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3 Tips for Building SEO Strategy

Share the goods.

A magnifying glass hovering over the words "SEO"

A few years ago, SEO was a niche term—the sort of thing pretentious assholes inserted into their sentences to make themselves feel important without ever really knowing what they were saying. But now? It’s a common concept everyone and their brother understands, at least when it comes to the basics. 

Like any business out there, Google doesn’t like to give away its secret recipe to just anyone. And that means SEO experts spend a lot of time studying what does and doesn’t work to crack the code of how to get that coveted number one spot. It ain’t easy, but when it comes to the digital world, what is?

When you’ve got a destination in mind (being number one), there are a few things you need to get you where you wanna be. Let’s dive in.

Get Your Bearings

Think of SEO like a road trip. If you don’t know where you are or where all the other cars zooming past you on the highway are, well, you’ve got big problems. That’s why the first step is clearing up the fog.

There are a bunch of tools out there that will tell you how your site ranks and what keywords it ranks for. Our favorites are Google Search Console and Moz’s Link Explorer. Google Search Console is great if you have the developer know how to claim your domain on the platform. Then you can see how your site is performing in searches, straight from Google! If you don’t have a tech wizard on your team, Moz lets you plug in a URL and go.

Now, where’s everyone else? Moz can help with that again through their Competitive Research tool (or even their Keyword Explorer). You can also check out SimilarWeb if you’re snooping on sites that get a lot of traffic. Search your competitors, export the data, and start figuring out where you win out and where you’re missings.

Slow and Steady

This is the opposite of what most people want to hear. After all, we’re Americans, dammit. We want stuff done, and we want it done now. Unless of course, we’re talking equal rights – that can wait another 50 or so years.

SEO doesn’t work like that. It can take weeks to see if your efforts have any impact and if you change a bunch of stuff at once, that makes it harder to know what worked and what didn’t.

So where do you start? With the stuff, you want to rank for. You’ve seen what your competitors are doing. You know what your services are. Make a list of a few high-level topics you want to be known for. For a manufacturer, it could be sub-assembly or quality assurance. For a baker, maybe it’s wedding cakes and gourmet cupcakes.

Whatever those categories are, keep them broad, then go through those keywords you identified and see what falls under them. Remember: don’t force them to fit. Either they relate or they don’t. 

Now that you’ve got your topics and your keywords, all you’ve got to do is execute…and wait.

If You Build It…

…users will come. Eventually. 

Take the topic you came up with and those keywords you put under it. Do you have a page on your site to correlate? If not, why not? It seems like it’s pretty essential to your business. Build it out! Does it have keywords incorporated naturally into the copy? (For real. Don’t shove them in. We’ll be upset, and so will Google). If not, work ‘em in. 

Now it’s time to start building even more. Are there other pages on your site that relate to the topic? Link them to the new (or refreshed) page. Link them to each other! Start making a web of resources. Just imagine it like a bike wheel—the hub is the main page, and all the spokes are these related areas of your site. They connect to each other and then back to the main page itself. 

So if I’m a bakery wanting to rank for wedding cakes, I’ve got a page about wedding cakes. And then I probably have some blogs about topics like wedding cake trends, types of frosting, best desserts, sheet cakes vs. tiered, etc. which I’ve linked to each other and to the wedding cake page. The nerdy terms for these are pillar pages and topic clusters, but we like cake better.

Once you’ve done this, revisit step one to see if your rankings have changed. And then wait. Measure again. And again. And again…

We’ll be honest. We can’t fit everything we want to say about SEO and strategy into one blog. If you want to chat more, you know where to find us.

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FUN FACT FRIDAY: It’s only fitting for us to own a building where a trailblazing female operated her businesses in 1906. The Phillips family represented one of the longest-running retail tenures in Grand Rapids history; L.E. Phillips Jewelry in the 1365 Plainfield Ave. building from 1906 until 1973.
Dr. Eva Phillips, a certified and licensed optometrist ran her practice out of the jewelry store’s secondary parlor and was an equal partner in the jewelry store.

Together, they offered a unique one-stop shot which expanded to include appliances, record players, and more. The couple operated the shop through two World Wars and the Great Depression, acting as the neighborhood matriarch and patriarch.

