I can’t believe you shared so much,” or you can pull your cell phone out of your pocket and shoot your first video and start creating content for your website.
It is my hope you have been inspired to take action.
