Is your WordPress website slow? Or perhaps slowing down?

In this article I’ll detail all the different ways to speed up WordPress. Doing so will make your website lightning fast. You’ll provide a better user experience. And you’ll increase your chances of converting visitors into customers.

Table of Contents:

– Why Website Speed Matters
– Best Website Speed Test Tools
– Ways To Speed Up WordPress

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Why Website Speed Matters

Users expect a site to load in less than 2 seconds, and almost half of those will leave a site that takes longer than that to display a page.

Do you find yourself always leaving websites that take too long to load? I know I do. According to Kissmetrics, 47% of users expect a site to load in less than 2s and 40% will abandon a website if it takes more than 3s.

I don’t know about you, but I think 40% is an alarming statistic! Having a slow website essentially means you’ve instantly lost 40% of potential sales.

There are many benefits to increasing your website speed. Some of these include higher Google rankings, more website traffic and improved user experience. All of which increase your conversion rate.

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Best Website Speed Test Tools

It’s important to note that each of them will give you different results. This is because they analyse your website in slightly different ways.

The best website speed test tool is the Google Lighthouse audit tool found within your Chrome Developer Tools. You could also use WebPageTest, GTmetrix or Pingdom. Google Lighthouse is by far the best tool for running speed tests though.

If I were to choose the 2nd best speed test tool, I would choose WebPageTest. Lots of options to test from different locations, devices and internet speeds. GTmetrix actually uses the same lighthouse metrics to test your site so best to get your data straight from the source. i.e. Google Lighthouse.

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9 Ways To Speed Up WordPress

1. Invest in performance focused hosting

2. Choose a server closest to your target audience

3. Use the latest PHP version.

4. Use a performance focused WordPress theme.

5. Minimise usage of plugins (as much as possible).

6. Integrate a premium caching plugin (if you don’t have server level caching).

7. Compress Images.

8. Optimise WordPress database

9. Run speed tests to see where improvements can be made.

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1. Invest in premium hosting

This is arguably the most important step and most effective way to speed up WordPress.

Hosting recommendations for different situations

– Simple Websites: if you have a relatively simple and static website (like this one), go with the entry level plan from Kinsta.

– WooCommerce websites: If you run a WooCommerce store, I recommend using something tailored to Woo stores like WooCart.

– On a budget but wanting performance: if you are on a budget but still want high performance, I recommend using Cloudways. You can pick between Google Cloud, Amazon, VULTR, Linode and Digital Ocean servers. I have a bunch of websites still with Cloudways that use a VULTR High Frequency (HF) server.

– eCommerce websites needing to scale: if you have a highly dynamic website that requires lots of resources then check out Pagely.

– eCommerce websites needing to scale ON A BUDGET: if you truly can’t afford Pagely, then I highly recommend JohnnyVPS. They can likely handle any website regardless of size, traffic and resource requirements. Johnny from JohnnyVPS is the definition of a performance expert. Check out my review of their services.

Just so you know, I use Kinsta and love it! I use them because they are all about performance. Kinsta uses the highest performance C2 machines from Google Cloud. Unlike other hosting providers (e.g. SiteGround) that only use Google’s general purpose machines.

I also recommend Cloudways, which I still use to spin up concept websites and play around. Cloudways is also performance focused with access to cloud hosting providers including: Amazon, VULTR, Linode, Digital Ocean and Google Cloud. Cloudways is cheaper than Kinsta but you need to know or at least feel comfortable with a little sysadmin.

For hosting providers that specialise in WordPress, check out my list of the best WordPress hosting providers in Australia.

Whatever you do though, don’t use poor hosting from the likes of GoDaddy or any of the subsidiaries owned by Endurance International Group (EIG). Some of these include Bluehost, Hostgator and JustHost.

You will most likely experience slow load times, poor support, frequent downtime and overall poor service. Here’s a good article that talks you through hosting providers to avoid.

Hosting providers to avoid

Below is a list of hosting providers I believe you should avoid (based on my own experience).

This list will likely grow over time. And I’m sure there a quite a few I forgot to add.

• any EIG owned hosting company
• GoDaddy
• Bluehost
• Hostgator
• Hostinger
• Justhost
• 1and1 (now called Ionos)
• A2
• Name Cheap
• OVH
• LiquidWeb
• InMotion Hosting

2. Choose a server closest to your visitors

Once you’ve decided on a premium hosting provider, it’s important to choose a server that is closest to your target audience and potential visitors. You don’t want your server in the US when your visitors are in Australia.

The greater the distance between your server and visitor, the longer the connection time.

To test your connection times, I recommend using a TTFB test tool from KeyCDN. They have a free tool that will show you connection times worldwide for your domain.

See screenshot below testing this website. Notice how the connection time aka Time to First Byte (TTFB) is ~30ms in Australia but almost 1s from Europe? Big difference and this is before your website content is loaded.

Pro Tip:

If you have visitors worldwide, then you’ll ALSO need to set up a content delivery network aka CDN. I recommend using CloudFlare to get started (it’s free to use).

3. Use the latest PHP version

There are two main reasons to use the latest PHP version…

Firstly, it will improve performance allowing your site to process twice as many requests.

Interestingly ~30% of websites still use PHP version 5, which is ~2 times slower than PHP 7.

The second reason is security. Just like any software, it’s best to run the latest and greatest version to keep up with recent security patches.

If you aren’t using PHP version 8 (this is the latest version), you could be missing out on a signficant performance and security boost.

4. Use a performance focused WordPress theme

Unfortunately most WordPress themes are not performance focused. Most themes are made with a gazillion features that make it easier to design and develop your website BUT slow your site down.

I recommend using Astra or Generate Press (this website is built using Generate Press).

The free versions are fine to start with. They have less design options but this means your site will be faster!

Just for this article I’ve created a new website using Astra, imported one of their free starter layouts and run a speed test. Even without optimising the website, the home page loads in under 1s!

5. Use Less Plugins

A great way to speed up your WordPress site is by simply using less plugins. Each plugin adds load time to your site.

It’s also important to delete any plugins that you aren’t using. Don’t just deactivate and leave them there. Doing this can also be a security risk.

