Enhance your SEO skills through experimentation

The world of SEO keeps evolving and changing, which is why it’s important to keep developing your own skills. An excellent way to do this is via hands-on experimentation. In this post, I’ll share three valuable lessons I’ve learned from my previous ventures.

Where it all started

A bit of background information: I started experimenting with SEO in 1999 without realizing it, when I created a South Park fan website. This was done via my early foray into the fundamentals of HTML and having fun with the site through different experiments. I discovered that by manipulating meta keywords, I could influence search rankings. Nowadays, that tactic wouldn’t fly, but it’s still incredible that I learned about SEO this way rather than the more predictable entry through my first professional jobs! 

It didn’t stop there, though. I kept learning by starting my own businesses and creating my own websites and plugins, which gave me invaluable insight into customer behavior, product development, and marketing. Plus, I gained a deeper understanding of website structures and functionalities, which we all know is invaluable for technical SEO.

Tip 1: Embrace experimentation

It’s unsurprising, then, that my first piece of advice is: embrace experimentation. That’s how I learned most of what I know. Simply start by experimenting on your own personal website or create a new site to work with. If you use tools like LocalWP, you can freely experiment without impacting live websites. 

And don’t shy away from getting your hands dirty with code! Writing code might seem daunting at first, but I promise you it pays off. I taught myself coding in PHP around 2002 and figured it out quite quickly, approaching code like a puzzle I needed to solve. If I could figure it out on my own during my teenage years (when the technology was in a much earlier stage), then you can too. 

Explore new technologies and platforms

We all know WordPress is great. I think so too. It’s a truly unique and amazing platform to get started with, because it allows you to extend and experiment with plugins, as well as being able to create custom websites to your heart’s desire. 

In recent years, more CMSs (content management systems) have launched as well as really upping their game to the wider market. Whilst a lot can be good for simpler needs, my preference always naturally returns to WordPress as my experiments and scaling attempts will always eventually hit a wall with other CMSs out there.

Create that website for someone else

After you’ve experimented and gained an understanding of websites and SEO, people you know may start to ask you to build one for them, or help out with one they have already. Whilst this may sometimes seem annoying at the time, it’s a great opportunity to experiment with someone live on the web so you can create a use case for your work.

Working with different people and businesses will make sure you encounter different challenges and opportunities to develop new skills. This will ultimately enhance your SEO capabilities.

Tip 2: The importance of a customer-centric mindset

One venture I learned many lessons from is from when I owned a bar with my wife. Whilst this was far from SEO, it taught me many lessons, some of which I apply in my job today.

It’s the same with any business, online or physical. If you understand who your customer is, you can create content and products that resonate with them. This will make them much more likely to become your customers. With a physical business, it’s easier to engage directly with the customer, but in the digital world this can be more challenging. You can learn a lot by engaging with individual customers or end-users directly through a video call or meeting them in real life—try to do this for your clients or the company you work for.

An interesting story of brand loyalty: one day the bar received a one-star review on TripAdvisor. The reviewer said they were happy with their visit in general – with great service and wine – but there was a dog in the bar, which seemed unfair considering that the dog was 3 tables away from the customer and that it’s a dog-friendly bar (as most are in the suburbs). However, this does happen to businesses from time to time and we replied to the review. Back at the bar, some regular customers noticed the review and decided to add their own—all 5 stars. Three days later, the review was removed. This brought our average rating up as a result, which also improved our ranking within TripAdvisor.

This really brought home that not only can a disproportionately negative review have real consequences for a business and its owners, but also showed how brand loyalty counts for so much.

By nurturing and maintaining a relationship with your audience, people will talk about you online and offline. 

Tip 3: Be mindful of niche trends

Remember NFTs? Non-Fungible Tokens are a form of digital asset all powered by the blockchain and were extremely popular during 2020-2022. You may have seen a couple of them, including Bored Ape Yacht Club—a generative NFT collection—or a single NFT by Beeple sold for $69.3m.

During its increased popularity, I co-founded an NFT marketing agency. One SEO tactic I used was to utilize my existing agency and create a landing page there to sell the service, using the site’s existing relevance and authority. As a result we began ranking quicker than any other agency was attempting to, whilst also using our newly built site to do the same. Building something from the ground up is a long process but is still worth it, as even the new agency’s site ranked independently and earned its own authority.

Avoid putting all your eggs in one trendy basket

Whilst the NFT marketing agency gave me a lot of invaluable experience and garnered new connections, the trend—and therefore the business—didn’t last.

