Budget cuts can hit at unexpected times. When companies are struggling with a decreased budget, marketing plans are oftentimes the first to get slashed, much to the dismay of marketers. Luckily, you can allocate your limited funds into areas where you’ll see more of an impact. SEO is one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing- here’s some ways to leverage your SEO expertise when money is tight.
1. Encourage Sharing on Social Media
The easiest way for businesses to get their name out there is by letting others do it for them. By creating clickable social media widgets, you are making it simple for users to share your content to various social sites. Your social media widget may look something like this:
This convenient feature allows social sharing at the click of a button. Social media sharing widgets are built in to many web design platforms, but can sometimes require a bit of coding to implement. If you’re interested in this service, feel free to contact DSG for assistance.
In the meantime, you might consider dusting off your social media accounts as well. Start sharing your content across social platforms, because there’s no harm in pushing your content in front of as many people as possible! Don’t forget to link out to your company’s social profiles within your website, too.
2. Join Q/A Sites
Consider joining some Q/A sites as an unusual way to give your SEO a boost. On websites like Quora and Yahoo Answers, users from around the world can pose questions for others to answer. Search up some questions related to your niche of expertise, and leave detailed and informative answers that link out to related resources from your website. If you pursue this route, it’s important to avoid sounding too sales-y or spammy, as this could reflect poorly on your business. Always remain objective and educational.
3. Improve Your Top-Ranking Pages
. These are the pages that rank highest in Google’s search results page, which means they draw the most users onto your site. Most SEO tracking tools offer these insights, but if you do not have this capability, reach out to DSG for a solution. Since your top-ranking pages attract the most users, you’ll want to do everything in your power to improve their click through rate (CTR). You’ve got the users onto your site through your top pages, so now it’s your job to keep them there.
While you’re at it, why not look into why your top-ranking page is successful? Does it have a particularly catchy title, or does it use interesting rich content? Use the information you find to adjust other pages of your site and increase their ranks.
4. Optimize Your Site
“Optimizing” your site could have many meanings from refresh of creative or a technical clean-up. From an SEO standpoint, we are talking about optimization from a technical perspective. When is the last time that you have done a truly thorough analysis of the functionality of your website? It’s important to perform regular maintenance to keep your website running smoothly. Free tools such as deadlinkchecker.com allow you to check your site for broken links. Also, don’t forget to ensure that none of your pages have unusually long loading times and regularly ensure that your contact information is up to date. Click here if you are interested in learning more about what other elements are important for SEO.
These easy tips can help to improve your SEO with little to no upfront investment! Have you implemented other practices that have helped improve your SEO? Let us know in the comments below. Or, if you have marketing questions for DSG, fill out a contact form.
