THEY LOST ME AT ALGORITHMS
by Althea Halchuck
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) is a fancy name for using internet tools to increase a business’s presence on the web and drive sales. When someone searches on Google or Bing for a product or service I sell, a business like mine, or my geographic area, my business website might be able to move up a notch in search engine results through SEO. It has something to do with algorithms, keywords, and data.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website from search engines. SEO targets unpaid traffic… which may originate from different kinds of searches, including image or video, academic, news, and industry-specific vertical search engines. (Wikipedia)
“Unpaid traffic” is the key here because those who pay will be at the top of the search list with “Ad” in their title. You’ve all seen and drilled down past them; I know I have in almost every Google search. Wikipedia continues…
As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, the computer-programmed algorithms that dictate search engine behavior, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines, and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience.
It makes sense, in a scary sort of way, that keywords drive this train. I am the Queen of Google, and at this point in life, who isn’t? We all are curious to immediately know the answer to a burning question, such as while watching Outlander, “How tall is the lead actor? (6’3”, in case you wondered.) The magic of Google is that you often get way more than you asked for, including hundreds of photos and info on whether the two main characters in Outlander are romantically involved in real life. (Just good friends, despite their obvious on-screen chemistry.) You can fall down the rabbit hole looking at Google hits instead of the show. Another question, “Can you freeze Gazpacho?” Answer: (“It freezes quite well if you don’t make it too chunky.”) Thousands of hits on both questions, the most relevant ones at the top, if you ignore the Ad hits and Gazpacho recipes.
In a Guerilla Marketing Tactics webinar, I learned that togrow my business, I need a “call to action,” i.e., to ASK for something rather than waiting for nature to take its course. For example, in the beginning, I had been blogging steadily, but I had NO Blog subscribers, not from my family, friends, or even my husband. It’s not that my writing is bad or the topics are not interesting. On the contrary, I posted a few blogs on other sites and received favorable comments, including a podcast invite. Following the Guerilla Tactic, I put the word out to various friends and colleagues to please subscribe to my blog. As of today, I have 69 subscribers (although still not my husband), and thanks to analytics, another term like algorithms I learned, “Old Man’s Friend, Refuse Antibiotics to Achieve a Peaceful Death.” was the most read of all my blogs, so far.
I learned some things about this “blog subscribing” adventure and SEO. First, you NEED TO ASK PEOPLE to subscribe. Once I did, I got a lot of new subscribers. If people like what they read and SHARE or COMMENT on LinkedIn or Facebook, even better, as this is also magically picked up by SEO and helps drive your business.
Second, MAKE WHAT YOU ARE ASKING FOR EASY TO SPOT. At first, you could only find my subscriber info by clicking on a blog post. People don’t like wasting time looking for something; one click should be the rule. I added more subscribers once I added a bold print Subscribe to the Blog’s first page. I also added an Unsubscribe and lost two subscribers. Ouch…
Third, INCLUDE A LINK that will bring people to the precise spot they need to be. This is the key to success. I thought my link was bringing people to the right place until I found the original link lost something in translation (algorithm??!!!) Check and double-check your links.
I am not sure if having people subscribe to my blog will change my internet presence or increase my business. Still, it’s been an interesting way to reach out and implement a tactic to get my message across, and I make asking a networking habit.
Although I’m still confused about algorithms, I get keywords and the ask. Here we go…Please subscribe to my blog using this link: Ending Well Patient Advocacy Blog. Did you get that, Hubby?Althea Halchuck, EJD, CT, BCPA
Death Maven ™
Ending Well! Patient Advocacy, LLC
https://endingwellpatientadvocacy.com
Text/Call: 978-618-7150
June 26, 2024