Gaining traction with an online audience is getting more and more difficult as new businesses join the fray daily, clamoring for attention and diluting SERPs with all-too-similar content. It’s just not enough to focus on on-site optimization anymore if you want to remain competitive.
You need to work with your Asheville social media services partner on new strategies that take advantage of off-site optimization opportunities to improve local search visibility. Here are just a few off-site optimization tactics to get you started.
1. Directory listings. If the lion’s share of your marketing focus and spend is geared toward social media management in Asheville, you might not give lowly directories a second thought (or even a first thought). However, this is a common mistake that can cost you.
When you forego directory listings, you miss out on a prime opportunity to capitalize on off-site optimization. Claiming listings with directories like Google Business allows you to control highly visible directory information, and often, you can claim your listing and enter current and correct information for your business for free. You can also list with industry directories to get valuable links that boost SEO and local visibility.
2. Participate in industry groups. Off-site optimization is a long game, as your Asheville digital marketing firm can tell you. Building an organic network of backlinks takes time, but it’s well worth the effort for the gains you make long-term. The same is true of building a reputation within your industry.
When you participate in industry-related groups like chat boards and become a notable member of your online community, you have the opportunity to build connections that lead to partnerships, online support and recognition, guest blogging and linking opportunities, the chance to participate in and/or sponsor local community events, and more.
This can significantly boost brand awareness and recognition, along with your network of backlinks, as well as increase opportunities to improve local search visibility. If getting recognized within a specific geographic region is important to your business, coordinating online and real-world efforts is essential.
3. Work with your Asheville digital marketing team on social media marketing strategies. Social media platforms have become an excellent means of expanding your SEO efforts outside of your website. With help from your partner in social media management in Asheville, you can devise strategies to use your social media accounts for content marketing, advertising, and even direct shopping, just for example.
Whether you’re looking to boost your optimization efforts, you want to increase organic link-building opportunities, or you’re interested in driving traffic and sales, social media can give you the platform you need to increase visibility and expand your online presence. If you’re not taking full advantage of social media for off-site optimization, now is the time to increase your efforts.
This is important for local visibility, as well. Using social media to showcase your local environs and tout participation in local events is a no-brainer. You can even improve engagement by encouraging local audience member participation with your brand, through photo entries, scavenger hunts, and other forms of on-the-ground gamification, just for example.
4. Don’t rest on your linking laurels. So, you’ve built a reputation and a solid network of backlinks. Now what? If you don’t maintain your linking network, you’re going to lose out on those hard-won SEO boosters and limit your reach, locally and otherwise.
Websites frequently update and change their site structure, or even migrate to new domains, and that can mean that you end up with broken links. In addition, your own website may perform updates that render certain existing backlinks useless. With the right tools, you and your partner in digital marketing in Asheville, NC can track broken links and reach out to websites to fix them or replace them with links that better suit your current SEO strategies and content.
5. Encourage content sharing with your Asheville social media services firm. SEO requires a lot of work on your part, whether you and your partner in digital marketing in Asheville, NC are devising on-site or off-site strategies. However, you can also find ways to virtually crowdsource your efforts and increase local search visibility in the process.
The best way to do this is by creating shareable content with embedded links that contain geo data. Whether you’re posting copy, infographics, or videos, finding ways to boost sharing allows your audience to do the heavy lifting for you, increasing your reach with far less effort on your part. Of course, the difficulty is in creating relevant, timely, entertaining, and overall valuable content that followers are compelled to share, but if you can hone your strategy, you’ll get a lot of free help in the realm of off-site optimization.
If you’re interested in off-site optimization like social media marketing, content marketing, and more, contact the talented and experienced team at Barking Dog today at 828-450-2551 or online to learn more and get started.