Building a profile online isn’t magic

With Google, there are no guarantees of being able to cheat the system.  The search engine’s advice on visibility does not include a magic formula for success. They give simple advice on good practice. The fact is that a lot of optimisation is based on small changes, tiny little amends, everything from improving server speed through to the proper alt-tagging of images that all lead up to shuffling forward for more visibility. All this can end with the heavy refrain of an SEO expert explaining that it’s “a long process”.

So what can we be sure of? If ranking isn’t the be-all and end-all of success, then what can we do to help boost your profile online?

The best approach is to focus on growing an audience, telling your story and then driving a conversion or generating a lead.

A good looking website, with regularly updated content, will make what you do more sharable. People go on the internet to answer questions, so ask yourself this, does your website solve a need? Can you help people find the solutions they want? Google’s main driver for rankings are the number of links to your site. So rather than putting your website on directory sites - which Google now ignores - make your content the type of thing that people will want to share with people.

Here’s a few hints:

• Talk to people about what you do and help them learn about it, let your community do the work for you. Get them to talk about how great you are.
• Offer to go on other websites and talk about something of value. A blog post or article will link back to your site, people will share it and that in turn will increase your search engine rankings.
• Don’t just use social media to broadcast to a void. Find where your customers are online, engage with them and bring them with you. Make your site, business and brand as interesting as possible.

Active Profile is more interested in driving people to your website with great design, great ideas and fantastic copy. That’s the real secret to great SEO.