Search Engine Optimization: Build on What You’re Already Doing Right

I recently got a great reminder of  how powerful search engine optimized content can be.

While reviewing the stats for my alternative finance site, the list of top keywords web searchers used to find it caught my eye.  I was surprised by the results and – after doing a little further checking – delighted to find that not one, but two articles I had written, posted and forgotten about were popping up on  first page search results – for pretty competitive terms. (Don’t you just love working on something once and having it produce results for months and years to come? )

But, that isn’t the best part – the really exciting part is that longer terms I didn’t target (specifically) were also pulling in traffic!  There was enough overlap between what I had written and those longer search phrases to draw traffic to a site that I hadn’t added to in months.

Inspired, I looked closer at the stats (FYI – I use Awstats available as part of BlueHost’s hosting package) – and saw that the average visitor to this site was returning between 6.5 – 7 times per month – even though the site has less than 30 pages of content and hadn’t been updated since May.

Pretty exciting stuff!

These were small victories – but still highly motivating. I always intended to get back to work on the site eventually (it is, after all, my pet project ) – but had back-burnered it to work on more pressing projects.  I had relegated that site to “some day” so I could focus on whatever was on my “must do” list at the time. Although overall traffic to the site is low at this point – these two pieces of information (top keywords and repeat visitors stats) opened my eyes to what was possible if I take ACTION.  IF I commit to adding fresh and informative content to it  – on an ongoing basis.  If I can get these results after just a few months and with less than 30 pages of content – imagine the potential after another year or two – and another couple hundred (or more) pages of content?

I can’t wait to find out!

How about you – what have you already done right? Even the smallest success is still a success – and a great building block for much bigger and better things.

Til Next Time,

P.S. The top keywords report in Awstats is also a great way to brainstorm new article ideas – take a look at your results and see if new article topics come to mind.  For more creative ways to kickstart your content marketing efforts, be sure to sign up for our eNewsletter!