A Website That's An Investment, Rather Than An Expense [Squarespace SEO]
Woohooo! You found a web designer who offered a shockingly affordable rate to design a website for your brand and launch day has arrived!
You’re now live, ladies and gentleman… LIVE!
You sit back, kick your feet up on the desk, smile a smug grin and wait for the client emails and dollar bills to start rolling in.
And you wait.
And you wait.
Some weeks pass, you get a few random visitors (which, if we’re honest, were probably your aunt, or some random bot in Timbuktu).
Months pass, your website collects dust, you wonder what in the world you’re doing wrong, why do other websites seem to make people money, but not yours? Is your product or service just not good? Are you doomed to failure?!!? Maybe it’s time to just make peace with the 9-5 grind?
You open an Indeed tab and start scanning job listings, just… you know, for fun.
Or maybe you get gosh darn proactive, do some Google research, and land on this article.
And if this is what happened - you should pat yourself on the back — right now — because I’m going to help you out.
You’re going to succeed and your website is going to start making you money, or whatever your goals for it might be.
The problem is simple, really - your target audience just needs to know you exist and that you can help them.
Right this minute, they don’t know that, because your website (albeit lovely and everything) is just sitting out there in the Internet abyss with the billions of other confused websites that aren’t getting noticed. It’s almost reminiscent of junior high dances…
So what distinguishes a website investment from a website expense?
Strategy, my friend.
And what is a pivotal, crucial, fundamental, critical, essential, mandatory component of a website’s strategy?
S - E - O.
No doubt, you’ve heard about SEO — you know, use certain words in your headers, size your photos for faster site speeds, try to get people to link to your site, and all that.
And you should do all of these things! Yes, do them. But, they are not the meat and potatoes of SEO.
I know because I got this website (the one that you’re on right now) and my niche website to Google Page 1 in about 2-3 months. Yep. That’s all. No paid advertising, all organic.
AND I hadn’t yet gotten around to optimizing photos, putting keywords in headers, I didn’t have people linking to my site, none of that.
[Check out: How I Got My Niche Website To Google Page 1]
What I did do was:
Thorough SEO keyword research
Content development around those keywords
That’s it. Law of pithiness - no need to complicate things.
Now, if I told you exactly how I do my keyword research, I’d be halfway out of business. So, I’m not going to. Just like you, I need those ever-so-abundantly-printed dollar bills to do this life thing, so I’ll keep my keyword research methodologies to myself.
BUT you CAN purchase my services, if you wish [—> Squarespace Design + SEO Services].
* shameless *
So, once you have your keywords all lined up and ready to go, listen to them - they will tell you exactly what you need to write about.
Enter each keyword into Google and pay attention to the headlines that populate the first page of Google; use those for ideas, then add your own creativity, thoughts, approaches, and brand identity to the article you create around that keyword.
Then - optimize the heck out of that post before you publish it.
Here, I made a very specific checklist for Squarespace users on how to do this very thing. Have at it.
[—> How To Optimize Blog Posts Before Publishing, A Checklist For SEO Blogging Success]
This is how you attract your target audience. There’s nothing sleezy about it, you are running a business, your target audience wants to find you. If you can create value for their lives and help them solve some problem or inspire them in some way, they want to find you.
Strategy + SEO + blogging makes this possible.
So don’t give up!
Do proper keyword research or better yet, pay an expert to do it for you, then start creating content, and not just any ol’ content, content that is properly optimized before it gets put out in the Web-osphere.
OK. Now you know what to do. Hurry on then… (and let me know in the comments if you have any questions, I’m more than happy to help).
Welcome!
I'm Tiffany - a Squarespace Web Designer & SEO Specialist. Here on the blog, I write about Squarespace tips, creative inspiration, art & design, and being self-employed. Let me know if there's any way I can help you!
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