Cultivate Your Garden: Understanding
Your Website's Ongoing SEO Journey

You've got a fantastic new website - congratulations! If you worked with The Blue Ocean, then we've built it with solid SEO foundations, ensuring clean code and a user-friendly structure. But that's just the beginning of your journey of being found on the Internet. Optimizing your website content for search engine indexing isn't a 'set it and forget it' deal. It's an ongoing process, a bit like tending a garden. Let's explore what you can do to keep your website thriving in search results.

What We've Done: Your Website's SEO Foundation

The Blue Ocean laid a strong SEO foundation for your website by:

• Optimizing HTML Structure: Ensuring clean, semantic code that search engines can easily understand.
• Implementing Mobile-Responsive Design: Making sure your site looks and functions flawlessly on all devices.
• Ensuring Fast Page Loading Speed: Optimizing images, leveraging caching, and utilizing efficient code.
• Creating a User-Friendly Site Architecture: Designing intuitive navigation and logical page organization.
• Implementing basic on-page SEO: Ensuring that all pages have appropriate titles and meta descriptions.
• Customization Capabilities: Providing you with SEO tools and training to customize and override the default metadata on any page
• Ensuring the website is secure: Implementing HTTPS across all pages of your site, and using a robust content management system like Craft CMS that's less vulnerable to attack.

Your Ongoing SEO Responsibilities: 
Nurturing Your Website's Growth

Now, let's focus on what you can do to maximize your content's chances of being indexed highly on search engines, and keep your website performing at its best.

Content Strategy: Your Voice, Your Value

Think of your website's content as its personality. Search engines love fresh, relevant, and valuable content. That means:

• Regular Blogging: Share your expertise, answer customer questions, and keep your audience engaged.
• Targeted Keywords: Understand what your customers are searching for and naturally incorporate those keywords into your content.
• High-Quality Content: Focus on providing real value. Don't just stuff keywords; create content people want to read and share.

Building Referral Links: Your Network Matters

Imagine other reputable websites pointing to yours. That's a referral link, and it's a strong signal to search engines that your site is trustworthy. Here's how to build them:

• Partner with Influencers: Collaborate with industry leaders and ask them to link to your content.
• Guest Blogging: Write articles for other relevant websites and include a link back to your site.
• Build Relationships: Participate in industry forums and online communities.

Forums and Social Media Engagement

Actively participate in relevant forums and social media platforms to build brand awareness and generate backlinks.

• LinkedIn: Share your content, engage in industry discussions, and build professional connections.
• Reddit: Participate in relevant subreddits, offering valuable insights and linking to your website where appropriate.
• Instagram/Facebook: Share engaging visuals and content, and interact with your audience.
• Other Platforms: Research other platforms that are relevant to your industry and demographic, and engage with the community there.

Additional SEO Best Practices for Clients

• Local SEO (if applicable): If you serve a local area, then optimize your Google My Business profile and ensure your website lists your location details.
• Image Optimization: Use descriptive filenames and alt text for your images. This helps search engines understand what your images are about.
• Regular SEO Audits: Periodically assess your website's SEO performance and address any issues. There are many tools available to do this.
• User Experience (UX): A website that is easy to navigate, and that provides a good user experience will result in returning customers. Search engines track how long users stay on a site, and how many pages they visit. This is a very important factor.
• Analytics: Regularly review your website's analytics data to track your progress and make informed decisions. 

So...How Does Your Garden Grow?

SEO is a journey, not a destination. By understanding the foundation we've built and actively engaging in these ongoing strategies, you can significantly improve your website's visibility and attract more customers. We're here to support you every step of the way. If you have any questions or need assistance with your SEO strategy, don't hesitate to reach out.

Does your organization need help taking your SEO to the next level?