Social Media & SEO Tips for Small Business
Welcome to the first in a series of blog posts about using social media and ethical SEO to improve your online presence.
In this blog post we are going to talk about the relationship between the major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo) and social media and how an active and regularly used social media account can improve the rankings of your website.
The relationship between the search engines and social media can often be overlooked or underestimated by those practicing online or offline SEO, however, SMM (Social Media Marketing), SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) all work together to build your web presence in a positive, rewarding way.
Linking your Website to Social Media
For those hoping to boost their website in the search engine rankings, the very first thing I would recommend is to link each and every account to your domain name. You can do this in a number of ways: plugins, social share buttons, blog posts, social media buttons that link directly from your site via hyperlink, social proof plugins, live feeds from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads etc.
Use your Social Media Accounts Regularly & Link to your Website
It’s all very well having dozens of social media accounts, but if you’re not updating them on a regular basis it can prove to be a worthless operation. I would recommend posting at least twice a week on all accounts and linking back to your website with each post. You can do this by simply typing the URL of any page of your website into the status bar on Facebook or Twitter and the platform will automatically direct viewers there when they click the link. Pinterest, Instagram and Youtube all provide similar features. Remember, this should work both ways! You want to build up a network of links between your website, social media and fans of your product/service.
Offer something of Value
When I say offer something of value, I’m talking about providing an incentive for your followers or fans to share these posts and links. Whether it’s an informative article, a competition or a well designed infographic, providing value to your readers will encourage sharing, interaction and more links back to your website. The more credible links you have (from ethical sources), the more Google will recognise your site and brand.
Get Blogging
Every website should have an integrated blog page to assist with onsite SEO, these blog posts should contain the keywords you would most like to be found with on Google and are perfect for sharing on social media. To get the most from your blog posts, I would recommend writing a minimum of 400 words and incorporating headings and meta data that include your chosen keywords.
Tag all Images
Make sure to tag all the images on your website with keywords, descriptions and captions (include your keywords) and go about sharing those images and their respective links on your social media accounts.
Check back for my next blog post where I will be recommending a number of free plugins, widgets and resources to help you integrate your social media accounts.
Author Note: Joanne at JB Writing Services offers a range of ethical onsite SEO and Social Media Management packages for those who need some assistance with marketing their brand online. Brand creation, website design and content marketing are all available at affordable prices for small businesses, bloggers and trainers.