More importantly than using less plugins is to remove resource intensive and slow loading plugins. Check out this detailed list of plugins to avoid.

6. Use a Premium Caching Plugin

Are you using a high performance host like Kinsta? Is your website caching done at the server level? If yes, well done, you don’t need a caching plugin. Your website should already be lightning fast. Faster than if it had a caching plugin installed!

If you haven’t upgraded to a performance focused host for whatever reason, I highly recommend investing in a premium caching plugin. I’ve performed countless miracles, optimising websites on super slow hosting like GoDaddy. Often reducing desktop load times from 10+ seconds down to ~1s, even on websites that use shitty hosting. Imagine how fast those sites might be on half decent hosting.

For more advanced users I recommend using Swift Performance. The premium version is great but they also have a decent free version.

WP Johnny has put together an epic guide to setting up Swift Performance. Make sure you check it out if you decide on using Swift.

For beginner users, I recommend using WP Rocket. Not as many advanced options as Swift but an amazing plugin that is very easy to set up.

Before picking a caching plugin, make sure you understand the differences between Swift Performance vs WP Rocket.

7. Optimise Media

Compress Images

One of the key components to load time is your overall website size. Most of which is made up of images. So optimising your images by compressing and removing unneeded EXIF data is key.

If your website uses video it’s also crucial to optimise the way they are loaded. Make sure you DO NOT upload videos directly to your website. Embed them instead. Most page builders like Divi and Elementor makes this very easy with video modules. Just copy paste your video URL.

Lazy Load Videos

I also recommend lazy loading videos so that they load upon user interaction. This will significantly reduce external requests and loading time. This is crucial. Don’t forget to do this.

Swift Performance comes with an image optimiser that is easy to use. It also optimises images on upload. So you can set and forget. Much better value than paying for a separate image optimisation plugin in my opinion.

8. Optimise WordPress Database

It’s important to optimise your database from time to time. For busy eCommerce websites this might need to be done weekly. For smaller, low traffic websites this might be monthly.

To clean and optimise your database it’s important to delete trashed posts and post revisions. Don’t let them build up.

The premium version of Swift Performance has a database optimiser making this very easy. Another great reason to use Swift. Always make sure to take a backup before optimising though!

I also recommend cleaning your wp_options table and removing autoload data that shouldn’t be there. It’s amazing how much stuff that loads that doesn’t need to. Usually from plugins and software deleted over the years. But also from poorly coded plugins and themes that make huge database queries. e.g. loading a huge list of google fonts, even though you only use one or none.

If your WordPress site has been revamped over the years, even just once, then I highly recommend learning how to do clean your wp_options table and removing autoloaded data.

It’s possible your wp_options table is so full of plugin and theme options that you have no idea what is what. Some plugins have really weird names that make no sense so it can be risky deleting rows that you aren’t sure about.

If this is the case, I recommend doing a fresh install of WordPress with a new database, exporting content from your current site, then importing into your fresh WordPress install. Only install the plugins you need. Note that I do not mean using a migration plugin – this would just copy the same bloated database over.

This could be a lot of work though… Good luck!

9. Run Speed Tests

Tips for running speed tests:

– Run test before and after integrating your caching plugin

– Run at least 3 tests for each configuration. e.g. 3 tests simulating throttling on mobile, 3 tests simulating throttling on desktop, etc. Also, there is often a significant difference between pre and post cached loading times, especially if you are using cheap hosting. If loading times differ significantly, it’s most likely related to poor hosting.

– Simulate desktop and mobile

– Make sure you check the box for simulated throttling.

– Test from your target audience’s location (WebPageTest has ~30 locations to test from). Testing from multiple locations is crucial if you manage an eCommerce website that sells to customers in multiple countries. If this is you, make sure you integrate a Content Delivery Network (CDN). Good hosting providers should have a CDN option built into their platform. e.g. Kinsta uses KeyCDN, Cloudways uses Stackpath.

Final Thoughts

There you have it. A bunch of ways to speed up WordPress.

The list I’ve provided covers the most important elements of page speed optimisation. I’ll cover more advanced tactics in a future post.

Feel free to reach out if you need help.

Good luck!

The post 9 Best Ways To Speed Up WordPress appeared first on Max Jacobs.

How would you like to learn just one link building strategy that streamlines all of your content creation and online efforts?

If you run a business, you’ve probably heard about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and the importance of a link building strategy and link building tactics to improve your search visibility.

Unfortunately there are 100’s of ways to build links, not all of which align with the Google Guidelines. People talk about tactics, strategies, white hat, black hat and a whole range of SEO jargon that gets confusing very quickly!

So in this article, I’m going to simplify everything. I’ll teach you the best link building strategy and share a link building tactic that isn’t risky AF.

Table of Contents:

– What is Link Building?
– Why is Link Building Important?
– Link Building Strategy
– Link Building Tactics
– Link Building Software
– Link Building Course

What is Link Building?

Link building is the practice of increasing the number of websites linking to yours.

More technically, it’s increasing the number of hyperlinks (aka backlinks) that take people from one location to another. i.e. from one website to another or from one webpage to another.

Why is Link Building Important?

To improve your search visibility and drive more traffic to your website, you should be doing two things. Firstly you should be creating keyword driven content on a consistent basis. If you’re not doing this yet, start doing it. Secondly, you should be building links to your newly published blog content.

But why is link building important? Well, the very first algorithm that Google used to rank webpages was based on the number and quality of links to a website. This was called PageRank.

Google’s algorithm is much more complex now but it still uses links to a website as the underlying factor to determine its authority and rankings. But not just any links. You have to have quality links that are gained naturally. i.e. from people that actually want to share your content not by participating in Link Schemes.

CAUTION: Don’t Participate In Link Schemes

Do not participate in link schemes. If you do, your website might get blacklisted by Google and disappear completely. This is known as Black Hat SEO and should be avoided at all costs. Also, If you plan on hiring an agency or freelancer to do your link building, I’d highly recommend making sure they aren’t using link schemes. If they say all of their methods are ‘White Hat’, kindly ask them to detail the actual methods they’ll be using. This way you can check for yourself against the Google Guidelines.

