Stella Web Studio - E-Commerce specialist

What is SEO and Why you Need it for Your Website?

September 24, 2020October 6, 2017 by Estela Perez

understanding seo search engine optimization

If you have a website and want it to be seen by new audiences, then performing proper Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques will help it appear in relevant non-paid results.

Maybe you already have a blog or website that gets a lot of traffic everyday thanks to paid advertising, social media efforts or other online platforms. This is a great start!

However, knowing how to properly optimize your posts or pages, can help them appear in the Search Engines Results Page (SERP) for non-paid results.

Additionally, performing proper optimization requires technical skills that you can do yourself or hire a professional to do so. Whichever solution you choose, it will be a good long term investment.

Let’s take a look at some basic concepts on SEO!

What is SEO and Why You Need it for Your Website?

What is SEO, why do I need it and where to start learning this technique. Stella Web Studio — Photo by: Stella Web Studio

1. WHAT IS SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of optimizing a website to make it appear in a search engine’s (such as Google, Bing or Duckduckgo) organic (non paid) search results.

2. WHY YOU I NEED IT FOR YOUR WEBSITE?

Because while paid advertising, social media or other platforms can bring traffic to your website, the majority of online traffic is driven by search engines.

“In a nutshell, SEO is one of the the only online marketing channels that when set up correctly, can continue to pay dividends over time. Whereas, advertising needs continuous funding to send traffic to your website.” Moz.com

3. HOW GOOGLE DECIDES WHAT PAGES TO SHOW?

Search engines like Google, go around the Internet 24/7 and read (or crawl) every content they find, saving an HTML version of it in their database (called “the index”). From the moment your site is in Google’s index, it can appear in its search results.

In other words, Google reads what it’s available, adds it to its database and sorts it according to the relevance to search queries.

As for the order in which a site appears, Google has an algorithm that decides what pages will be shown. Although this algorithm is a secret, there are some on and off factors that help a site rank in a high position on the Search Results Page (SERP).

Here’s a good read on the topic:
The Ultimate Guide to Google Ranking Factors in 2019

4. HOW DO I GET STARTED WITH SEO?

Depending on your budget, time, willingness to learn and complexity of your website, you could:

A) Perform SEO basics yourself. There are a lot of online resources to start learning this technique at your own pace. There are free resources like the MOZ blog, that I strongly recommend, and from where I’ve got my knowledge in the topic. For instance visit their “The Begginer’s Guide to SEO” and keep it for your future reference.

B) Hire an SEO professional, consultant or agency. If decide to take this option, I’d recommend you to first make a research on the best options available. Keep in mind that the wrong SEO could actually hurt your website more than it would help.

Essential SEO Reads

Also, you can add to your personal library the following book references:

SEO for Dummies by Peter Kent, which will give you a quick and practical understanding of this technique.

2. The Art of SEO, Mastering Search Engine Optimization by E. Enge, S. Spencer, and J. C. Stricchiola (O’Reilly). This book will give you a solid knowledge on this tehcnique.

Create useful content for humans

Start off by creating high quality content on your blog that responds to people’s questions, and find out how people are asking them. Then perform proper search engine optimization to let search engines know you’re providing the right answers to your audience’s questions.

When performing SEO make pages primarly for users, not search engines — Create useful content for humans first, and perform proper SEO consequently.

Conclusion

To sum up, whether you decide to learn this technique or to hire a professional to perform SEO on your website, keep in mind that when done well, it will help your brand achieve real goals for your success.

Thank you for reading!

Let’s keep in touch!

What’s a Blog And How Can It Help to Grow Your Business

January 2, 2023September 20, 2017 by Estela Perez

What is a Blog How can it help to grow my business with 5 benefits

Nowadays it seems like everybody has a blog and you’re probably wondering if you should start one too. Either for personal or business purposes, blogging is a great way to share your expertise with the world and make money with it.

In this post I’ll explain what’s a blog, how can it help to grow your business, and where to start one. By the end of it, you can take my free quiz “Should I Start a Blog?” to find out it is right for you.

So, get yourself comfortable and let’s get started!

What is a blog and how does it work?

A blog is a frequently updated online journal where you can share with hundreds or thousands of readers your knowledge in a topic. It’s used to publish any form of content online to establish credibility, build rapport, and expand an audience.

It’s also known as content marketing and can take the form of written blog posts, videos, podcasts, social media, and email

In short, you can promote yourself, your passion or your business by blogging.

Who blogs?

Any person who wants to share her passion, thoughts, experiences or knowledge. Whereas a business uses a blog to create content related to their product or service. For example:

If you’re a person who is best known for being an expert in a topic (like cooking, fitness, or natural skincare), then blogging is a good way to work on that passion and monetize it.
If you own a business, then a blog can help to grow it and even create new sources of revenue.

