30 Day SEO Blueprint
Building a business online requires you to handle many different tasks. You want to keep your attention on the steps that will bring in revenue. Usually, this means doing things like getting more subscribers on your list.
You can’t sell products if you don’t have an audience to pitch to. Whether you’re an info product creator, affiliate marketer, service provider or something else online, you need to get eyes on your offers so that you turn a profit with your online efforts.
It won’t do you any good if you put all your energy into building the business, but you fail to understand how to get people to your sites or to sign up for your mailing list. You must know how to attract people – and the best way to do that, contrary to some advice, is not by forking over a lot of your money to pay for space online like with social media ads.
Instead, you want to channel your energy into your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Doing this not only draws in an audience organically (and free), but it makes a difference in your long term goal – which is making your business financially sustainable.
Day 1: Protect Your Business Reputation
You need to have a space online to operate your business. But not every space is going to be a good one. This is something that a lot of people make a mistake with. They see a URL that’s available, like how it sounds and snatch it up.
They don’t realize that the website may not be the best one for them to buy. People (and search engines) online remember those who operate using dishonest behavior. So if you purchase a website that’s well known for having taken advantage of others or engaged in super shady SEO tactics, then you may end up tainted by the same reputation.
No matter how much you protest or try to explain, you’ll never be able to reach everyone who has a bad experience with that website before you bought it. Comments and reviews and opinion pieces about businesses, websites and people stay online forever, so do some research and find out how the website you’re thinking of getting was portrayed in the past.
Not only will consumers have an opinion, but search engines may have buried the site for poor performance or shady behavior previously, and it takes a lot of work to clean up a domain’s reputation, so it’s better to start from scratch.
Day 2: Help Search Engines Analyze Your Site
It won’t do you any good to create a site that ends up with a poor ranking. This is what can happen if you don’t understand what kind of SEO steps to take in order to make sure search engines like your site and present it to their users whenever they’re looking for something.
You want to make sure that your site can easily be indexed by the search bots. In order to do this, you need to make what’s called a sitemap. A sitemap points out all of the interesting destinations that are within your website to the bot so it can be crawled and indexed.
The advantage of this is that you will then rank higher in search engines than those who have no good navigation and whose pages fail to get noticed by the bots. However, you don’t have to be a technical genius to create a sitemap.
All you need is a plugin such as Yoast SEO that will automatically capture a list of the links on your site. You can use any type of sitemap tool you want and upload it to Google and elsewhere so that bots know exactly where to go, quickly.
Day 3: Make Your Site One That People Can Trust
There are many bad players online. They engage in shady business practices or install malware on their sites that end up being bad news for anyone who happens to land on one of the pages.
That’s why a lot of people are hesitant when they’re online when it comes to giving anything personal. If they see a site that doesn’t have the lock icon in front of the address, they’ll immediately bounce off of the page.
That lock icon is something that ensures the audience that the site they’re visiting is legitimate and secure – and one that they can trust. This icon indicates that the site has a digital certificate that’s able to encrypt whatever is shared.
For example, if someone is inputting their email address or their credit card information, that icon puts the information into a code that protects it from anything that could be damaging.
Ask your hosting provider to make sure you have an SSL certificate for your domain. Some hosting companies charge extra for it, while others have it as an included perk for signing up with their company.
Day 4: Consider All the Ways Viewers Look at Your Site
It used to be that online entrepreneurs only had to think about desktop computers when creating a website. But as technology has branched out and become faster and better, that’s no longer the case.
Now, when people surf the Internet, they can do so on a laptop, tablet, notebook or smart phone. You want to make sure that your site can easily be accessed and navigated by formats other than just a desktop.
The number one way that people search online now is through the use of their phones such as an iPhone. You want to set up your site so that it adheres to the latest mobile phone parameters.
This means you need to check that the size, words and software are all compatible with the various types of phones that your audience may use. One way to easily and quickly check whether your site works well with phone viewing is to look up a resource such as https://sitechecker.pro/mobile-friendly-test/ that can check it for you.
