Between backlinks and alt tags, metadata, and H1s, implementing search engine optimization into your media strategy can get pretty complicated.
Seriously, which update is Google on now—the Penguin, the Panda, or the Hummingbird? And what’s the difference?
Who knows?
And these days the success of your website, blog, microsite, landing page, display ads, and general online presence starts with how easily you can be found in search engines. Even your social media frequency, which sites you use and how impact SEO success.
In-House or Outsource?
A little SEO tweaking of your website or blog can considerably impact lead generation, sales, revenues, etc. Outsourcing an SEO team can do wonders, but it can also be pretty pricy. Fortunately, there have been some wonderful plugins, websites, and widgets to simplify SEO.
Do-It-Yourself SEO
These SEO resources are by no means a substitute to having a team, but it’s a great start for getting content optimized and it will save you a few bucks. Most of these options can be done with very little to no SEO training or experience. And best of all, most of these are free.
- A Toast for Yoast: This is our favorite. If you have a WordPress blog, the SEO plugin by Yoast is a must-have. Simply select a keyword and Yoast automatically tells you where to make updates or where keyword content is missing. It’s so simple. The Yoast plug-in is free.
- The Uber Keyword Planner: Coming up with keywords and phrases is a pain, but Ubersuggest is the anesthesia. Just add a word to search box; fill out the captcha; hit the “Suggest” button; and hundreds of keywords and long-tail phrases magically appear. Ubersuggest is a free website. (Here are a few other tricks for finding keywords.)
- Fight Bad SEO like a Ninja: The Internet Marketing Ninjas provide some of the best tools out there for optimizing your on-page SEO, resizing site images, broken link analysis, and other scary web traffic and SEO killers. The tools are free and if you don’t want to do it yourself, you can hire your own ninja.
- Moz gives you the Most: Moz.com is the single best place online for any and all things SEO-related. There are free and paid SEO tools and an awesome blog dedicated to SEO. The pros use this site to get their information and many of their tools. Subscriptions are available for $99 a month, but there is a 30-day trial option before you buy.