At Little Egg Solutions, we believe in helping small and medium business owners have a healthy, profitable web presence. In that spirit, we’ve set up a 12-step program for rehabbing your SEO practices and setting goals. You can do one a month for a year, or break them into bigger chunks if you’re feeling more ambitious.

1. Get to the Core – What’s Your Purpose?

In order to decide what action steps you’ll need to take further down the road, you need to define what the purpose of your website is. Do you want to attract leads? Sell products? Generate ad revenue? You’ll need to know what your end-game is to get your short-term goals in place.

2. Identify Your Audience – Who Are You Trying to Reach?

This may seem like a no-brainer, but many small and medium business owners don’t define their specific audience before designing or optimizing a site. While there are some nearly-universal design principles and content keywords, you’ll need to tailor your content to some degree for any targeted audience.

3. Keyword Matching – Which Words Will Work for You?

Once you’ve identified your purpose and your audience, it’s time to figure out which keywords are best for your site. The right approach will vary based on what you want your site to do for you and who you want to see it.

4. Scope the Competition – Who Are You Trying to Beat?

When breaking into the online scene, it’s important to understand what you’re up against. Scope out your direct industry competition and take notes. See which strategies and keywords are common to industry leaders and which options seem to be problematic for less successful sites.

5. Schedule an SEO Audit – What Are Your Weaknesses?

A professional SEO audit for your site can tell you exactly which aspects of your strategy are going to cause a problem for you going forward. It’s best to hire a professional rather than using an online audit tool – you’ll get tailored action steps instead of general advice.

6. SERP Results – What’s Your Rank?

One of the main action steps you’ll want to pursue, no matter your niche, is improving your ranking. Use the data provided in your SEO audit to optimize your content and boost your SERP position.

7. Clean Up Your Code – How’s Your HTML?

Little coding errors can cause big problems when it comes to SEO. If you went with an amateur web designer or a DIY generator to save a little cash, you may need to do some code cleanup to make your site more search engine friendly.

8. Drive Traffic – Are They Looking?

If your website is fantastic, your code is stellar, and your content is optimized, what good does that do if no one sees it anyway? Work on driving traffic to your site with your stated purpose in mind. Share your content across different platforms and bring as many “maybes” to your page as you can – the more eyes who see your site, the more you’ll have a chance to convert.

9. Convert Your Prospects – Will They Buy What You’re Selling?

The goal of any profit-based business is to actually turn a profit. In order to do that, your web presence has to actually convert “maybe” prospects into definite buyers. Focus on increasing conversion rates with targeted marketing campaigns.

10. Increase Engagement – Are They Loving It?

Now you’ve got their attention. They’re on your site, they’re ready to make the leap from prospect to buyer. How do you build on that? By giving your loyal buyers and new prospects alike something to love, rave about, and share with everyone they know. Engaging content marketing and social media strategies build on your success in steps 8 and 9 organically.

11. Build Your Brand – Do They Know Your Name?

Branding is crucial in today’s digital marketplace. Consumers want to buy from brands they trust. No matter what your approach entails, branding should be a major component of your strategy. Social media and cohesive content marketing make this much easier, so build on your success in step 10.

12. Profit Margins – What Was Your ROI?

The tell-tale sign of a successful SEO strategy is a profitable return on your investment. Evaluate your profits and what parts of your original strategy have worked the best. Do you need to tweak your approach? Were there any costly mistakes you know you need to avoid repeating?

That may seem like a lot of work, and that’s okay. It is a lot of work. Luckily, you’ve got a friend in the SEO business that just wants to make your life easier. Little Egg Solutions is here to help; contact us today to find out how!