In the dynamic world of digital marketing even in Wagga Wagga, the role of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is pivotal, especially for emerging businesses and individuals who are just stepping into this competitive arena. For those with limited authority or recognition in their field, the challenge of climbing the SEO ladder can seem daunting. However, with the right strategies and insights, it is possible to carve out a niche and achieve significant online visibility. This article delves into practical SEO strategies and real-world insights for those starting with little authority. We will specifically target my journey that begun in October 2023 where I began targeting those keywords with search volume in Wagga using a fresh domain of getleads.au that had no authority. Later in this article we will also talk about if the juice is worth the squeeze as it can be described in a regional community.
1. SEO Strategies for Emerging Businesses
There’s loads of strategies to use with SEO, the industry is a self licking ice-cream that you can get lost in but more recently I’ve been coming to an understanding that for SEO to really work if you don’t want to advertise using Google PPC then perhaps it requires ongoing efforts for a very long time and can be expensive.
Let me also point out that Google hates SEO because it means more people are pushing for free organic traffic vs. paying for PPC.
The below is not meant to be an exhaustive list and certainly not everything I’ve tried to rank for my chosen keywords but gives you a good understanding that you can’t do SEO by yourself or even expect your web designer to do it for you properly. No doubt I might have a competitor web designer reading this so I’m holding back just a little on some of my advanced techniques although i will say they’re white hat.
1.1 Content Creation
Content is the cornerstone of SEO. Web designers will tell you that all you need is content or “content is king”. This is not the only factor but it’s one web designers in particularly will push. Why? because they’re not developers and don’t understand or have the skills to do technical SEO. It’s easier for them to say add more content than it is to say flatten your HTML and defer the load of your non-important JavaScript. I feel like I probably even just lost you on the tech talk sorry. Still it’s important and for businesses in Wagga Wagga with limited authority, the focus should be on creating high-quality, relevant, and engaging content. This means understanding your audience’s needs and crafting content that addresses those needs while incorporating the right keywords naturally. For instance, if you’re a web designer in Wagga, is creating content that speaks to the local market’s specific needs can set you apart.
1.2 Technical SEO
Technical SEO involves optimizing your website’s infrastructure to make it more search-engine friendly. This includes ensuring a mobile-responsive design, fast loading times, and a secure connection. A technically optimized website is like a well-oiled machine – it runs smoothly and is more likely to be favored by search engines.
1.3 Onsite vs Offsite SEO
Onsite SEO involves optimizing elements on your website, such as content, HTML source code, and images, to improve ranking. Offsite SEO, on the other hand, focuses on external factors like building backlinks and social media marketing. A balanced approach to both is crucial for building authority. Watch out for my course in this area, I’ve developed quite a lengthy hour long course I wrote and recorded around 12 months ago that will give you a more detailed understand on the Onsite and Offsite area.
1.4 Building Backlinks
Backlinks are a vote of confidence from one site to another. For those with limited authority, gaining backlinks from reputable sites can significantly boost SEO efforts. This can be achieved through guest blogging, collaborations, and by creating shareable content. For me doing this right so that you don’t incur the wrath of Google’s search penalties is important. This isn’t the only area that has alot of black-hat but it’s certainly one area that you can be tempted to get help from India and their link farms. I’ve learnt in this area that if you invest here it’s temporary and you won’t last long at the top.
1.5 Keyword Clustering
Keyword clustering involves grouping similar keywords and using them in your content. This strategy helps in covering a broader range of search queries and can improve the overall relevance of your website to specific topics. If you’re targeting words like Web Design Wagga or Web Designer Wagga it’s important to understand relative terms. The issue with some keywords particularly long tail location based keywords like these is that your search should be on the seed keyword Website designer and not just website designer Wagga. Google understands website designer as a thing but the location only adds context. Other clustered keywords for me might include talking about how bad Wix or SquareSpace is for SEO. Known keywords in the area or even an article like this one talking about different SEO strategies where SEO relates to website designer.
Where you will find SEO’s go wrong is in the area of targetting keywords with search volume and difficulty and having these as the keywords clustered rather than keywords that are in the same tier as each other and you’re able to actually rank for an keep your ranking.
1.6 Speed and Optimization
Website speed and user experience play a significant role in SEO. A fast-loading, user-friendly website not only keeps visitors engaged but also signals to search engines that your site is of high quality.
This is one area I love to work in and have done alot of work. If you want to rank your website should load in less than 2-3 seconds and ideally you can get an “A grade” from GTMextrix or Google’s lighthouse metrics.
