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How to do on-page SEO yourself

Here’s a quick tutorial that will walk you through how to do on-page SEO yourself. It will tell you where you need to place your SEO keyword phrase to optimize your web pages for best results with search engines.

How to do your own on page optimization

1. META and TITLE tag:

There are a series of tags in the header of each page – between the tags that contain information that describes the content on the page. The two tags you should focus on are the <TITLE> tag and the META DESCRIPTION tag.

The TITLE tag contains the words that show up at the top of your visitors web browser. They are also an indicator of page content. In other words, this is what people see when they pull up a description of your site. So, it’s a good idea to use language that’s enticing along with placing your keyword phrase here. Your page’s keywords should go in here.

They should also be the first words in the META DESCRIPTION, followed by no more than 160 characters. (Google doesn’t pay attention to anything past 160). You will find the tital tag and meta description tag on the back end of your WordPress site below the text box.

The META DESCRIPTION tag also describes the pages content and is used as a summary preview when the page is index by Google. Here’s what the title and meta tag would look like on the back end of this article.

Title Tag Example: <title>How to do your own seo</title>

META Description Tag Example <meta name="description" content="How to do your own seo? This quick-read article will give you the basics on seo.CLICK HERE." /> *Quick tip: Put the words “CLICK HERE” at the end of all your meta descriptions. It’s a call to action that emphasizes the web searcher click on the link and go to your site.

2. URL tag:

Make sure your keywords are in your URL or web page name. Keywords in a URL are a great indicator of the page’s content so Google will use this as a key indictor on ranking the page. On the back of your WordPress site you can edit your url by clicking on the edit button beside the permalink under the page or post title. See image below for placement. As you’ll see, the title of the post and URL have the same keyword phrase.

3. <H1> and <H2> tags:

Your seo keywords should appear at least in one set of the headline tags on your page using the <h1></h1> tags. Be sure to use <h2></h2> or <h3></h3> subheads through the article too and sprinkle related keywords in these. If you don’t know much about web code putting a phrase in h2 tags is easy.

And so you are clear what h2 tags do, if you look at the bold headlines in this article, for example where it says “how to do SEO yourself” above, that’s an h2 headline. You can size headlines easily and here’s how:

When you are in WordPress writing an article, flip over to text mode by clicking the “Text” tab at the corner of your text box (beside where it says” Visual” – top right of the screen). Then, locate the phrase you want to bold. Put the h2 tag code around it. That looks like this: <h2>How to do your own SEO</h2>

4. Image ALT tag:

Using one image for each page or post is essential for seo best results. Search engines look at the “ALT” tag description of the image. Your keyword phrase should be placed in the alternative tag box. This is what the back end of the image looks like on this post.

5. Body text:
Your keywords should appear three to four times through out the body text on a page. Feel free to use synonyms. If you put too many keyword phrases in your text, the Google algorithm will penalize you. This practice is called keyword stuffing. A lot of seo’ers tried to trick the system, but Google’s been adapted to deal with this.

As you can see, it’s fairly easy to learn seo yourself. If you have any questions give us a call or order the book, which includes up to 30 minutes of free coaching.

Materials handling and social media

These days, it’s crucial your materials handling company has an active social media presence. Not only does it give your company credibility, it’s also an incredible way to grow your business. You can use social media to grow your following, get more viewers on YouTube, educate the public about your business/products and communicate with your target market.

However, once again, if you are not careful with your social media strategy, you can do more damage than good to your brand. Here are some important things to keep in mind.

Materials handling and social media:

If you want to see a materials handling company doing a great job with social media, check out TPC Automation.com on Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In.

Here are some of things they do effectively:

Post frequently on social media. Few will find you if you don’t post on a regular basis. Post often and post great stuff and they will become programmed to watch for you. If they go to your social media feeds and see stale content they may not return.

Post valuable content. Post the content you generate for your web site and email lists to social media. Give great stuff away often. If you help your audience they will come to you for assistance. If you’re too salesy you will seem pushy and self-centered. People aren’t attracted to this behavior.

Share other people’s content. Don’t just self-promote. When you post other people’s content it’s an easy way for you to grow your list. When you share other people’s content they will notice you. If they post your material to their list you will reach more people.

Make sure you have social media links on your web site: Every web site should have social media buttons that link to their company’s profiles on social media. Make sure that they work by testing each link yourself.