Link Building Strategy

What is Link Building Strategy?

Your Link Building Strategy is your overall plan of action to naturally gain backlinks to your keyword driven website content.

The Best Link Building Strategy

The best link building strategy and the ONLY strategy that you need is to create and share valuable content that actually helps your target audience.

Don’t just create content for the sake of creating content because everyone else is doing it. Research your competitors and see how they are providing value. Aim to create content that is 10x better than theirs. If you create and share valuable content, people will naturally share and link to it.

Link Building Tactics

There are 100s of link building tactics aka off page seo techniques that you can use. However, many of them go against Google’s Guidelines so you need to be careful. I won’t bother listing out the never ending list of tactics. Instead, check out this awesome article from Backlinko. It is the most complete list of off page SEO techniques that I’ve found!

However, I strongly believe that your tactics should revolve around building relationships with your audience and influencers within your niche.

One of the best ways to do this is by simply reaching out to people and helping them. By helping others and providing massive value, you will increase the chances of people naturally linking to your content.

One of the best ways to do this is through Email Outreach.

Gaining Backlinks Through Email Outreach

When it comes to email outreach, it’s all about personalising your emails and providing value where possible. You could reach out to a website owner letting them know how much you enjoyed one of their recent articles. Or perhaps let them know about a problem you found on their website.

Here’s a script I wrote to give you an idea. Please don’t use it word for word otherwise everyone’s email outreach campaigns will end up being the same! Try to personalise it as much as you can. Season to taste. i.e. re-write so that it matches your own style of writing and communication. 

Hi [insert name],

Your article about [insert article link] was really interesting!

I especially liked how you [insert something specific to their article].

While I was reading it I noticed you linked to another site talking about [insert topic].

So I thought I’d reach out and let you know that I recently wrote a detailed guide to [insert link to your improved article].

Do you think this might be of interest to your audience?

I believe it could be a nice addition to your page and something that could really benefit your audience.

Would love to know your thoughts…

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Talk soon,
Max

Link Building Software

Backlink building can take a LOOOONG time and a lot of effort. Thankfully, there are awesome tools that will make your life MUCH easier. They don’t build links for you (stay away from tools that do this) but they will speed up the whole process. Below are tools I use and highly recommend.

• SEMrush
• Hunter.io
• ActiveCampaign

SEMrush

This tool can be used to find link building opportunities (it’s actually an all-in-one marketing toolkit!). Instead of manually finding each website that has linked to similar content to yours, you can use SEMrush instead to find potentially 1000’s of potential websites to contact.

Here is how to find 1000s of backlink opportunities. I’ve used this article as an example.

1. Sign up to a SEMrush 7 day trial.

2. Type your topic or keyword phrase into Google to see the top result.

3. Copy paste the top Google result’s URL into SEMrush.

4. Go to the ‘Backlinks’ tab and view ‘Referring Domains’. These are all of the websites currently linking to the article.

5. Export CSV list of all referring domains. This is now your list of websites to contact using the aforementioned script.

Hunter.io

Hunter.io can literally save you 1000’s of hours. Instead of manually visiting the websites from your SEMrush CSV list and writing down their contact details, you can upload your list to Hunter’s Bulk Email Finder, which automatically finds email addresses associated to each website. Pretty cool aye!?

1. Start using hunter.io for free.

2. Use the Bulk Email finder. Click ‘New Bulk’ and upload your CSV file list. Hunter.io outputs a list of email addresses for you to contact 🙂

Active Campaign

Once you’ve got your list of emails, you’re finally ready to do email outreach. For those who prefer to automate their email outreach and don’t mind giving up some degree of personalisation, I recommend using ActiveCampaign.

I recommend using this tool for all of your email marketing efforts (not just email outreach for link building).

a. Sign up to ActiveCampaign.
b. Create a ‘List’ and import your CSV list of email addresses.
c. ‘Create a Campaign’
d. Make sure to include a couple follow-up emails.

Link Building Course

Need more help? There is an amazing online course called ‘The Authority Site System‘ that has taught me everything I know about link building, keyword research and content creation.

They even have a free training video that guides you step by step on how to do all of the above (+ much more).

Highly recommend if you are looking to learn!

Final Thoughts

Increasing the number of websites linking to yours is something that will happen organically if you focus on creating and sharing content that is valuable to your target audience.

The best link building strategy is simply creating valuable content.

There are 100’s of link building tactics you can potentially use but the tried and true tactic is email outreach.

I hope this article simplified this topic for you. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below.

The post Link Building Strategy & Tactics That Aren’t Risky AF appeared first on Max Jacobs.

How would you like more traffic to your website, more awesome customers and ultimately more growth in your business? But without spending money on ads?

To do this you need to focus on SEO aka Search Engine Optimisation.

BAD NEWS: most websites aren’t optimised for search engines like Google 🙁

GOOD NEWS: I’ve put together an On Page SEO Checklist to help optimise your website content for Google 🙂

Make sure you do the PREP work first though!

Table of Contents:

– What is On-Page SEO?
– Why is On-Page SEO Important?
– PREP: Keyword Research
– WORK: On Page SEO Checklist
– MONITOR: SEO Software Setup

What is On-Page SEO?

Before I explain On-Page SEO, it’s important to understand what SEO is.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It’s the process of optimising your business website for search engines. More specifically, optimising your content for specific keyword phrases so that your content gets ranked as high as possible in search engine results.

In other words, when someone is Googling and looking for a solution to their problem, you want Google to know that your website has the solution. i.e. has the most relevant piece of content for the solution that was getting Googled.

Hopefully that makes sense…

Highly optimised websites focus on all 4 areas of SEO including: On-Page SEO, Off-Page SEO, Technical SEO and Local SEO.

So, what is On-Page SEO?

Well, On-Page SEO (aka On-Site SEO) is the process of optimising all of the text content ON your web PAGE for a specific keyword phrase.

Each page of your website should have one primary keyword phrase that it is targeting. i.e. trying to rank as high as possible for in the search engine results.

