It’s understandable, when I talk to new prospects the first thing they want when I ask for their goals with SEO is to rank on page 1 – because that’s where it’s all at. Sure, a few years ago I could agree with that. However, how does being on page 1 relate to your business needs? In fact, what does “page 1” mean?
The world of SEO has changed and it will change all of the time. In fact, we’ve entered into a time where SEO has taken on a completely new meaning. It’s not so much about “page 1” but more about opportunities to drive relevant, actionable traffic that has a chance to convert with you! This is what many in the industry term as Holistic SEO.
What Is Holistic SEO?
Holistic SEO is about having a more complete way of bringing traffic to your site. It’s about engaging with people and giving them a natural reason to come see what your site has to offer. That also means that it’s about looking for all of the different ways that people can find you. What it really comes down to is a marketing strategy!
What Does Page 1 Mean?
I like to ask prospects what do they intend to have happen if they get to “page 1”? Responses generally revolve around: “I don’t know, I guess business”, “I’ll get traffic”, “…”. These answers aren’t bad, but they illustrate that there’s no thought process to after getting to that coveted page. Maybe something magical happens on page 1?
So if I get you to page 1, the problem, it seems, is that nobody quite knows what to do next. Sales don’t magically happen. And even if you get all of the traffic in the world and they don’t know what to do once on your site it’s not going to mean a thing.
Strategy
Strategy, in my opinion, is much more important than ranking. If we have a strategy it means we’re working towards some kind of a goal. We’ve developed steps on what we want to do and what we intend to do with it. How do we want traffic to come to our site? Who do we want to come to our site? Who do we want to engage on our site and how we want that engagement to happen?
Goals
A holistic approach to SEO includes having some goals. Sure, we want to sell what we have but, well wait. I’m sure we’ve all been into a retail shop. You walk in and someone asks “can I help you?” If you say no then you’re probably able to help yourself. If you say yes you get some help. You’re starting to go through a sales process. You’re taking in content in what you see and what you hear. You’re ultimately presented with what you’ve been looking for and you either buy or pass. And ideally you’ve stopped into that store because you were looking for something, either somewhat general (just looking) to specific (ready to buy).
Holistic SEO can help your website and more importantly the visitors to your website. This is why the golden ticket of page 1 might not be so golden anymore.
Want to discuss more about Holistic SEO? Please call Patrick at 905-943-2985 x108.