Whenever you download a new plugin or theme, make sure you go back and check to make sure that it’s still compatible, because any changes can disrupt the appearance of your site, which Google and other search engines will frown upon.
Day 5: Website Speed Matters
If you remember hearing about old school technology, it used to take forever for sites to bring their pages up. That’s not the case now – or it shouldn’t be. If you have a site that takes too long for the audience to see what they’re searching for, that’s bad news.
Pages can and need to load quickly in order for the site to retain audience interest. Otherwise, you could have a high bounce rate. You need to make sure that your website is operating at optimal speed – however your audience is accessing it.
But you have to know the speed of your website in order to see if there’s a problem. Use a site like https://tools.pingdom.com/ to see if your website is operating quickly the way that it should be.
If Google sees that your site takes too long to load, they’ll give the traffic that would have been yours to your competitors whose sites load quickly. Again, always make sure you double check it after making changes to your overall blog or domain.
Day 6: Ensure Your Audience Has Easy Access
Because certain search engines get more attention and are better known, entrepreneurs have a tendency to forget that not everyone uses the same search engines.
Some people use ones like Bing, Brave, DuckDuckGo or Search Encrypt to do their browsing. You want to be sure that these consumers have easy access to your website just like those who use the bigger search engines do, so be sure to submit a stemap to each one for indexing.
You also have to make sure that you access other browsers to view your website yourself. You can use a resource such as https://www.browserstack.com/ but you do need to create an account in order to do so.
Some people use Chrome, while others use Safari, Microsoft Edge or FireFox. And believe it or not, there are some who are still on Internet Explorer. Check to see how your site looks and performs on each one for maximum optimization for all search engines.
Day 7: Label Your Blog for the Readers
One thing that you want to be sure you do is make your blog easily readable for viewers. This is more than just making sure you have a good text size and break up your posts for better reading – although that’s important, too.
This means that when you create a blog post, you want your readers to be able to locate it according to what they’re searching for. For example, if you have a website dedicated to health and fitness, you might group strength and aerobics under the exercise label.
By creating labels for your blog, also known as categories and sub-categories, you make it easier for new readers to easily find what they’re looking for as well as for them to continue to follow through.
This is helpful for both human users and search bots alike. Each time you publish a new post, make sure you put it under a relevant category. If someone enters your site through a post about general fitness, and they see the categories in the sidebar, they can navigate to the exact type of fitness posts they want to see – such as circuit training.
Day 8: Make Use of SEO Helpers
If you don’t actively work on optimizing your website with keywords, then you’re missing out on something that can really help your site perform and your business grow. Keywords are search terms that people type into a browser when they’re looking for something specific.
Use keywords and phrases in specific places like tags, where you identify what the post is about. You also want to use them throughout the content and in subheadings, without packing them in there to try to game the system.
Day 9: Specific Keywords Matter
In order to use SEO correctly on your site, you need to understand how specific keywords matter. These aren’t words that you pick at random that you think fit well with the content.
These are words that people associate with what they’re looking for. An example would be “dog training” which encompasses a broad variety of information. But when someone types in “dog training pads” then you know they’re talking about potty pads.
Use a variation of them, not the exact same phrasing over and over again. Instead of using the phrase keto diet repetitively, you could use phrases like low carb diet or high protein, low carb diet.
Make sure you use free and paid keyword tools to help you figure out how your target audience is searching. Remember, long-tail (longer) keywords will help you rank high because there’s less competition than broad, general keywords.
You might rank a post about high protein, low carb diets much easier than if you just tried to rank for keto diet. Longtail keyword phrases may not seem like they have much traffic, but when you’re ranking high for many of them, that targeted search traffic adds up!
Keyword stuffing, when you cram the same words and phrases in over and over again, could end up getting your site penalized. You want to use keywords with a plan in mind. Add enough for the site to rank well, but not so much that the site is saturated.
A good idea is to use the keyword once at the beginning, again in the middle and once at the end of the post. If it’s a super long, pillar blog post, then you might have a few more sprinkled throughout.
Day 10: Use SEO on Post Visuals
If you’re focusing your SEO efforts on your blog posts, then that’s a great idea. But you want to be sure that your blog doesn’t miss the chance to use keywords in different ways to help you rank.
