Marketing Your App: How to Improve Your Website’s SEO

One reason that so many apps fail is because entrepreneurs tend to only focus on building the app. This method of thinking is guaranteed to make your app fail. So, this article will be the first in a series of articles that goes in-depth into other important aspects marketing your mobile app.

How to Improve Your Website SEO

One of the most popular ways of marketing anything online is by having a website, and the best way to attract more users is by ranking on the first page in search engines. However, ranking on the first page of search engines such as Google or Bing is easier said than done.

Here are tactics that I have used myself to gain a high rank.

Choose a set of high quality/targeted keywords

Keywords will always be one of the most talked about subjects when it comes to online marketing and with all that information it’s easy to get confused.

So to keep things simple let’s talk about a few tips that will always work.

I would like to ask you a quick question. What is your goal with your app?

Whatever your goal is, the best way to learn what keywords you should target is by learning what people in your niche are searching and target those keywords. For example, say you build a medical app that helps users connect with their doctors. A good keyword to target would be “medical care in [Your Local Area].”

You can find out what people are searching for by either using Google Instant (The suggestion feature you see when typing something into Google), by looking through forums or by simply asking people in your niche via a poll what they tend to search for when looking for information.

Use longtail keywords as well

For those who don’t know, longtail keywords are just really specific phrases that people search for in Google. An example would be instead of searching “Mobile app developers” you could be more specific and search “Best mobile app developers in [Your local area].”

The benefit of using long tailed keywords are that they tend to not have as much competition meaning it will be much easier for you to rank number #1 for those keywords. However, long tail keywords do not get nearly as much traffic as shorter keywords.

What Keyword Tools Can You Use?

Now that you understand how important it is to use certain keywords, how are you going to find them?

Using keyword tools.

Keyword tools give you important data such as how many searches a keyword gets on a monthly basis, or how many other websites are currently ranking for this certain keyword.

They can even give information on whether the keyword is available for a domain purchase.

The two most recommended keyword tools for my point of view would be SEMRush and LongTail Pro. Check out the two provided reviews for more information on the pros and cons of these keyword tools.

Optimise your website around your keywords

Having a bunch of keywords is just the first step, now you have to optimise your website around the keywords that you have chosen.

There are many different ways that you can add your keywords within the site without looking spammy or desperate.

Header Tags

Including your keyword within a header tag is very important and is one of the most recommended ways to use a keyword. Your goal with header tags is to entice users with as little amount of words as possible.

Most people tend to just use their keywords in a header tag and leave it at that. While that is good and what you should be doing it won’t entice people as much as a benefit driven header tag.

Benefit driven header tags are where you explain why something will benefit the user because at the end of the day that’s all users really care about. For this example, I am going to be using the home maintenance niche.

Let’s say that you run a plumbing business and you want your potential customers to know that you fix heaters and can install a timer. Instead of simply saying “We can install a timer,” you can tell them the benefit of having a timer. “We can help you keep your home warm throughout winter with our timer.”

Be natural with your keywords

Have you ever heard of keyword stuffing?

Don’t do it. Keyword stuffing is using keywords in places that don’t make sense. An alternative is using a keyword that doesn’t even fit your niche.

Let’s say you’re in a cooking niche, it wouldn’t make sense to use the keyword best mobile apps of 2017, would it? Being natural with your keywords will help you in the long run especially after Google’s penguin update in 2014.

It’s recommended to use your keyword at least once within the first 100 words of your article or web page and the last 100 words. Remember that this is just a recommendation, it’s best to use your keywords in places that make sense.

Why Having a Slow Loading Site Will Cost You

So you have built your mobile app, and it’s super fast, super easy to navigate and really drives users to use the app the way you want them to. Then you build a site that markets the app and it takes 15 seconds to load.

Do you think people will want to download your app after this?

According to Kissmetrics, users tend to leave a website if it doesn’t load in 3 seconds and by the 6-second mark, you will have lost well over 60% of traffic. Here are some reasons why you NEED a fast loading website and some tips on how you can improve load time.

Could affect the reputation of your app

For some of your potential customers, your site will be where they will judge your whole business. If you have a slow loading site then they will expect your app to run slow as well and most likely leave without giving it a second thought.

How many businesses have you personally seen that you didn’t even give a second thought to because of how slow their site loaded up?

Slow loading sites will not climb the SERP

It’s a common misconception that websites that load quickly will get a boost in rankings from the search engines.

That isn’t the case.

Web sites that have a quick load time will not get a boost in rankings, websites that have a slow loading time will get penalised. The reason for this is because search engines look at their data and can see how many people click on a certain link and how long they stay on that web page for.

If people leave after 7 seconds because your site still hasn’t loaded up then they can see that and move your site down the SERP since it’s not a good web page to show for that keyword.

How You Can Improve Site Speed

There can be many reasons as to why your site loads slow but the main reason could be your hosting. No matter how optimised your site is for speed, if you have slow hosting your site will be slow.

Another reason could be the images on your site. Images can seem like a complicated subject when it comes to web page speed but I can assure you it isn’t.

If you save images at the resolution that you plan on using them at that can speed up your web page. It’s also recommended to use image optimizers to lower the file size of the image.

If your website (or theme if you’re using WordPress) is coded poorly this can also impact the site speed. Make sure that your site is coded properly and is optimised for speed.

3 Ways To Effectively Earn Links

Link building is a really good way to climb the ranks in the search engines. If relevant blogs are linking to your content or web page then it must be good right? That’s how search engines see it.

But how do you get backlinks from other sites?

First, let me explain why link building is important. Link building is important because it can bring new people to your company from other company. Say you have a mobile app development company build you an app and you would like high authoritative sites to talk about your app.

Having a trusted site from search engines linking off to you will bring the same trust over to your business.

Link Building Strategy #1: Make MultiMedia Content

Multimedia content is content that has text, images, audio and video all mixed into one amazing web page. You could have a podcast that has been transcribed into text, made into a video and has images along with it.

This form of content not only brings new users to your site, but it can help you build organic links from other sites as well.

Link Building Strategy #2: Give Testimonials

This strategy is one that not a lot of people realise the potential to. If you use a product that helps your business why not offer that company a testimonial and in return you could gain a valuable backlink from that company.

I am not saying to go to every company in the world and ask them this, but if you use a product or service that you really like, offer that company a testimonial and you are in a win-win situation.

Link Building Strategy #3: Making A PR (Press Release)

Making a Press Release has a ton of benefits for your business as it lets people know what exactly is going on within your business and lets the media keep up to date with what is going on. Creating a press release is great because it can also draw in new customers and builds up your business’s credibility.

Build An Easy Navigation System

If your website is overly complicated then more than anything, it is going to drive users away. When browsing a website, people like to get from A to B with ease and not have to navigate through lots of different pages to do so.

For example; if you have your contact details on a page that you have to make multiple clicks to get to via different pages and tabs, users will quickly become frustrated.

For the most part, on your navigation bar on your website, you should really only have a homepage, about page, blog and contact details as it is the most simple navigation system for a website and will keep users happy.

What To Take From This

Learning how to improve your website SEO can seem long and complicated, but it really isn’t. Even by following some of the tips I have gone through today you will see an increase in rankings (Not a lot but still an increase).

If you start looking at traits that websites ranking on the first page in your niche have you will start to pick up ideas and tactics to push your way through. Remember your goal is to rank your website as high as possible to gain more traffic to your mobile app.

If you’d like to speak with professional app developers and marketers, then contact us here and get a free consultation with us.

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