@crestongr @crestoncorridor @crestongrandrapids @citygrandrapids @grandrapidspubliclibrary

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Open post by 8thirtyfour with ID 17898983202545176
FUN FACT FRIDAY: It’s only fitting for us to own a building where a trailblazing female operated her businesses in 1906. The Phillips family represented one of the longest-running retail tenures in Grand Rapids history; L.E. Phillips Jewelry in the 1365 Plainfield Ave. building from 1906 until 1973. Dr. Eva Phillips, a certified and licensed optometrist ran her practice out of the jewelry store’s secondary parlor and was an equal partner in the jewelry store. Together, they offered a unique one-stop shot which expanded to include appliances, record players, and more. The couple operated the shop through two World Wars and the Great Depression, acting as the neighborhood matriarch and patriarch. @crestongr @crestoncorridor @crestongrandrapids @citygrandrapids @grandrapidspubliclibrary

Have you tuned into The Happy Hour Hustle Podcast yet?
If not, a) you’re missing out and b) you need to follow immediately. Hosted by @bodespeaks, episodes drop every other week, and feature some pretty bada$$ guests if we do say so ourselves.

This week, Kim sits down with @kelsey_orchard , VP of Marketing and Communications at @fifthwheelfreight to chat building a personal brand, Gen Z entering the workforce, misconceptions about logistics, spotting fake LinkedIn profiles – oh and why your GPA doesn’t matter anymore.

Grab a watermelon margarita, sit back and enjoy for lots of laughs and real talk.

Listen now at the link in bio.

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Open post by 8thirtyfour with ID 18112263326023209
Have you tuned into The Happy Hour Hustle Podcast yet? If not, a) you’re missing out and b) you need to follow immediately. Hosted by @bodespeaks, episodes drop every other week, and feature some pretty bada$$ guests if we do say so ourselves. This week, Kim sits down with @kelsey_orchard , VP of Marketing and Communications at @fifthwheelfreight to chat building a personal brand, Gen Z entering the workforce, misconceptions about logistics, spotting fake LinkedIn profiles – oh and why your GPA doesn’t matter anymore. Grab a watermelon margarita, sit back and enjoy for lots of laughs and real talk. Listen now at the link in bio.

National Perimenopause Month starts today. We have a LOT to say, and we’re not going to be quiet about it, especially this month, so buckle up.

We were not prepared for perimenopause, much like our periods, sex, or anything else to do with our bodies. God forbid we talk about it openly.

We were taught to be ashamed, keep quiet, and to accept that it is just part of being a woman. We reject that narrative. In fact, like @bodespeaks, we want to bring it up in every conversation.

When we normalize perimenopause and the conversation around it, we stop isolating, and we’re all more prepared.
Join us for Uncomfortable Conversations: The Pause on September 24th — a powerful conversation hosted alongside the @smallbusinessassocofmichigan
Women’s Business Council, featuring some kicka$$ experts who will give you the real talk on perimenopause (more to come on them later).

Register at the link in bio.

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Open post by 8thirtyfour with ID 18132641716644887
National Perimenopause Month starts today. We have a LOT to say, and we’re not going to be quiet about it, especially this month, so buckle up. We were not prepared for perimenopause, much like our periods, sex, or anything else to do with our bodies. God forbid we talk about it openly. We were taught to be ashamed, keep quiet, and to accept that it is just part of being a woman. We reject that narrative. In fact, like @bodespeaks, we want to bring it up in every conversation. When we normalize perimenopause and the conversation around it, we stop isolating, and we’re all more prepared. Join us for Uncomfortable Conversations: The Pause on September 24th — a powerful conversation hosted alongside the @smallbusinessassocofmichigan Women’s Business Council, featuring some kicka$$ experts who will give you the real talk on perimenopause (more to come on them later). Register at the link in bio.

You asked, we delivered.

Introducing the Women`s Owners Network - a new program built for what comes first, joining our proven Fellowship model to support Michigan women at every stage of business ownership.

Whether you`ve got a team of 10 or it`s just you and your laptop, you deserve a room full of women who get it.

Six months of leadership, finance, operations, capital access, paired with real support for the isolation, emotional volatility, and decision fatigue that come with owning your own business.

You`ll have your own board of directors in your corner, including @bodespeaks plus a group of mentors, instructors, and coaches who`ve been exactly where you are.

Applications due October 1. Apply now at the link in bio.

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Open post by 8thirtyfour with ID 18089775152664042
You asked, we delivered. Introducing the Women's Owners Network - a new program built for what comes first, joining our proven Fellowship model to support Michigan women at every stage of business ownership. Whether you've got a team of 10 or it's just you and your laptop, you deserve a room full of women who get it. Six months of leadership, finance, operations, capital access, paired with real support for the isolation, emotional volatility, and decision fatigue that come with owning your own business. You'll have your own board of directors in your corner, including @bodespeaks plus a group of mentors, instructors, and coaches who've been exactly where you are. Applications due October 1. Apply now at the link in bio.
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