Did you know that 98% of online purchases start with a keyword search of some kind? This staggering statistic demonstrates the importance of search engine optimization (SEO) as a tool for driving any business towards success. Because so many of your new customers will search for you online to find your website, it’s essential to make sure that your company or product show up in those first few search results. Whether you’re naming a company or branding a product, these 5 tips will help boost your SEO.
1) Create a unique name and pair it with your goods and services
This may seem obvious, but many have strayed too far from this one important step. If you name your product ‘The Best Hair Straightener’ your customers are going to have to sift through many more pages of hair straightener reviews and articles to find it than if you named it The Diva Forge. But you know what’s even better than both of those? The Diva Forge Hair Straightener. A unique name paired with a generic term has synergistic effects. This means that customers could find you by searching for ‘Diva Forge’ or ‘Hair Straightener.’ It’s why we often refer to ourselves as Catchword Branding. Need some help coming up with a unique name? Check out our naming guide.
2) Create a name that’s intuitive to spell.
People are much more likely to check something out if their friend tells them about it. But take this example: your friend tells you about this cool new blogging platform, Subtle. When you go to your computer and type in ‘subtle’, no blogging websites show up. Another search of ‘subtle blog’ reveals that it’s actually spelled Svbtle. Deliberate misspellings can lead to customers being unable to find you and poor SEO ranking. This doesn’t mean you need your name to be a real word, though. We named a company Promptu, coined from the real English word “impromptu.” Suggestive, intuitive to spell, and unique, Promptu was a great name for the SEO-minded.
3) Know what your customers are searching for and blog about it
Keep a list of search terms that you think are relevant to your business and understand that where your website ranks on those terms is constantly changing. If someone is looking for a hair straightener, what might they search for? Maybe they’ll search ‘hair straightener,’ but maybe they’ll also search ‘how to choose a good hair straightener’ (sounds like a good blog title). Because webpages with recently posted content rank higher, by blogging thoughtfully, you are not only enriching the experience that someone can have with your website, but also increasing your SEO ranking. The effect on SEO is augmented if you blog strategically using keywords that are relevant to your business. On our website, we regularly post blogs with titles like, “who should hire a naming firm” or “how to create a company name that tells a story.” Not only are these blogs full of useful information, they are topics that a potential customer might Google.
4) Get legit with linkbacks
Linkbacks (links to your website from other sites) are the most powerful way to drive up SEO. However, not all links are created equal. In fact, search engines can tell the difference between a link that someone spammed into the comments section of a blog and a link in a New York Times article; they punish the former and reward the latter. If you have partners, ask them to link to you on their website in return for you doing the same. Reach out to media outlets that you think might be interested in what you do, or ask a prominent blogger if you can publish a guest blog on their site.
5) Be social media savvy
Although not as potent as linkbacks, a robust social media presence can also boost SEO. Show your personality, congratulate others, and be entertaining – a popular social media feed will spur interest in what you do and consequently increase web traffic. We look for interesting articles about naming and post daily updates on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.
Like it or not, SEO isn’t a set it and forget it process. Boosting and maintaining your SEO ranking requires constant work and attentiveness. In fact, just last week Google changed their ranking algorithm to favor sites that are mobile friendly. By choosing an SEO-friendly name, you set yourself up to start strong. Then, by devoting a couple hours every week to SEO-related tasks, you can stay at the head of the web wolfpack.
