Adwords is a great way to make Google work for you and bring plenty of targeted traffic to your website. However, Adwords is just a tool, and like any tool it’s possible to become over-reliant on it. The best way to make sure people searching for the kind of work you do is to have organic positioning, which has little to do with Adwords. As well, there are problems with Adwords.
Adwords Isn’t Everything
Some studies have found that having the top paid position for a keyword is like being ranked lower than that through being organically positioned. Keep in mind that Adwords is expensive, and is only getting moreso. Plus, the tasks involved in managing Adwords can easily turn into a full-time job, so you might as well take that energy and organically spruce up your site. The following are some tips to get your site a lot higher in the search rankings.
What are You Offering?
If you don’t have your value proposition lined up, work on that first. Once you know what you’re offering, think carefully about phrases that sum it up, or at least go along with it. Be sure you don’t ignore the other search engines, because Google isn’t everything. You should also keep an eye out for phrases that go along with the unique problem you solve. Why do people use you to build or remodel for them, instead of doing it themselves or hiring someone else to do it?
Keep the Keywords in Site
Once you’ve found some traffic-driving keywords, use them all over your site: prominent places in your pages, the titles and headings of your pages, in your meta tags, everywhere. Just like what you build, the small and rarely noticed details are what separate “some guy with tools” from a true professional tradesman. While most people won’t notice if you skillfully put in the right phrase here and there, the search engines will.
Tinker With It
Your website is a living thing. Don’t fall in love with one type of content. In some cases, building a landing page for a particular keyword that explains it instead of something more general can do a lot for your ranking. Ideally, you should keep adding interesting, unique content to your site until you sell your business and retire. The goal is to get onto the first page of Google, which is like having Adwords — for free. Keep working on it.
Blog Post Written by Jimmy Donnellon
Jimmy is an inbound marketing professional with a background in public relations and marketing. Jimmy helps his clients found on the web, convert visitors into leads and helps them track their results.