According to freelance SEO consultancy, Digital Cornerstone, when building out your online presence, SEO and content creation are very important in making your business easier to find and engage with. The easier a potential customer can find you, the easier they will be able to purchase goods and services from you.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization -- how your website and online presence ranks on Google and other search engines. 

The more optimized your website and content is, the higher it will show up in Google searches when customers are searching in your area (and across the country). Since less than 1% of people (searching on Google) click past the first page of searches, it’s important to implement to make sure your business is seen.

Although search engines generally use a complex algorithm to determine what websites rank higher than others, creating content for your customers consistently has typically been shown to be a great way to provide value for your customers as well as improve SEO.

What is content?

Content is information with a purpose for a targeted audience (in this case, likely your customers or potential customers). The purpose may be to entertain, educate, or persuade - and could be photos, videos, or written. 

Anything ranging from social media posts, written blog posts, press + PR, podcasts, video blog posts, e-books, and guest posts on other blogs and publications are all examples of content.

Make sure that all content you create is linked to your website to enhance and improve SEO.

An important area to focus on when creating content is to make sure that it is valuable for the intended audience.

Customers are more likely to be engaged with content they can learn from or be entertained by.

Instead of just sharing photos of your products or services, we recommend creating more creative videos or blog posts to share ways to use your products creatively or even the behind the scenes of your life in the business. 

If you’re looking for more ideas for creating content and improving SEO, check out this link.

Creating Your First Content Calendar

In order to stay organized and not get overwhelmed, we recommend creating a content calendar.

We recommend posting content consistently - there are many recommendations for frequency that vary, but the most important aspect is that you are posting quality content that will engage your audience.

Many businesses will spend a day or two planning out their entire month of content so it’s easier to manage. 

A content calendar will allow you to plan out multiple posts and topics. These posts can be photos on social media, blog posts on your website, articles that have been written about you by the press, or videos you’ve created. 

You can also reshare content from other people and businesses that relates to your audience - just make sure you give them credit when you share it to your audience.

To stay organized, we recommend using a platform such as HootSuite or Loomly. Many of these platforms will allow you to link your social media accounts so that you can schedule posting ahead of time as well.

If you don’t want to use a platform, you can also use a spreadsheet or online calendar to plan out the weeks or months ahead. If you decide to go this route, make sure to include the title and written content of the post, photos (if any), and hashtags to make it easy to post when the day comes.

Creating valuable content and SEO go hand in hand, and it’s an important part of making sure your online presence is solid.