SEO for a Layperson

SEO, or search engine optimization, or website optimization is the process of improving your website's visibility and ranking on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Without it, your potential clients will never find you in the vast ocean of the internet.

Here are a few steps that you can implement to optimize your website:

1. Keyword research:

   Start by researching relevant keywords for your website. If you were to look for the services like yours, what words you would use when searching the internet? Use these keywords throughout your website content, including your page titles, headings, and meta descriptions.

2. Content creation:

   Your website should have high-quality, informative, and engaging content that is optimized for your keywords. Start a blog and regularly update it with new content. This will help to position you as an expert and establish your website as an authoritative resource in your industry.

3. On-page optimization:

   Make sure that your website is optimized for search engines by including relevant keywords in your title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags. Include internal links to other pages on your website.

4. Mobile optimization:

   More and more people are using their mobile devices to search for products and services online, so it's important to have a mobile-friendly website. Make sure that your website is responsive and easy to navigate on mobile devices.

5. Backlinks:

   A backlink is a link from another website to yours. Backlinks from high-authority websites can improve your website's ranking on search engines.

6. Local optimization:

   If your business has a physical location, make sure your website is optimized for local searches. Include your full address, phone number/s, and your work hours. Create a Google My Business account to help your business appear in local search results.

7. Analytics:

   Use Google Analytics or another analytics tool to track your website's traffic and see which pages are performing well and which need some improvement. Submit your website to Google Search Console.

Importance of having a physical address, and what you can do if you don't have one:

Having a physical address on your website is very important. It makes a huge difference. I know that most hypnotists, coaches, and healers work from home, and I would never suggest putting your home address on your website. But you need to get some address.

The least you can do is just write something like "serving the name of your town and state." Honestly, I don't think this is good enough, but it's much better than nothing.

One option is to get a virtual address. It is a paid service. You'll be paying something like $30 every month, so think well if this is an expense you want right now.

The second option is to get a PO Box at your local post office, which will give a physical address. You also will be paying probably 30-40, maybe even $50.00 per month. If you will check, not the USPS service, but some of the private Postal Service companies that you may have in your area, then their PO Box service may be a little more affordable.

The next option is actually this is what I would suggest you do. Find a shared office, shared Wellness spa, or massage room that you can rent by the hour. Make sure that the lease agreement allows you to use their address as your official business address.

Register your business on Google My Business. This will put you on Google Maps and will help you to rank higher in the Google search.

Make sure that the lease agreement states "by the hour". This way you only pay for the hours used. Don't get yourself into an agreement for using a set number of hours per week/month. When just starting out, you may have that many clients to fill those office lease hours.

Create an image of a real person and real business:

You must provide enough information on your website to help the search bots understand that you are a real person and you run a real legitimate business.

The pages that seem unnecessary to us are actually a very important part of SEO. Create the "About" page with your photo and a sufficient amount of information to show that you are a real human being. Add your bio, credentials, and experience. Link your social media profiles, YouTube channel, and other websites that you own. I am a strong believer in transparency and I think that it's good to link your personal Facebook page (which should be optimized for your business!). People prefer to deal with people, not businesses. They will check you out! When people are considering hiring you, they want to know what kind of human being you are.

Create a “Contact” page. If you are running a business, present it as a real business. Your business should have a physical address, phone number, and email address. Add a Contact Form. Give your potential clients more than one way of contacting you. Make it easy!

You also must have your policies page: payment, cancellation, privacy, cookies...

The use of H1 font on your website:

The H1 font is one of the most important elements of a website's design and plays a crucial role in enhancing the website's visibility and search engine rankings. The H1 font is used to create the main heading or title of a webpage, and it should be used only once per page.

Search engines such as Google place a high emphasis on the H1 font, as it is the first thing that crawlers will see when indexing a page. The H1 font also helps to give context to the page's content and communicates to users and search engines what the page is all about.

Using the H1 font effectively can help to improve the user experience on a website, as it can make the content more scannable and easier to understand. Additionally, properly using the H1 font can help to improve the website's accessibility for users with visual impairments, as assistive technologies can rely on headings to navigate and understand the content.

When using the H1 font, it's important to make sure that the text accurately reflects the content of the page and includes relevant keywords that users might search for. Additionally, it's important to use other heading tags such as H2 and H3 to structure the page's content and make it more scannable for users.

Building interlinks, backlinks, and outbound links:

1. Interlinks:

   Interlinks are hyperlinks that connect different pages within your own website. These links can be incredibly beneficial for both user experience and search engine optimization (SEO).

   To build interlinks on your service website, follow these steps:

• Start by identifying which pages on your website you want to link together. Consider which pages are most important for your visitors to see and which pages have the most valuable content.

• Once you've identified your pages, look for opportunities to naturally link them together. For example, you could include links to related content on a product page or link to a service page from a blog post.

• Make sure your links are descriptive and use relevant anchor text. Avoid generic terms like "click here" and instead use specific, descriptive words that give users a clear idea of where they'll be going when they click the link.

• Check that all of your links work properly and that there are no broken links on your website. Broken links can harm your SEO efforts and frustrate users.

2. Backlinks:

   Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website. These links can be incredibly valuable for SEO, as they signal to search engines that your website is trustworthy and valuable.

   To build backlinks on your service website, follow these steps:

• Start by identifying websites that are relevant to your industry and might be interested in linking to your content. Look for industry blogs, directories, and other websites that could benefit from linking to your website.

• Reach out to these websites and introduce yourself and your content. Explain why you think your content would be valuable to their audience and ask if they'd be willing to link to it.

• Make sure your content is high-quality and valuable. Websites are unlikely to link to low-quality or spammy content.

• Be patient. Building backlinks can take time, and it's important to focus on building relationships with other websites rather than just getting as many links as possible.

3. Outbound links:

   Outbound links are links from your website to other websites. These links can be valuable for user experience and SEO, as they show that your website is well-researched and provides additional value to your visitors.

   To build outbound links on your service website, follow these steps:

• Start by identifying websites that provide valuable information related to your industry or content. Look for industry blogs, news websites, and other reputable sources.

• Link to these websites when appropriate. For example, if you're writing a blog post about a particular topic, you might link to an industry news article that provides more information on the topic.

• Make sure the websites you're linking to are reputable and trustworthy. Avoid linking to low-quality or spammy websites, as this could harm your own website's reputation.

• Consider reaching out to the websites you're linking to and introducing yourself. Building relationships with other websites can help you build valuable backlinks in the future.

Remember, building links takes time and effort, but it can pay off in the long run by improving your website's SEO and providing additional value to your visitors.