What social media platforms should your business establish?

To be competitive in social media you’ll want to establish a presence on the following platforms:

1. Facebook

2. Twitter

3. Linkedin

5. Pinterest – It’s not necessary, but highly valuable for some businesses. Female-centric products and services should use Pinterest. It is very popular among middle-aged women.

For each platform, create consistent graphics to your brand to dress your company’s page. It’s always a good idea to involve a graphic artist to do this work, so it looks clean and professional.

Learn more about social media and how you can use it to grow your materials handling business. Order a free 60-page book (and get an ebook version right away) called: Digital Secrets for companies in Materials Handling. CLICK on the button below to request your free copy:

Material handling email funnels

Once you get set up on an email marketing platform, the first thing to do is to ensure you hook it up to the lead capture forms on your web site. That way, when a site visitor signs up on your site their contact information goes directly into your email marketing system and database of contacts.

What do you do with that contact information? Get in touch with them as soon as possible. Do not let your contacts sit there for a long time while you figure out what to do next.

When a contact signs up on a form on your web site, you immediately know they are interested in your brand and what you have to offer. It won’t take long before that excitement dies and they forget. So, get in touch with them immediately. If you use a system like Infusionsoft this can be automated.

The other important thing you need to do before you start sending emails is understand anti-spam laws.

Read about the American email law called CAN-SPAM at:http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/can-spam

Read about Canadian email law at: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/casl-lcap.htm

Materials handling email funnels:

The two most strategic email marketing funnels

An email funnel is a strategically planned sequence of emails that is intended to produce a specific outcome. An effective one takes contacts on a journey and primes them to take a specific action. There are two popular email funnel formats, for two customer segments. They are:

1. New Contact Funnel – for people new to your brand

2. Existing Customer Funnel (sometimes called a “nurture funnel”) – a “stay-in-touch” funnel that keeps you top of mind

Here is the basic premise of a New Contact Funnel:

A contact enters the funnel -> receives a number of emails with giveaways (useful content, etc) on a regular basis -> is asked to make a purchase

Here is the basic premise of an Existing Customer Funnel:

A contact that has already purchased enters the funnel -> receives a sequence of emails with giveaways on a regular basis that prime them to continue to purchase -> makes another purchase -> continues to receive emails….

The two funnels should be connected, so that anytime a lead makes a purchase they go into the existing customer funnel. This way, they will be nurtured to continue to buy and/or or engage with your brand.

A Materials Handling example of how to use email effectively:

Case study: A dealer of warehouse racking has a list of contacts comprised of warehouse managers in their sales district. They want to use email to boost sales. Here’s what they should do:

Step 1: Generate great content for warehouse managers that helps them understand racking and optimize their warehouse for efficiency, spacing saving and productivity about. Content could be in the form or: Articles, white papers, links to videos, infographics etc.

Step 2: Give away the great content for free on email each week.

Step 3: Approx. 10-15% of the time offer them a deal on rack. This could be a limited time racking special. It’s important to note: You want to send them great free stuff regularly first so they enjoy your emails and trust your brand.

Step 4: Once you’ve offered your contact to buy a product, contacts that do purchase should go into the existing nurture campaign where you continue to give them great stuff and upsell them once and a while on new products. If they bought from you once, chances are, they will buy from you again.

For B2B companies with largest services and products, you’ll want to use the same strategy. However, for you, it’s more about brand awareness. Create yourself as an experts resource, so you stand out in your industry.

Purchasing an email marketing platform

Many companies don’t yet understand how impactful email marketing can be as a method of growing their business. The marketing budget for email is minimal and many businesses use inexpensive platforms such as Mailchimp, Constant Contact and iContact, to send mass emails.

While these platforms are less money and do offer some ability to track emails sent, they are not at all comprehensive. The services they provide are somewhat limiting.

Companies who are serious about using email marketing to generate sales should invest in an email marketing platform such as Infusionsoft. It is one of the top email marketing platforms currently on the market. There is also Ontraport, Marketo, and several others. At CWD, we use Infusionsoft, so we will briefly highlight its benefits.

Purchasing an email marketing platform

What is Infusionsoft?

Infusionsoft is a comprehensive email marketing platform that’s hosted by the company Infusionsoft. To purchase Infusionsoft the initial investment is $1,000 to $2,000 for setup. There is also a monthly hosting fee of $300 to $500 per month. (Price is based on number of email addresses you’ll be sending to and features used.)