For example, the primary keyword phrase for this article is ‘On Page SEO Checklist‘.

Why is On Page SEO Important?

On-Page SEO is important because Google literally says it is. And afterall, we are optimising our website for Google. So we should definitely listen!

When it comes to ranking websites, Google is pretty sophisticated. Put simply though, Google is looking for websites that contain the same keywords that people are Googling. So if want to rank for the keyword phrase, ‘On Page SEO’, then you better make sure this keyword phrase is contained within your article.

Google explains this on their website. See screenshot below.

Screenshot taken from Google’s article on How Search Works.

Keyword Research Checklist:

1. Find your primary keyword phrase.

– find a relatively high search volume, low competition keyword phrase.

– use a keyword research tool called SEMrush to find a relatively high search volume, low competition keyword phrase. This tool will save you sooo much time and ensure you aren’t wasting your efforts.

– Make the most of their 7 Day Free Trial.

2. Find secondary phrases that are similar to your primary keyword phrase.

– SEMrush makes this super easy.

– secondary keyword phrases are also known as long-tail keyword variations, which can be used to help structure your articles.

– you can also use Google to find long-tail keyword variations. See screenshot below. Just type in your primary keyword phrase and Google will do the work for you! Of course you won’t get search volumes, competitiveness or any of the other highly valuable data that SEMrush provides. But this is a good start!

Screenshot showing how to do Keyword Research on Google.

As you can see from my screenshot above, you can get a good idea about what people are searching for related to a topic. On Page SEO being this example.

3. Determine questions people are asking related to your primary keyword phrase.

– SEMrush will show you all the questions you target audience is asking.

– knowing the questions people are actually asking gives you lots of potential content to write about. You could also create FAQs relating to your topic. Or just use the questions to help structure your blog content.

WORK: On Page SEO Checklist

1. Add primary keyword to URL.
2. Add primary keyword to Title Tag and Meta Description.
3. Add primary keyword within H1 heading (use only one H1 heading).
4. Add primary keyword within the first 10% of your page’s text content.
5. Wrap subheadings in H2 tags (and H3, H4, H5 and H6 Tags where relevant).
6. Aim for keyword density from 1-2%.
7. Link to relevant pages within your website.
8. Link to relevant, high authority websites outside of your website.
9. Add primary keyword to image file name, title and alt text.
10. Add long tail keyword variations throughout your page.

Additional Tips:

– Use WordPress
– Install an SEO plugin called Rank Math, which guides you through each step.

MONITOR: SEO Software Setup

• Install an SEO plugin like Rank Math (recommended) or Yoast
• Integrate Google Analytics
• Setup Google Search Console

Final Thoughts About On-Page SEO

If you want to drive more traffic to your website, win more clients and grow your business without spending money on ads, start by following this On Page SEO Checklist.

But remember to do your keyword research first and setup all the necessary software to track everything moving forward.

Let me know if you have any questions!

The post 10 Step On Page SEO Checklist appeared first on Max Jacobs.

Step 1 of this Local SEO Checklist will get you on page #1 of Google and on Google Maps.

If you’ve tried SEO, you probably know that it’s all about creating keyword driven content on a consistent basis and praying people will share and link to it.

But creating content, optimising that content and doing link building campaigns takes a lot of effort. And getting results can take months, if not years.

So before starting an SEO campaign, you need some quick wins.

In this article I’m going to share the quickest and easiest way to get found online. A way to get your business on the front page of Google Search and on Google Maps (and more). 

8 Point Local SEO Checklist

1. Claim Google Business Listing
   
2. Optimise Your Website
   
3. Add Business Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP)
   
4. Get Citations
   
5. Set Up Social Media
   
6. Request Reviews
   
7. Create Consistent Content
   
8. Secure Backlinks

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1. Claim Google Business Listing

By following this first step, your business will have a listing on the front page of Google. This is the most important step of the Local SEO Checklist. It also links your local business to your website, which will be a huge signal to Google that your site is legit.

Steps:

a. Claim your Google Business Listing
b. Follow the prompts.
c. Fill out the ‘Info’ section
d. Once verified, your business will be shown on Google Search AND Google Maps. 

2. Optimise Your Website

The next thing you’ll need to do is optimise your website aka On-Page SEO. If you are lucky, you’ve already built your website using WordPress. If you have built your website using Squarespace, Shopify, Wix or a similar Content Management System (CMS), your options might be limited compared to WordPress.

WordPress vs website builders like Squarespace and Shopify

WordPress is a great platform that gives you more design and functionality options than any other CMS.

But platforms like Shopify and Squarespace are way more user friendly, especially for beginners. If you aren’t that tech savvy and don’t have the budget to hire a developer to create your website and maintain it month to month, then Shopify and Squarespace might be a better fit for you.

These platforms are subscription based platforms so all of the backend workings are managed by the platform. Unlike WordPress where you need to manage it all.

So on one hand you’ve got WordPress that can do almost anything. On the hand you’ve got all of the other subscription based website builders that are extremely easy to use but lack the design and functionality options you would get with WordPress.

If you haven’t started building your website yet and don’t feel comfortable doing your own WordPress website maintenance, I strongly recommend looking into Squarespace if building a basic business website and Shopify if building an eCommerce website. Even though you might still get a developer to design and build your website, you want a platform that is easy for you or anyone else to manage following project completion.

The rest of this article is going to talk more about Local SEO for WordPress websites, even though most of this checklist applies to all websites, regardless of technology used.

If you aren’t using WordPress, check out this Shopify Checklist to optimise your website for search engines.

Or this SEO Checklist for Squarespace.

And if you have or plan on building a Wix website, here is a Wix SEO Guide.

Local SEO for WordPress

To begin optimising your WordPress website, install and integrate an SEO plugin. I recommend using Rank Math SEO.

An SEO plugin isn’t a magic bullet, but it will help guide your Small Business SEO efforts. The main thing is making sure your website’s content is relevant to the topic you want to rank for. Let’s say you are a lawyer based out of Melbourne. If you want to drive traffic for people searching  for ‘Lawyers in Melbourne’, which gets ~1600 searches per month, then make sure your website’s text content talks all about Lawyers in Melbourne.