Many entrepreneurs don’t realize that pictures on the site should also be optimized with tags. That’s because any picture on the site can also be indexed in search engines – but only if there’s text.
These are sometimes referred to as alt tags. When you write a post and you have a picture or two in that post, make sure that you always use alt text. Your text just basically describes what the image is.
If you write a post about a bug out bag on your survival blog and have an accompanying picture of one, then that text for the image would read as “bugoutbag.jpg.” That way, when search bots crawl the post, they see one more example of what the content is about.
Day 11: Summarize Your Web Page
When an audience looks for information in a search engine, they want details about what a site is about before they choose which one to click on. This is why you need to summarize your web page.
This is what goes into the description area that the search engines use. The label that you’re looking for when you fill it out will be in the code under “meta” and it might follow with either description, or name depending on what your site uses.
Fill this out so that your potential audience knows that your site has what it is they’re looking for. Put the most important wording at the very beginning so that it doesn’t get cut off on the search results page.
Day 12: Give Value With Your Site
It’s important that you focus on making sure that your content is beneficial to the reader. Take some time to write up a post that meets a need, offers advice or explains something to the audience.
When you give something that the reader needs, then the content is deemed helpful – not just by the reader – but according to search engine bots as well. Taking the time to create some longer posts (known as pillar posts) where you address something within your niche that the audience can take away will quickly make your blog seen as one that’s useful.
Even if you’re creating an affiliate blog where every post is a product review post, you can still share added insight and tips with the reader about how to solve a problem or succeed with a goal.
Day 13: Make Sure Your Website Is Current
If you’re like most people, you’ve come across a website or two that had posts containing ideas or facts that have changed with the passing of time. For example, a lot has changed about nutrition over time.
Those ideas and facts that once stated how people should eat are no longer current. As a result of those posts lagging behind, search engines steer people away from those sites to ones that are current.
You don’t want that to happen to you. So take some time today to check over your website to make sure that all your facts and information are current. Whenever possible, include evergreen information, but make it a point to periodically revisit your posts to go over them and freshen up the facts when needed.
Day 14: Manage Your Search Engine Results
When a user searches for something online, the browser will deliver a response based on what your website contains. Your site can be preferred over others in the response according to the way that you use links on there.
You want to be sure you have links directed from your site to other websites, but you also want ones from other sites directing users to you. In addition to that, you want to make sure that your website links within itself.
For example, you want a link in one of your blog posts pointing to another that might have additional information, resources, etc. Try to secure incoming links by posting quality information and even arranging backlinks to your site that are quality links.
If you write a post about cardio and you know you have a specific previous post about walking for cardio, then you might interlink to that post so that search bots and visitors can read more about the topic.
Manage your site so that any link is legit and based on delivering what the audience is looking for. When you use links correctly, you end up getting better traffic. Never join a sub-par link farm or engage in shady spamming behavior that can get your site buried in the SERPs (search engine results pages).
Day 15: Make Your Images the Right Size
There are some things that will slow down your website. This is usually anything that’s not text. For example, photos, especially large ones, greatly reduce the time it takes for the viewer to be able to see the page.
We talked about website speed in general, but now it’s time to focus on pictures that can bog your load time down. You don’t want to risk readers leaving your site. You want your site to be one of the go-to sites when people search for the terms related to it.
So on this day, you want to check how quickly images load and reduce the size whenever necessary. You can do this by using a resizer like https://imageoptim.com/ on any page that has an image.
Day 16: Hold Onto Your Viewers
If a website is boring or offers nothing of value, then readers don’t want to explore the pages. They’ll simply move on. When that happens, the search engines aren’t going to rank your site as well when people use the associated keywords.
That’s why you have to make sure that what’s on your website is valuable so that the site creates a sticky vortex that makes consumers want to stay longer. When readers get hooked, they not only stay longer, but they also return for more of the same helpful content.
The reason search engines care about this is because if a user is satisfied with where they were recommended to click, they’ll keep using that search engine for the best results, and of course, search engines make money based on their user numbers when they charge for ad space.
