Free, Easy Things YOU Can do to Improve SEO for Your Online Membership and Social Media Profiles
- Online membership directory listings. Did you know there are free, easy things you can do as an individual for your own online self-promotion and SEO? For starters, a big piece of the puzzle is online content – as much of it as you can strategically put up – Google loves it. And most individuals are members – members of something – networking groups, business directories, alumni groups… There are activities you can do to maximize the SEO and digital self-promotion value of these listings – start by signing up to fill them out!
- Social Media Profile Descriptions. You should also have profiles in as many social networking sites as you can, because they are free SEO opportunities. Yes, ideally you want fresh, relevant content posted regularly and yes it’s hard to find the time. But sites like Pinterest allow for you to create or collaborate on your business industry infographics pin boards, which you can build up at a specific time (but not need to post to everyday). LinkedIn allows you to create a page about your company (in addition to your individual profile) which can still be relevant without you having to post daily.
- Keyword research. Search engine marketers (such as myself) use expensive tools to do exhaustive keyword research and search strategy, but did you know there are some tools that do some of the work for free? I primarily trust the pro tools, but you can get at least a broad feeling for keywords using a tool called keywordspy.com. Write up some starting keyword phrases for your primary business services, then go to keywordspy, input those words, and see what versions and combinations of the keywords the tool recommends based on highest search volume (and lower CPC, or advertising cost per click, which can simulate lower competition). The results can become your list of strategic keywords.
- Long descriptions. For Google, more is more. Google loves a high amount of online content. Once you have identified important keywords for your industry and services based on user searches, then you want to write a lengthy bio/description for your use in social media profiles, or even your membership directory listings – and write it with those keywords peppered in.
- Bold Italics. When you emphasize text in online copy, Google considers it more emphasized. So important keywords within your copywriting and bio description should be emphasized with bold and italics.
- LSI. A short way to describe Latent Semantic Indexing would be to say that Google associates words with other words based on synonyms, and therefore makes digital content come up in search results based on associated synonyms within the copy. So use synonyms and alternative keywords for your business offerings, services and location in your bio description and copywriting.
- Maximize your photos. Because Google likes more content, that includes photos. Your social media profiles and online membership directory listings should allow multiple photos, so upload those photos (such as a photo of yourself, as well as your logo graphic, and office photo, etc.) – but first save the filenames with your actual keywords in order to help them (and your surrounding copy) come up in search results.
- NAP stands for Name, Address and Phone. It may seem obvious, but you want to ensure you have the correct version of these (and your website link if you have one) input in your membership directory listings and social media profiles. In fact you should use your NAP and website link in other online bios and descriptions whenever possible since it includes local keywords.
And there you go – free, easy things you can do to improve SEO for your online membership and social media profiles. Want more? Watch for my next post on even more tips. Thanks for reading! – Jake Aull