Steps:

a. Use WordPress for the many SEO benefits it has compared to other CMS platforms.
b. Integrate an SEO Plugin.
c. Do Keyword Research to determine high traffic, low competition keyword phrases.
d. Optimise your Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, URL’s, Headings and all text content to include the keyword phrases you found in Step C.
e. Follow prompts from SEO Plugin for each page. Examples might include ensuring your keyword phrase is used in the first paragraph, using just one H1 heading per page, use of H2-H6 headings that incorporate your keyword phrase, keyword frequency/density, total number of words, use of external links, etc.

To learn more, check out my On Page SEO Checklist.

3. Add Business Name, Address & Phone Number (NAP)

To ensure your new Google Business Listing is shown as high as possible within the listings, you’ll need to add your Business Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP) to your website’s footer on each page. Then add it to your Contact page and About page (if you have one).

It’s very important that your NAP is the same in all places. Not just on your website but every place found across the net. Consistency is key!

 4. Get Citations

Citations are places that reference your business including website link, business name, address and phone number. A great place to start is with local business directories like Google Business Listing (you should have already done this in step #1), Yellow Pages, Bing Local and True Local.

Steps:

a. add your business to Google.
b. add your business to Yellow Pages.
c. add your business to Bing Local.
d. add your business to True Local.

5. Set Up Social Media

If you haven’t already, set up your social media profiles. Start with platforms that your ideal customer uses. I recommend setting these up now even if you don’t plan on marketing through them yet.

Having a social media profile link back to your website will boost your local seo rankings. Each profile is like a citation with a backlink that increase your website domain authority. The more authority you have, the higher your rankings. Not to mention the ‘social signals’ that your website is getting when people interact with and share your content. The more social signals Google sees; the better.

There are 200+ social media platforms so you have quite a few options.

Steps:

a. a good start is with a Facebook business page.
b. add other social media profiles on platforms that your potential clients use.
c. make sure your website is using open graph meta tags so your content is shareable.
> Rank Math has this covered. Just add your social media profile links to its settings.

6. Request Reviews

Next you will want to start reaching out to previous clients and requesting reviews on all places where your business is listed. The most important place to start is your Google Business Listing.

Steps:

a. request reviews from previous clients by sharing your google business listing.
b. request reviews for all other business listings
c. request reviews for social media profiles like Facebook.

7. Create Consistent Content

This step is crucial to generating consistent leads. You don’t need to create content every single day (well done if you can!), but you do need to be consistent. Whether it’s monthly, weekly or daily, it’s all about consistency.

Steps:

a. research topics that your target audience actually wants to learn about.
b. create a 12 month content plan using a different topic each week.
c. commit to writing one blog article per week (or outsourcing it).
d. share it across all social media platforms.
e. send out to your list of email subscribers.

8. Secure Backlinks

This step is often the most difficult part of a Local SEO Checklist. However, if you are creating epic content, your followers will likely share your content,  ultimately resulting in people linking back to your website (aka backlinks). So it could be easy…

Steps:

a. create epic content.
b. share your content (hopefully people love it!)
c. get some quick wins/backlinks by reaching out to website owners that you actually know. Ask them if they can link back to your home page.
d. then start reaching out to relevant website/blog owners that you don’t know and seeing if they’d like to link to some of your recent blog content.

Backlinks are one of the most important factors for increasing your search engine rankings, not just your local seo rankings. Some people will pay 1000’s of dollars for a single backlink. I don’t recommend doing this because it is against Google’s rules but it just goes to show how powerful and valuable backlinks are. So definitely do this step!

Final Thoughts

So there you have it, your Local SEO Checklist. The easiest and quickest way to get your business found on Google in the next few days, is by creating a Google Business Listing.

Imagine telling your friends to Google ‘your business name’ and seeing it on the first page. Boom! 🙂

Then do the rest to get your actual website found online and climbing the rankings.

Got any questions? Comment below.

The post 8 Point LOCAL SEO Checklist appeared first on Max Jacobs.

Structure Your Site Right

Internal linking structure – which pages are linked to which others, and how they’re linked – is an important part of working your way up the results list for any search, including local ones. Done right, it even makes your site easier to use for customers, which means more sales and better reviews.

There are several guides on how to do this well, but for most companies, it’s best to make your priorities known to your website designer and make sure it’s part of the design from the beginning.

Include the Right Information

Some of this is common sense of course, but make sure you don’t miss anything vital.

Where are you?

Dedicated Contact Page with name, address, email and phone number. The smaller you are, the more detailed your information should be. For example, if you have a single location, make sure the whole address is in the footer of each page on your site.

How can they get in touch?

Your site has to be optimized for mobile devices. These are a major – and growing – proportion of search origins. An added benefit of mobile searches is that many of them – more than three-quarters – result in a phone call immediately after the search. Your site should be set up to make that phone call a single-click effort.

How can they find you?

Always include a map. For some, this will be the only way they can find you; for others, it will be a simple way to spot you in an area with which they are familiar. Either way, the point is to get feet into your store, and a map is a great way to make it easy for potential customers.

Make sure your name, address, email and phone number is consistent throughout the website. Special emails for sales or customer support are fine, but make sure the other data is identical (not ‘Street’ on one and ‘St.’ on another, for example).

If you have multiple locations, include a page dedicated to that, with active maps for each one.

Testimonials work

Google considers a testimonials link a sign of trustworthiness in a website or company. These can be paid ones, or those you’ve picked from your comments box. The best ones are always the real ones. You don’t have to include anything negative, but make sure they are genuine.

Schema

Haven’t heard of this? You aren’t alone.

Schema was invented to allow major search engine to share a common language. The correct schema communicates facts about your business to all of the major search engines. It will indicate that you are, in fact, a local business, for example, and not a multinational chain stealing the top line of the search for brand awareness.

You can develop your site’s schema here, or trust it to your website professional.

Social Media

Though this can be daunting for some, it is important to keep at least a basic presence on platforms like Google My Business, Yelp, Facebook, and if appropriate, Trip Advisor. Local review sites are also important.