It offers more features than most basic email marketing platforms. Here are some of its advantages:

Email automation. You can set up large networks of automated email systems. Infusionsoft allows you to easily see what emails are being sent and when. Each email you create is mapped out on a grid, which provides a visualization of the system you design.

Web forms and landing pages. You can build web forms and landing pages in Infusionsoft. You can hook them up to email or you can use the url to post the form or page online (on social media, for example). When you build web forms the information that a contact enters into the form can be set up to populate under that contact’s record in the Infusionsoft database.

Lead score system. Infusionsoft allows you to track your hot leads. Based on information such as open rates and number of links clicked or actions taken, the system will rate the engagement levels of your contacts. You can set it up so you receive an alert when a contact is ready to buy. Or, you can nurture contacts that are losing interest, or have gone cold.

Keep your contact list organized. You can upload all your contacts into your Infusionsoft database and categorize them appropriately. You can apply tags, which are labels, to contacts based on their characteristics and behaviors.

Build emails. You can build your emails inside Infusionsoft. It’s very easy to create emails and upload pictures, email headers and footers. You can add links to your emails or upload attachments. It’s all very user-friendly.

Track engagement levels. There is an entire section with conversion reports that you can review on a regular basis. It provides you valuable information such as how many people are opening your emails, how many of them are clicking on links in those emails, and how they get into your system.

Customer support. Infusionsoft has live support staff that can help you with your campaigns and teach you how to use thesystem’s features.

Templates: Infusionsoft offers a marketplace that includes a gallery of email campaigns. Based on the emails you’d like to send, you can upload a template directly into your system and then personalize it. This makes it very easy to set up email marketing funnels if you are not yet an expert.

Email marketing for materials handling companies

Email marketing is a highly under-used digital marketing tactic. And it’s powerful. You can use it to grow your list of leads and turn those leads into buyers. But, it has to be used effectively, which requires learning a few critical and not always intuitive techniques.

It’s also important to understand that growing your materials handling sales through email marketing takes time. It’s a long-term strategy and one that does not always show results immediately. (Although, when done right, it can take as little as 90 days.)

Email marketing for materials handling companies:

If you want to increase your sales revenue by using email marketing to turn leads into buyers you first need to understand the greatest marketing error that many materials handling companies tend to make.

The No.1 email marketing pitfall

Email marketing requires a specific strategy to be effective. If you do email marketing the right way, you will produce results. If you don’t, you could damage your brand. You can also hinder your ability to use email to communicate with your contacts.

The number one thing to understand is that effective email marketers use email as a medium to:

1.Generate new leads and turn interested people into buyers

2.Keep existing buyers engaged so they are more likely to buy again in the future

Many materials handling companies are email blasters and they don’t know it. Email blasters turn people off in the hopes of landing a few sales. Read these definitions to identify which category your business currently belongs to:

Definition of an email blaster: An email blaster uses email to try to get people to buy their stuff. They don’t consider that there are different groups of people with different needs on their list of contacts. The goal of an email blaster is to sell their stuff to whoever will buy it. They send emails with no strategy and no direction. Their email content is all about them. And they send email to anyone that they have an address for.

Definition of an email marketer: An email marketer creates a long-term sales strategy that has a specific end goal. They send emails to various groups of people. The emails offer valuable content that speaks to the subscribers This builds desire, trust, and loyalty. They ask people to buy when appropriate. Their email content shares expertise that is of interest to subscribers.

If you find yourself in the email blaster camp, don’t feel bad, that is where most people find themselves. Why? Email marketing is still a relatively new form of marketing. Especially in the materials handling industry. There are only a handful of highly effective email marketers.

Many B2B companies also overlook the potential of email marketing. Though they are not necessarily selling a list of products, email can still be used for brand awareness and engagement.

If you follow a few basic steps you can easily create an effective email marketing system that helps you grow your list, generate more sales, communicate directly with your audience, and ultimately, make your company more money.

There are four important steps to follow to implement email into your marketing strategy:

Step 1: Purchase an email marketing platform

Step 2: Setup your email funnels

Step 3: Learn how to write great emails and share great content (see these pallet rack guys)

Step 4: Track your progress and tweak your strategy