2. Navigating Google’s Volatile Rankings
Google’s rankings can be unpredictable, especially when targeting highly competitive keywords. For businesses with limited authority, it’s advisable to target niche, less competitive keywords initially. This approach can lead to more stable rankings and gradual growth in authority.
So I mentioned I started my journey in October pushing to be ranked for Web design wagga and website design wagga. These are the two locations based on keywords that have the most traffic in my area. The local agencies push hard for these two and implement different strategies to rank for these. For a total of two to three weeks while I was consistently posting articles in my blog I ranked no. 1 for both of these. How happy was I that I could overtake my old business and some of my competitors such as Wagga Web Design.
Well my happiness in my SEO ranking was short lived and while I expected it was simply a mater of doing most onsite SEO techniques, keyword density and health it’s obviously now much more than that as of today ranking I’m down to no. 3. I expect non-of my competitors in Wagga have done anything to get back on top and I haven’t done anything to negatively affect my ranking so it comes down to the fact that content as a strategy sucks and requires a lot of ongoing effort to stay ranked high. Google is therefore screwing with my attempts to rank high probably through some form of “new” topic weighting that helps or gives topical authority for a short period.
Typical that anything that is easy and a quick win doesn’t result in something that is long lasting and good. Short term gratification vs long term effort and long term gratification.
So is it worth it in a country town in Wagga Wagga NSW to get more work?
3. Keyword Difficulty and Traffic Volume
The difficulty of ranking for a keyword depends on its competition and search volume. For emerging businesses, targeting keywords with lower difficulty scores and reasonable search volumes, like “web designer Wagga,” can be more effective.
From the previous topic about volatile results clearly keyword stuffing is a short term strategy that may give you short term results. Traffic volume is also something that isn’t well understood. So for example you target “Web Design Wagga” the most searched for out of my original cluster with 210 monthly searches. You should target this for sure but should it be the main keyword. Probably not. Can you rank for it? Yep, sure can but you’ll up and down as quickly as it worked it will fail.
It all seems so hopeless with ranking your site then if you don’t use PPC. Don’t despire just yet, I have some other ideas that might help.
4. Leveraging KGR for Sustainable SEO Growth
The Keyword Golden Ratio (KGR) method is a tactical approach to finding low-competition keywords that can yield quick wins. I did some research here and this method was created by a guy named “Doug Cunnington”. This method is effective for businesses with limited authority, as it allows them to target keywords that are within their reach and gradually build their online presence.
Again this can be temporary, so keep on reading for what works long term.
Case Study: “Web Design Wagga” & “Website Design Wagga”
As a practical example, targeting keywords like “Web Design Wagga” and “Website Design Wagga” demonstrated the effectiveness of focused SEO strategies. Despite being a niche market with limited monthly searches, these keywords achieved a number one ranking within a few months, showcasing the potential of well-executed SEO tactics. When I did this work I validated my authority in the area and understanding as Wagga’s No. 1 SEOer. But as I said above it’s a long game not a short one when trying to rank for keywords like these two.
The best top 10 strategies for lasting results.
I think this list will probably grow as time goes on or it may change as Google games the SEOers out of business. I plan to put together a list of 1,000 things to check to make your site rank as a free give away at some stage but to be honest I’m not sure this will work for my particular audience here in Wagga. My current list is at about 300 things but I think should easily get to 1,0000
- Google My Business/Profile (get reviews) – I’ve seen corresponding movement for businesses as they get reviews alone. It’s an easy way to get your business to show up the biggest issue here I see is the need to have a bricks and mortar place of business.
- Page Load Performance – I’m thrilled that this is one factor that makes a difference because it means that anyone just good with web design as a web designer have only part of the puzzle sorted.
- Aged Domains – I thought about registered an aged domain when I first started my business and I do have quite a few of older domains with up to 20 years of history. This is the quickest and easiest way to get authority when authority already exists.
- Fixing on site issues with META, broken links and image sizes – All of this is about your site health and it results in a more stable ranking, eventually.
- Schema – Most agencies ignore or don’t understand what schema is but it plays a very important part when it comes ot rich search results in Google.
- Social – Ok, this one I hate because it’s not where my head is usually at, writing content and trying to get followers, but having a Facebook page with reviews and a backlink provides base authority for any established business.
- KGR authority and snowballing authority – If you’ve read to this point, then you get some gold. Well done, targeting the volume and keyword difficult that is easy is volatile while targeting search terms with little competition will win you some traffic and once you rank for the level you’re after which you can verify after a few weeks of targeting a keyword in a particular tier you can go for gold on the ones you really want to rank for. Content marketing at it’s best.