Google My Business is the top dog here, because the world’s most popular search engine (Google) can verify the information there better than it can for other platforms.

Social media and (especially) review sites are important not only in order to engage with customers who use these sites, but also because Google often places review sites just under the initial three results on a list. This means that you could get onto the top three spots and have an additional mention just below them, complete with review stars. Set it up right and you potential customers’ first impression of your company will be one of trust.

Blogging

Because it’s a job that needs to be done on a regular basis, blogging is often neglected. Neglected at your search-engine peril, however, as this fresh content – especially if it is quality content – shows really well to a search engine.

Links to your blog (or citations in other blogs) mean links to your company’s website, which means a rise in the search rankings. A good blog will include local place names, references to other local companies, news, and events. Sponsoring events and covering them in your blog also helps generate these links and traffic – and all of that helps with search result rankings.

Your blog shouldn’t be a list of your products or descriptions, in fact avoid that. Instead, try to give some benefit to the reader. Get some real value in there that you give to them for free. That will keep the traffic flowing, the contact fresh, and the search benefits high.

Every new blog entry is a new blip on a search engine’s radar, so a regular blog can add up to a big return over time.

Maintenance

Finally, make sure that past work on your site is still working for you – not against you. Services like Whitespark Local Citation Finder, Moz Local, Screaming Frog, Buzzstream, and Ahrefs can help you keep an eye on where you’re linked up to other sites, which sites are linked up to you, and whether or not you have any errors – like the frustrating 404 – that might put customers off and harm your SEO quality.

Summary

Whether you tackle these jobs yourself, or hire a professional to make and monitor your site for you, it is important to ensure that each of these factors has been considered. Local business is the best kind, and making sure your place is found at the top of the list is an important – but very doable – part of maintaining an effective presence on the web.

The post Grow Your Small Business With Local SEO appeared first on Max Jacobs.

Instant judgement of your site is hardwired into human psychology. As a business, you’ll want to make sure that your site is inviting, engaging, and delivers what each user is looking for. But what happens if those users are never getting to see that site, and you don’t even know how many, or why? One of the easiest ways to protect your company against undetected loss of online traffic, is to ensure that you have the speed your site really requires.

Consider these stats: Users expect a site to load in less than 2 seconds, and almost half of those will leave a site that takes longer than that to display a page. A three second load actually seems slow, and therefore substandard. 80% of people who experience a slow-loading website (more than 2 seconds) won’t return to that site. Some mobile users may wait one to two seconds longer, but that’s it. There is even less patience for small businesses and lesser-known brands than for bigger brands like Google and Facebook.

User Experience

The search engine industry has noticed this, and responded with a shift of focus in SEO engineering from a technical point of view, to one of user experience. It has even been suggested that we think not of “Search Engine Optimisation,” but rather of “Search Experience Optimisation” (Matt Cutt).

Part of this shift includes taking into account the psychological reality of the way human beings interact with the web. We tend to be intense, impatient, and ready to give the next company a try without a second thought. With few exceptions, we simply won’t wait.

When it comes to user experience, website speed aka page loading time is the key concern.

Traffic

You may have put a lot of work into an eye-catching site and receive a lot of feedback that it is worth the wait (I mean come on, it’s only one second, right?), but Google did some revealing experimentation in this area, and the results are worth considering.

Google VP Marissa Mayer asked web users “Would you rather see ten, or thirty results per page when you do a search?” Not surprisingly, the users overwhelmingly chose thirty. When Google implemented this on some pages, though, an interesting thing happened. Pages that displayed thirty results, and therefore took a fraction of a second longer to load, saw a drop in traffic of 20%.

This isn’t people loading it and then leaving; this is people never trying it out at all. But why? How can a slower site keep people from trying it in the first place?

Organic Marketing

We all know that it’s much more engaging and motivating to listen to someone talk about an experience that excited them and exceeded their expectations. It’s the same with your business as it is for the latest movie or vacation destination – you want your customers to speak highly of the experience of buying your products or services.

If a delay of even one second can drive many people away from your site, it can make even more of them lose that sense of instant gratification, top-quality service, and seamlessly-flowing shopping experience. It might not cause them to speak ill of your site, but it may stifle a significant percentage of referrals, just because the buyer isn’t excited about the experience. They might be okay with it, but it was nothing special.

Over time, this small loss in word-of-mouth marketing will add up, and dampen the growth of your company.

Rankings

If no one is finding your site, you won’t even be retaining those customers who are more tolerant of slower load times. It’s nothing new, either. Since 2010 Google has been very open about the fact that they consider website speed a factor in determining the relevance of your site to website rankings. In other words, sites that load in under 2 seconds are placed higher on the rankings, and slower ones are pushed to the bottom.

Google estimates that fewer than 1% of search queries are affected by the site speed signal. This seems insignificant, but when you consider that there are more than 3.5 billion searches per day, that means Google is actually saying that about 35 million sites are being moved down the list due to fractionally slower loading times. Is yours one of them?

Google will also reduce the number of crawlers it sends to any site with load times longer than 2 seconds. This means that site updates, including blogs and sale notifications, might not be noticed by Google algorithms at all. The hard work or investment you put into building good content on your site may have no significant impact at all, because it is only effective if it is detected.

Bounce Rates and User Information

Google takes user interaction with your site into consideration when they rank you in their search results. They’ve been doing so since the early 2000’s, and their methods are recently increasing in efficacy due to advances in algorithm technology and AI.

This means that it isn’t just your content that matters, but how people interact with it. If a lot of people click on your site, you have higher traffic. That’s good. If a lot of those people then leave your site – for example they get tired of waiting for a page to load – then that’s bad. This is called a bounce rate, and the higher it is, the lower your site will rank. A high bounce rate is more harmful to your site traffic than if those people hadn’t found you in the first place.

Bounce rates not only affect your rankings on their own, but they also effectively decrease the average time spend by users on those pages. Google sees more time spent on a page as an indication of higher quality content, and will move such pages up the rankings. If someone spends only a fraction of a second on your page, perhaps not even waiting for it to finish loading, then your average viewing time for that page is affected. Someone else might spend five or more minutes on it, but that one bounce cuts that in half. Get almost half of your traffic giving up right at the beginning, and your user engagement – the apparent quality of your site – will drop, even if you are providing excellent content and many people are spending significant time on your site.