Day 17: Be Content Consistent
Good, quality content will always be in demand – but not if you’re hit and miss or you don’t upload new content regularly. When you upload content consistently, your site will rank higher in search results.
Don’t create content just to have content. That will only turn readers away. Whatever you write has to be relevant, and it has to be valuable to the reader. Frequent content being uploaded gets crawled quicker over sites that don’t publish as often.
Plus, it trains the reader to return because they know they’ll gain something for their time. Search engines don’t want to send people to a stagnant site and humans don’t want to follow someone who disappears for long periods of time, either.
Day 18: Know What Search Engines Are Looking For
Search engines don’t return search results for websites that are lacking what they want. These software systems want sites that know what they’re talking about and have established authenticity.
These websites base their content on what’s true and known versus content that’s full of false information. Whether you create content or direct readers to things that help them – such as cultivating links to other sites, books, videos or other content, you want to be sure that it’s good information and trustworthy.
Day 19: Be Active Online
You want to branch out from your website to be sure and include platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and more. These social sites and apps work to create bridges back to your site.
Plus, they bring attention and focus to your business brand. Make the content you have to offer important and helpful. Learn what the audience on each platform responds to and take advantage of that to connect with your audience.
Try a variety of social media formats. For example, use videos on YouTube and TikTok, pictures on Pinterest and Instagram, and hybrid posts elsewhere like on Facebook profiles, pages and groups.
Day 20: Use the Latest Search Technology
It’s easy to forget that not all searches are conducted via text. Many people use things like Google Assist or other voice assistant products or apps. Because speech is different from text, you have to learn to adapt the way you use keywords to fit that audience.
For example, someone using a voice assistant app might ask, “How do I start strength training if I’m over forty?” So then you would take that question and create a blog post with that search phrase.
In your blog, create your content to center around that topic and tell them how to get started. You want to tell them what else they can do or use that will help them with their quest.
Use the search phrase or entire question as the title of your blog post, and again within the post itself. Then use variations of it in the content, such as, “middle aged strength training.”
Day 21: Check Out Your Site’s Engagement Factors
People who visit your site but don’t stay can lower your ranking in search engines. The bots know how quickly someone leaves and you can, too by checking out your built-in analytics.
Look to see what pages people are viewing and how long they’re staying on the page.
When you see that people aren’t sticking around on a particular post, it could mean the engagement factor is off.
It might be that there’s too much text and it’s difficult to read. Or it might be that your content doesn’t have enough meat to it. Correct the problem and you’ll improve the engagement factor.
The great thing about SEO is that most elements are tweakable, so if something’s not working right, you can learn how to fix it, remedy the issue, and wait for search bots to crawl it again for an update.
Day 22: Stay on Top of SEO Practices
Once you’ve established your website, over time, you’ll be able to see the number of visitors you have. This could be quite high depending on what you have to offer the audience.
By consistently watching your data, you can tell if the number of visitors start to decrease. Sometimes, losing visitors means that the search engine changed practices and it’s impacted your site.
What you can do is look up the search engine algorithm changes to make sure that what you’re doing on your site aligns with their current guideline parameters. These things change frequently, so it’s an ongoing task you’ll need to keep up with.
Day 23: Take Advantage of Grouping Topics
When you’re creating posts, you want to use common search words and phrases that people most often use. But you also want to use related terms as well. One way to find these related terms is by using the search engine’s suggestion or automated questions or key phrases.
These items are always grouped together. If you do a search on Google for “exercise for senior citizens,” then the automated questions might pop up to include things like, “how to start aerobic exercise as a senior citizen.”
You can use this to write group topics on your blog that you tie in together. This is helpful in pillar blog posts, where search bots like to see a topic covered in a thorough and complete manner.
Day 24: Make Purchasing Choices Available
If you’re talking about items on your website, you obviously want to take advantage of earning a commission as an affiliate if people buy those items. But what you want to do is not limit your potential buyers.
Not everyone will shop at Amazon. Or, they might not like buying from another website. You don’t want to lose a sale just because you don’t give your audience a variety of choices.