- Backlinks – I left this one further down the list not because it’s more effective but I think this is one that will take time to establish if done correctly and is a slow burn meaning it’s probably going to last longer lasting. Late last year, I tried to push for news publications and journal publications to get backlinks from these sources and they were very short-lived in terms of their affects. What made more difference was getting backlinks from websites I did website designs for such as MTC Wagga or any other website with Wagga in its name that I was already hosting. I also targeted those clients with tier 2 authority domains to offer redesign services. As a web designer in Wagga, the goal here was to create anchor text that was relevant to the keyword set “Web Design Wagga” given it is the one with most volume.
- Tiered Backlinks – You my hear SEO people talking about tiered backlinks and it’s a little confusing because domain authority also has tiers between the different authority levels. However tiered backlinks is more than that, it’s backlinks to your backlinks which almost become link networks. How to implmenet this is a mystery unless you have multiple websites you manage which for most people is not practical.
- Content is King – Yes, it is, but using less content is actually becoming more and more common for web designers, which you may think would have a negative role if content is king. My take on this is content is still king but it’s not the only king and if you use content, then using a keyword cluster and making content useful is your first objective. Serve your customer and offer solutions rather than asking for sales.
An SEO Conclusion to Consider
SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. For businesses and individuals with limited authority, the key is to start with achievable goals, focus on quality content, and gradually build their online presence. By implementing the strategies discussed, such as targeting niche keywords, optimizing technical aspects of your website, and building backlinks, you can climb the SEO ladder and establish a strong digital footprint. Use a local web designer in Wagga who knows about SEO, don’t use off-shore who will give you short term results. In my next article I will describe how every SEO company works in terms of gaming you the client into onboarding and offborading.
Is the Juice worth the Squeeze
I’m not super keen on the term “is the juice worth the squeeze” but it’s worth discussing that I have had far more success and better customer leads from those that have not found me through a Google Search. What? I think this is very important that you understand the persona of a business owner in Wagga Wagga looking for a web designer in Wagga. The first point of call will always be their friends and colleges. It doesn’t even come down to having a good portfolio. Sorry, designers your IP is almost completely useless so go back to working at Coles or Woolies. It comes down to who can you trust. Web designers in Wagga and in regional Australia are often backyard do it on the side businesses and over time people have learnt not to trust these people. Their untrusty nature comes from having spent their hard earn cash on web designs that need to be replaced or that are too hard to update and the need to spend more money. I’m thinking SquareSpace right now but it’s not the start and end of it. In some way they’ve been burnt and I think in regional areas word of mouth is king. Not content, again not your web design portfolio and not being ranked 1 for web design Wagga Wagga.
It’s all a facade and a lie that works well for the SEO industry. The reality is the best customers I get are those referred by other customers. I’m extremely lucky that I have a base of outstanding clients already from my days running Angry Ant Web. These guys are great at spreading the word if I solve their problems. That’s my number 1 priority for 2024, solve my customers digital marketing problems in Wagga. Get their trust, do good work, grow my business. As Gary V would say it involves sometimes eating shit. Also I hate that term, but it’s pretty accurate that sometimes you just have to “eat it” to a point when your customers feel guilty their not giving back. For this reason, I have mapped 12 monthly newsletters with small technical elements that make them think “value”. All of which take time but if I get 5 new customers through referral, ability to rank higher through Google Reviews and best of all I get to be a nice guy. Sometimes I love to serve people and other times not so much. It all depends on the customer but for all 140 customers I currently serve, I’m more than happy to serve these people who put food in my family’s mouth.
Referral for Web Design in Wagga
This week I had the biggest referral yet for Get Leads, I had a women contact me with a boutique large format accommodation and centre in the Riverina. Why me and not my old business or the competitors? Because I bend over backwards to help the person that referred me and I genuinely like her. Wagga’s a small place and as I broke up with my previous business partner, leads came through like I could never imagine. I’ll do a separate blog item for goals as I think they’re super important but in the last few weeks I’ve received enough work to put on a trainee and buy my Tesla which I’ve wanted forever and with the 2024 facelift I’m so excited that this time next year I’ll have a Get Leads Tesla. The other thing is diversifying and helping other creatives in the Wagga area. I’m really establishing quite a good creative network to help with all my web designer needs. From Photographers, Marketers to Social media gurus things are exploding for me in a way I thought not possible. Why on earth didn’t I do this years ago. A big thankyou to all my Wagga customers who have encouraged me over the last few months. I love you guys.
Call to Action
If you’re looking to enhance your SEO strategy or need guidance in navigating the complex world of digital marketing, don’t hesitate to reach out. Whether you’re a local business in Wagga or an emerging brand looking to make your mark, we’re here to help you master the art of SEO and let us take care of the website designer skills you need to create something that’s going to rank long-term.