Conversions

If a slow loading experience drives almost half of your online traffic elsewhere, or prevents them from finding you in the first place, then you are losing sales. Amazon ran speed-related tests and determined that they would lose US$1.6 billion every year if they were one second slower than they are. Now you aren’t doing the same volume as Amazon (no one is), but the principle is the same: if your site is slower, you get fewer customers finding and staying on your site. Fewer customers on your site means fewer sales.

You may be concerned about the cost of a high-speed business Internet account, but when you lay it alongside the potential losses in revenue, it suddenly becomes a very reasonable expense. Don’t neglect the invisible benefits of site speed optimisation.

Is your website slow? Learn the ways to speed up your website.

The post The Invisible Benefits of Site Speed Optimisation appeared first on Max Jacobs.

It doesn’t take more than a few seconds of looking at marketing options before you run across the term “SEO.” If you’re a typical small business owner, these three letters can seem both cryptic and overwhelming, but they don’t have to. With a few paragraphs of basic information at your fingertips, you’ll be surprised how quickly you can grasp the concepts, understand the trends, and start putting together an SEO strategy that works for your company’s needs – and budget.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimisation” and simply means modifying your website so that it is placed as high as possible on relevant search engine results.

Most companies want to be one of the first few listings. Everybody hopes to be on the first page. Obviously, with millions of companies competing for these spaces, it is pretty valuable real estate.

How does SEO work?

SEO is not a static thing, because the algorithms that decide what is placed at the top of these results changes regularly. To make matters worse, the changes are not always publicised, so there can be some trial and error in figuring out how to climb the list. Since each computer’s results are different, depending on the browsing history, you probably won’t even be able to check how well you’re doing. If you have a lot of browsing in the area of your business, and often view your own site, then searching your key words will place your company unusually high in the results.

In the early days, web designers could put a list of keywords in white on a white background and the search engines would see the page as a rich source of information on that topic – even though the viewer might be seeing very different content. Algorithms have come a long way since then, and are much more sophisticated.

Most algorithms bounce pages like that out of the results, and some are even analysing pages for the percentage of total words that are keywords, and comparing that to the sentence structure used (syntax). In other words, they can tell if you are repeating key words and phrases in an unnatural way. More complex sentence structures (normal writing, like what you’re reading now) indicate a higher quality of content. Fewer than 20% of the words should be key words; this also indicates quality content to a search engine. A good balance of text to images is also important. Search engines are starting to de-prioritise pages that have too many images, moving them instead to the “images” tab of the search results.

Current development is incorporating more artificial intelligence (AI) and upcoming algorithm updates will become even more difficult to manipulate.

How do I compete with bigger companies?

First of all, it is important to stare reality full in the face. The Internet is largely a marketplace, and the companies with money to spend on online marketing have a massive advantage – if they use it effectively.

That doesn’t mean that you have no chance though. With a well-conceived strategy and the willingness to commit some money and/or time to keeping on top of your SEO, you can move yourself up that list. Doing so regularly will increase your success over time.

Search engines are getting smarter, and are better able to spot the tricks people use. So the best solution? Don’t trick it; give it what it wants.

How can I maximise my Investment in SEO?

Here are a few basics that will get you started.

Mobile optimisation and SEO

One of the more famous recent changes to Google’s search engine made it so priority is given to sites that are designed to be viewed on mobile devices as well as larger displays. Make sure your site is optimised for mobile viewing.

Most developers will do this as a matter of course. If you use a service like WIX or Squarespace to build your own site, make sure you spend some time on the Mobile view and test it by viewing each page on your phone. Buttons should be bigger, images smaller (both the display and file size), and menus altered for ease of use. You should be able to swipe for navigation, and there should be no lag or delay.

This one is a must. Don’t consider it optional.

Sponsored listings

If you are one of those rare small businesses with a massive marketing budget, you can pay to have your listing at the top of the results. There will be some indication that you have paid to be placed there, often a small square with “AD” in it just to the left of the results. These spaces are usually purchased using an auction scheme, and will cost you money each time you win the auction and are placed on the list. The number of “ads” or “sponsored listings” is usually under five.

Many people (including me) skip over the sponsored listings though, and go straight for the “organic” search results. You’ll probably see some payback for investing in these listings, but even if you do, it is worthwhile placing yourself as high on the actual results as possible.

Quality SEO content

With search engines now better able to detect fake content, the best way to climb the list is to ensure you have real, quality content on your site. If you are selling a certain product, include pages with information about it. Articles and blogs should be at least 1000 words long, and contain a natural frequency of key words and phrases.

Manuals, user directions, and testimonials are great ways to increase quality content, even if you include links to PDFs of the same materials.

Clear SEO headings

Break your articles and blogs into clear sections. This is a great way to incorporate key words and phrases in a meaningful way, and it has the added benefit of pointing real customers to the sections they are most interested in.

Regular updating

This can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. If you have some skill in writing, and the time to apply it, sit down and make a list of as many relevant topics as you can. These should speak to some aspect of your product or business, so key words and phrases can improve your SEO.

If you’re not a writer, or feel your time is more effectively spent on other things, it might be worth hiring someone to produce content for you. There are specialists out there who write SEO content for a variety of businesses, and there will be one to suit you. Guest blogs and articles are another cost-effective way to increase content. These are usually less tailored to SEO, but do contain genuine content, and can assist you with the next important factor.

Be consistent. Pick one day a week to prioritise a new article or blog for the site. Search engines can detect a regular, fresh addition to your website, and will push you up their list because of it. Leave the older items up, but move them to an easily-accessible archive page. Put the new ones front and centre, linked from the landing or home page, if not right on them.

Networking

Last of all, don’t neglect good, old-fashioned networking… Internet style. If there are products that don’t directly compete with you, but are complementary, you might want to approach that other company and talk about cross-linking.

