Often times when I talk to people about what I do, they get confused. There are many misconceptions out there about content and SEO, including: SEO only has to do with coding and the technical development of websites Content is easy to write and can be handled by anyone at the organization Content has no impact on SEO Again, for those of you who may just be skimming, the above bullet points are general confusions that people have when it comes to content and SEO. SEO and cont

So many people think that SEO is solely about the technical components of how a website is built, but content has a big impact on your search results. And it's not just any content; you should invest in content that is high-quality, thoughtful and useful to your readers. Here are three ways you can start thinking differently about how to approach SEO when it comes to your small business: Audit Your Content Many people only think about their onsite content once, during the sta

As a marketing and content consultant for small business, I have seen my fair share of bad ego-driven decisions and mistakes made by people with the best of intentions. Two most common both have a big impact on your SEO ranking. Mistake #1: Confusing User Experience One of the most common problems I see is business owners not having a grasp on what makes for a good user experience on their website. Mostly, this happens because small business owners organize a site in a way th

Over the years, I’ve answered a lot of questions about why a business should invest in SEO-optimized content. My answer is always the same: ultimately, creating more content that your target market is looking for will only help to build your business in the long run. But even with that response, many people are impatient about how quickly they see results from their commitment to SEO-enabled content. And to that, I say quite simply: SEO is a long-term investment. SEO is so mu

Content is king. Content is the new black. Content is the key to success. Perhaps you've heard one of these statements recently, since the importance of quality content has dominated the discussion when it comes to marketing, SEO or branding. And while quality is the operative word there, quantity also comes into play when it comes to content. Of all the mistakes I see clients make, a lack of consistency when it comes to content is the most common. Many of them set out with t

My first foray into the world of SEO was back in 2013, when I was working for a small business on their newly installed marketing team. Google had placed the company under penalty in 2012 for black hat SEO tactics, which was a fancy way of saying that they, like many other companies at the time, found a way to cheat the system. In order to help with the effort to pull the company I was working for out of penalty, it was necessary for me to learn the most radical changes that

In this digital, uber-connected world we live in, it's essential to the growth of your business to have the right first impression when people come to your website. More often than not, I see small business owners make many mistakes in how they communicate with customers and potential customers through their website. Content is often overlooked until it's not; when businesses hit a wall, or are looking to expand, it's near-impossible to achieve success without the right conte

When you run a small business, the small fires that have to be put out on a daily basis can make it difficult to focus on boosting your marketing efforts. I understand the hesitation to invest in the potentially time-consuming practice of blogging on a regular basis, but the benefits far outweigh any anxiety about time. And as far as money goes, according to HubSpot, 52 percent of companies who blog "indicated that leads from this channel were 'below average cost'" for inboun

There has been alot of buzz in the marketing world over the past few years about a concept called "content marketing." In fact, the Content Marketing Institute found that 55 percent of content marketers have no idea what content marketing success or effectiveness look like. In order to understand where you are going, you have to first have to understand the basics. So, welcome to Content Marketing 101! What is Content Marketing? It sounds complicated. Content Marketing is a