This experience highlighted the limitations of niche trends for me. It was a great learning experience, but it taught me that trends are usually not a solid foundation for any long-term goals you might have. Whilst it’s great to go “all in” on a new venture, ensure that your current one is supported enough or balance both until one gets to a position you make yourself redundant in the other.

Get experimenting!

I hope this post helps nudge you to explore beyond business as usual. After all, the best way to enhance your SEO and other professional skills is by experimenting!

How conversational content can help your marketing efforts

Another way to market your product or service? Really? Yes, we’re really looking into something new today. But don’t worry. It’s not groundbreaking. If you look at how the internet and your audience’s interests have changed, you’ll understand why conversational content might be worth investing in.

Does this interest you?

That’s the big question you want to ask your audience. Because you want to write content that interests them, and yet… Something’s not going right. With Reddit moving up in the search results, instead of actual blog posts, there’s a trend happening that people can’t seem to make sense of.

Except it does make sense. People want to read what interests them, and lately, they haven’t been interested in the cold and business-like approach that most websites and blogs have adopted. And let’s be real with ourselves, what’s more appealing? 

The latest shift has indicated that audiences engage more frequently with content that’s written in a semi-casual or even fully casual style, with syntax one might use while talking. 

Or: I’ve noticed that my blogs get more engagement when I talk about personal preferences and experiences. Here’s what I did. 

Yep. It’s the latter, isn’t it?

Why the shift towards conversational content?

Listen, we don’t want to blame AI again, but… It’s not helping. It makes every blog post sound the same; worse, it’s not even right half the time. That’s why we don’t want to read a fully-generated blog post either. And yes, we can tell it’s generated. A lot of people can nowadays.

Conclusion: people can tell when content is generated, and they don’t want it. They want authenticity. Which is why they go to… Reddit. Because there, humans give advice to and talk about their problems with other humans. 

What about influencers?

Good question (I once read a blogger complain about the use of questions in headings, because it’s not an interview, they said, but it reads more like a conversation this way, doesn’t it?). Influencer marketing doesn’t work as well as it used to, mostly because people aren’t clueless. They can see through the beautiful photos/videos/words. They know the influencer is being paid to say positive things, making it less appealing and ineffective. 

Don’t entirely give up on influencers

What does seem to work is working with micro or nano influencers. People with a small following usually have a better connection with their audience. Their brand deals are also less common, because they’re not well-known, so they’re not throwing commercial after commercial at their followers. Plus, the brands who sponsor/work with them might be smaller too, and more fitted with the micro/nano influencer’s own brand. 

Though the reasons might be varied, they all boil down to the same thing: the content of micro and nano influencers is more authentic. 

A shift in the audience’s needs

You’ve probably heard the phrase “Write for your users”. Yes, we’ve used it too, because the underlying message isn’t wrong. You should write content that interests your users. The problem is that people don’t want to read cold and factual content anymore. They want to have a conversation with you. 

So what should you do?

Take a look at your own content. Try to see how you can make it more authentic, more genuine, and how you can add value to your audience. And no, we’re not talking about how your product adds value. We’re talking about your content. Your brand.

Brand marketing is where it’s at

Yes, it sounds like a no-brainer, but hear us out. Let’s say you’ve been seeing posts and content from a brand that really inspires you. It makes you laugh, it makes you think, it makes you feel connected to the brand. When you eventually visit their website and see their product, which aligns with their brand, you’ll probably feel more inclined to buy/subscribe. 

Why? Because you’ve not been beaten to death with commercials or ads or buy our fastest, bestest, newest solution that will change your entire life. You will look back at your life Before Our Product and think: Wow. How could I have ever lived without Our Product?  

That kind of marketing becomes exhausting. Plus, it doesn’t mean anything. Everyone’s the fastest, and everyone’s product is the best. We don’t believe it anymore, and you probably don’t either.

Be genuine with your brand marketing

People are looking for authentic web experiences. They don’t want to walk into a sales pitch, even though that’s exactly what half (if not more) of the web is nowadays. Visiting a website is like opening your front door to someone selling vacuum cleaners. It’s exhausting. 

You have to establish a real connection first. So foster your brand’s identity. Show concern for your users and their lives. Talk with them like a real person would. Have a dialogue with them. And please don’t ask people to open their wallets and fork over money without even saying hi, how are you? first.

Read more: Should your content be globally relatable? »