They Lost Me At Algorithms

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is a fancy name for using internet tools to increase presence on the web in order to drive business sales. When someone searches in Google or Bing looking for a product or service I sell or a business like mine, or in a geographic area where I am located, my business website might be able to move up in the search engine results through SEO. It has something to do with algorithms, keywords, and data. I’ll let Wikipedia explain…

SEO Defined:

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website from search engines. SEO targets unpaid traffic rather than direct or paid traffic. Unpaid traffic may originate from different kinds of searches, including image or video search, academic search, news search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.

Note to reader, “unpaid traffic” is the key here because those who pay will be at the top of the search list with “AD” in their title. You’ve all seen them and drilled down past them; I know I have in almost every Google search. Wikipedia continues…

As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, the computer-programmed algorithms that dictate search engine behavior, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines, and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience.

It makes sense, in a scary sort of way, that keywords drive this train. I am the Queen of Google, and at this point in life, who isn’t? We all have time on our hands and are curious to immediately know the answer to a burning question such as, “How tall is the lead actor on Hinterland? (5’10” in case you wondered, although he appears much shorter, and oh, btw, he hates his hit series.) Ah, the magic of Google; you often get way more than you asked for. Another question, “Can you freeze Gazpacho?” Answer: (“It freezes quite well if you don’t make it too chunky.”) Thousands of hits on both questions, the ones at the top, most relevant, if you ignore the AD hits.

SEO considers how search engines work, the computer-programmed algorithms that dictate search engine behavior, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines, and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience.

In a GUERILLA MARKETING TACTICS webinar, I learned that to grow my business, I need a “call to action,” i.e., to ASK for something rather than waiting for nature to take its course. For example, I have been blogging since May and I had NO Blog subscribers, not from my family, friends or even my husband. It’s not that my writing is bad or the topics are not interesting. On the contrary, I posted a few blogs on other sites and received favorable comments. One group, The Heart of Hospice, www.theheartofhospice.com/ liked a blog post so much that they asked me to do an interview on their podcast. Following the Guerilla Tactic, I put the word out to various friends and colleagues to please subscribe to my blog. As of today, I have 19 new subscribers, (although, still not my husband), and thanks to analytics, another term like algorithms, I learned “Who Gets Grandma’s Yellow Pie Plate?” was the most read of all my blogs.

SEO and Blog Subscribing

Here are some things I learned about this “blog subscribing” adventure and SEO. First, you NEED TO ASK PEOPLE to subscribe. Once I did, I got a lot of new subscribers. If people like what they read and SHARE or COMMENT, even better, as this is also magically picked up by SEO and helps drive your business.

Second, MAKE WHAT YOU ARE ASKING FOR EASY TO SPOT. You could only find my subscriber info by clicking on a blog post. People don’t like to waste time drilling down to find something; one click should be the rule. Once I added a bold-print subscribe to the first page of the Blog, no drilling down was necessary and I added more subscribers.

Third, INCLUDE A LINK that will bring people to the precise spot they need to be. This is the key to success. Follow that link to put yourself in the shoes of the potential subscriber. I thought my link was bringing people to the right place until I found the original link lost something in translation (algorithm??!!!). A big thank you to the people who gently pointed this error out.

I am not sure if having people subscribe to my blog will change my internet presence or increase my business, but it’s been an interesting way to reach out and put a tactic into action.

Here we go…please subscribe to my blog and here is the link: endingwellpatientadvocacy.com/blog-1 Did you get that Hubby?