The concept is this: If you sell spoons and they sell forks, you send your spoon buyers over to them for forks, and they send their fork buyers over to you for spoons. Neither company loses business to the other. Each one gains traffic and customers by referring buyers to another item they may need.

This isn’t strictly SEO, but can have an effect. As users of the other site link to your yours, connections are established in the browser history, and the machines those people used to view your site will help to bump you up the list. Not only that, you’ll get more customers from the other company, and repay the favour by sending some of yours back to them.

Summary

You’re doing business in the largest marketplace the world has ever known. There are some big fish out there, but that doesn’t mean you can’t maximise your visibility and get a viable piece of that market. It will take time and work, or some monetary investment – whichever best suits you and your business.

The key is not to trick the system – we’ve moved beyond that – the key now is to provide quality content, regularly, and to use vocabulary and structures that help search engines to find them.

Need help? We provide SEO Services for Small Businesses who are struggling to get found online.

The post Search Engine Optimisation aka SEO for Small Business appeared first on Max Jacobs.

Back in the Day

There was a day when people who wanted to buy something had to hop in the car, drive to a store, and scour the shelves to find just what they wanted. Remember that? Times have certainly changed.

Now the commercial world is shifting from a base of brick-and-mortar stores with an ecommerce side-line, to ecommerce hubs that may have a brick-and-mortar store for support and product storage – or maybe not even that. The world’s largest taxi company owns no cars (Über). The world’s largest retailer owns no products (Amazon). Even the world’s largest hotel organisation doesn’t own any hotels (AirBnB).

What this means to you as a business owner, is that your products and services need to be optimised to the needs of today’s consumer. More and more, that means providing a website that can change and adapt to the wide variety of mobile users who are seeking your products or services. The average site has 7 seconds to grab the consumer’s attention (or less). How many of those seconds are you losing to poor mobile design?

Today’s Consumer

Smartphones are now more powerful than a supercomputer was ten years ago, and way more powerful than desktops were five years ago. Given a choice between surfing the web or watching TV on mobile or a laptop, most people under 20 prefer a mobile device. The age of that demographic is quickly reaching upward, as smartphone companies are increasingly seeing the middle-aged and retired population as a lucrative and interested market – and designing mobile products to suit.

More than half of online traffic (and for some businesses up to 80% of online traffic) comes via mobile devices. In other words, up to 80% of online shoppers use their phones. That number shows every tendency to increase as technology advances, and net-savvy users multiply and age.

This means it isn’t enough to have a slick-looking website. It isn’t even enough to have a well-functioning, powerful website. If your website isn’t responsive, mobile friendly or mobile-optimised, then you risk alienating a massive section of the market.

In the past, we designed websites for the larger screens; should we now design them for the smaller ones, and have them look oversized and ungainly on desktops and laptops? No. 20% of the market still shops using larger devices, and no company today can afford to ignore or alienate 20% of its online traffic, even if it is to cater to the other 80%.

So what are the possible solutions?

Mobile Friendly Design

Mobile friendly websites are those that look the same on a desktop (or laptop) as they do on a phone or tablet. In other words, the stationary appearance and the mobile appearance are, as much as possible, the same.

Of course there are differences. Buttons will be much smaller on a phone than on a full-sized monitor, the type will be smaller, images will be smaller… Okay, everything will be smaller.

Does this change the experience?

That’s an important question. Any change in the way a site is viewed will change the experience. Seeing the screen exactly as you would on your desktop – but smaller – isn’t the same as seeing it on your desktop. The smallness itself changes the experience.

For many businesses, this might have been acceptable in the past. As the average site increases in sophistication though, and as the online commercial space continues to grow more competitive, today’s businesses and organisations need more.

Mobile-Optimised Design

A mobile-optimised site is, as the name suggests, more advanced than a mobile friendly site. A mobile-optimised site recognises the type of mobile device that is accessing your pages, and changes to best suit that device. It will reformat content, increase button and text size, add functionality like ‘thumb-swiping,’ and adjust the size and quality images to best suit the monitor size and operating system of the device being used.

Of course, the site needs to be manually optimised for each kind of device, so that it can recognise and customise its look and functionality. This means the developer has to format your site for a number of different situations and devices… and this means an increase in cost.

As more companies develop mobile devices, and technology continues to churn out new operating systems, versions, functions, and hardware, mobile-optimising for the available marketplace may become – or may already be – too much, too fast, to handle in a cost-effective manner.

Is there another option? Yes. As much as technology advances production of new and different devices and systems versions, the web development field marches onward too, and one of its most promising developments is the responsive-design website.

Responsive Website Design

Consider what it would look like if the mobile friendly site, with its relative ease of development and universal functionality, had a child with its mobile-optimised counterpart. We could have the same ease and universality of the mobile friendly site, added to the device-specific benefits of optimisation.

Well that child is the responsive-design website.

Responsive design is completely flexible, regardless of the operating system or display size. Rather than detecting a brand or operating system, the responsive site detects the display size and processing capability, and presents the content and features in a way that best suits them.

A responsive site will change the font size and style, move menus to increase main content width, change the size and quality of images or even change to pictures better suited for smaller (or larger) displays. Important buttons may be enlarged and, as with the mobile-optimised sites, certain features will be added, such as thumb swiping, pinch-commands, and swipe-scrolling.

The Economics of Design

It is true that this kind of development is costlier than mobile friendly sites, but over time it is comparable (in most cases) to mobile-optimised options, especially when one takes into account the number of potential device types and configurations that a responsive design can cover. To make an optimised site comparable, constant chasing of the mobile device market is necessary – and that chasing can be costly. Updating a responsive design is relatively easy, and better developer software options are increasing that ease and efficiency with each passing year.

There are also clear benefits from the very start. Google was the first major search engine to give priority placement to sites that were optimised for mobile devices – and this priority now includes responsive design.

Only you can determine which of these mobile solutions your company or organisation needs. Your current level of online traffic may not warrant much investment in web development. On the other hand, it may be that lack of development that is limiting your traffic in the first place.

The post Does Your Site Have A Mobile Friendly Design? appeared first on Max Jacobs.