So make sure you use buying choices that will take them to several places where the item is sold. Google and other search engines have recently added this as part of what they want to see from product review posts, so make sure you provide options when available.
Day 25: Look at Your Website Through an Editing Lens
Whatever content is on your website should have audience appeal. You want to check to make sure that what’s on your site is easy to digest, is entertaining, and is trustworthy.
Look for visual appeal first. Don’t have your content be made up of just words. Not only can that be boring, but it can look dry (even if it’s not) and make the reader bounce away.
You want to use stock photos and graphs or videos – anything to make the content look better. Check for run on sentences, poor grammar and common misspellings, too. Double check that your facts are correct, and that all of your links work.
Day 26: Mix Media for Your Readers
Another thing that can help your site rank well is what’s contained on the pages. Search engines don’t like plain sites. While you should have solid, written content, you shouldn’t only have that.
You also want to include various elements that your audience likes. This means you should break up your posts with photos. But you can also use podcasts or other types of digital files.
You can add videos or slideshows. You want your visitors to think that their time spent on your site was well worth it. People have media preferences, so if your post has text, an infographic and an embedded video they can watch or listen to, they’ll stick around longer and appreciate the effort you went to.
Day 27: Make Sure the Links Work
If a bot decides that your page isn’t up to par, it can impact the amount of traffic you receive because the search engine will see that as an error. One way that a website can fall short is if everything’s not functioning.
For example, if a search bot crawls your post and encounters a broken link, that will be a sign that the page is outdated and erroneous, which can ruin your chances of having that post rank well.
Day 28: Pay Attention to What’s Happening in the Moment
In every niche there will be breaking news, new discoveries, or hot trends. You want to jump on those because people are going to be searching for related information. You can’t write things if you don’t know they’re happening, so make sure that you stay up to date on what’s going on within your niche.
Don’t schedule a post about that “in the future” when something is breaking news. Do it immediately. For example, if you’re in the health news, you might look for articles about scientific discovers to reverse memory loss, so set up a Google alert for words and phrases that will help you stay in the loop.
Day 29: Connect with Your Audience
You want people talking about your business online. You want them to tell their friends and followers about your site. You want them driving traffic there for you. This creates backlinks that are genuine and organic.
This helps to positively boost how search engines view your site. Drive people to your content by including links in your lead magnets, in your email autoresponder messages and on social media.
When they engage on your posts, make sure you keep the conversation going and prove that your blog is more than just a published content domain – it’s a community that is thriving!
Day 30: Select Information for Your Website
You want to use the best SEO practices and one of those is to have curated content. You don’t have to rely only on content that was created or paid for as an outsourced item.
You can use content that comes from other places. You just don’t claim that as your own content, and you only share a snippet, with credit linking back to the original creator.
For example, if you’re in the mindset niche, you can use a positivity statement that someone said that can help form a good attitude, belief or habit. You can also have visual or audio content around a topic and then discuss that information in a post.
But you need to be sure that you highlight where the content comes from. You can do this by using a backlink to the person who had that content originally. People enjoy their words or work being able to help someone else.
So what can happen sometimes, is the person you highlighted in your post will turn around and highlight you. Don’t take someone’s entire blog post and share it on your post – but take a quote and link back to them, while discussing what you found interesting or helpful about their original post.
By using search engine optimization strategically, you can make sure that your content will be one of the chosen listings that are presented to users whenever they’re interested in finding information about your niche topic.
It might seem overwhelming at first, but you’ll create your own systems of natural SEO so that it’s part of your normal process. As long as you stay abreast of changes in the SEO world, you’ll be able to beat out millions of other sites competing for traffic around the same topic.
If you ever have questions about what’s beneficial or harmful in the world of SEO, they have a community on Google and other search engines where you can ask for insight. That way, you’re not putting in a lot of effort only to find out later that it didn’t pay off because you didn’t adhere to their stated or preferred guidelines.
Search engine optimization is not a punishment, but an opportunity to learn how to put your best foot forward and serve the needs of your target audience as a niche leader who cares about their experience on your domain.