Al Capone terrorized Chicago for years before being brought to justice by Eliot Ness. Few people dared to challenge this ruthless gangster because he massacred at will. His reign of terror ended when he was sent to prison for tax evasion.
It seems odd that a man who committed so many crimes in public would go to jail for failing to pay his taxes. It was an anti-climatic end to his crime spree, but it was the only way to stop him. Tax evasion charges don't require witnesses, who had a way of disappearing before they could testify.
Charging Capone with tax evasion wasn't sexy, but it worked.
Using social media to improve your search engine optimization is similar. It isn't sexy like viral videos and popular posts, but it works. And, it keeps working. Day after day, month after month, it sends people to your website or blog. Optimizing blog posts, tweets, and Facebook/LinkedIn updates creates a steady flow of targeted traffic. And, it does so at no additional charge. In other words, it is FREE.
Here are some tips to improving your natural search ranking:
- Keep a list of your top ten keywords next to your computer. It provides an easy reference so you can include them in your messages when appropriate.
- Add SEO titles, descriptions, and keywords to your blog posts. Some themes have the fields built in to make it easy. If your theme doesn't include search tags, get a plug-in or do it manually.
- Know the difference between a headline and a title. A headline attracts people. A title attracts search engines. Use your knowledge wisely.
- Optimize your images with keywords and alternate titles. Search engines can't "read" a picture, but they will index the text.
- If you are new to search engine optimization, your older posts won't be optimized. Set aside some time every week to update them. The search engines will give them a second life.
- Make your blog or website load quickly. Your optimization benefits will be reduced if your pages are slow to load.
- Create a sitemap to make it easy for search bots to find all of your pages.
When you've optimized your messages, your traffic from natural search increases. At first it may not seem like much, but it builds over time. New visitors will find their way to you every day making your social media presence a real networking opportunity.