That said, I’ll focus my next recommendations on those readers who want to blog for business.

Should I Start a Blog for My Business in 2020?

Absolutely! There has never been a better time to start an online business through a blog. Because of the deep changes the world is undergoing now, new needs and opportunities are emerging online.

By harnessing the power of content marketing, you can grow your current business or start a new one. As one of my favorite authors points out:

How Can a Blog Help to Grow Your Business (5 Benefits)

1) Be found by new targeted customers.

Every day millions of users look for answers online. And search engines like Google will prioritize those websites that provide useful and relevant information. So, the more useful content you create, the more pages from your blog will be indexed in a search engine.

In other words, by blogging regularly your business will show up more often in search results, increasing the chances of getting seen by your ideal clients.

2) Create authenticity

A blog is a platform where you can use your voice and unique perspective in a topic. It’s a space where your readers can connect with you in a more intimate way. They can see who you are, your brand’s voice, and how well you master a topic.

In short, a blog is a solid foundation for building trust and authority for your business.

3) Support your social media presence.

If you use social media, then you can lead your followers to your blog (hosted on a website) where they can learn more about you without the distraction of the competition.

Once your followers are on your blog, they can subscribe to it through an Email Marketing System and become potential clients.

4) Create authority.

By providing solutions to your customer’s problems through your content, they’ll see you as the subject expert in your industry.

6) Create new sources of income.

Besides supporting your current business, a blog can generate new sources of revenue from selling digital or physical products or services. And although some work is needed to set up a transactional website, it’s a long-term benefit worth the effort.

Where Can You Start a Blog?

If you want to start a blog for business and reap the benefits listed above, it’s best to set it up on a self-hosted website. My recommendation is to use WordPress.org as it’s the most flexible platform to grow and customize your site.

And if you want to blog as a hobby, you can quickly launch one for free either on social media (microblogging) or on WordPress.com. Just be sure that you don’t intend to monetize it in the future. Migrating your blog into a more robust platform is a complex task that may require help from a specialist.

Final recommendations

Check out these useful resources written by yours truly and other respected online experts.

I hope you found this article helpful. If you have any questions, you can send me an email. I’ll be happy to helpl

Designing your Website

February 18, 2019May 5, 2017 by Estela Perez

WordPress web design Services to build your online presence Montreal Quebec

Following is the typical process I follow to complete a web project, however, I can adjust it to your needs and vision.

1. GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER

Usually, three meetings are necessary before starting your website.

1st meeting: We’ll discuss your needs, objectives, questions and ideas.
Preliminary research: I will identify the opportunities and challenges the Internet poses for your company.
2nd meeting: A report of my preliminary research with a service proposal (specifying pricing, time and other details) will be submitted to your company.
3rd meeting: If needed, we’ll make adjustments to the service offer and sign an agreement to start your project.

2. GETTING READY

Hopefully you decided to start your website project, now it’s time to have fun!
To start working on it, I will need from you some “web assets”, which are:

Basic information about your company: Name, logo, address, email.
Content: Information about your products/services and images/photos.
Strategic information: We’ll define together who is your audience, the tone of your message, your objectives and challenges.

3. DESIGNING YOUR WEBSITE!

During this time, we’ll decide together a WordPress theme (format and style) that best suits your company and integrate your content in it. (Click here to learn more about the advantages of WordPress).

Two or three meetings will follow in order to make adjustments to the design and do some testing before agreeing on the final website design.
ESTIMATED TIME: 2-6 weeks

4. GO LIVE AND CHECK YOUR PROGRESS!

Let the world know about your new website as soon as possible through search engines and social media!

A request will be sent to Google to index your website into its search engine. It usually takes 3-7 days to start appearing in search results.

Invite your social media followers to visit your new website!

Finally, keeping track of your website performance is important! I’ll give you the necessary tools to monitor its activity.

ADDITIONAL SERVICES

Sometimes my clients require a few extras that will help to promote their websites or keep them updated. Here is how I can help out:

Opening a new social media web page in Facebook, Linked In, Instagram, Pinterest, Google or Twitter.
Writing content for their BLOG. Read more.
Translating website content.
Updating website: To keep your website in good shape, regular updates to your themes will be available (monthly or every two months).

Need more information? Please send me an email!

Blog

June 9, 2020November 22, 2016 by Estela Perez

Welcome ! Deciding to go online can be overwhelming, so I created this space where I share useful knowledge that will help you take advantage of the Internet. If you’d like to share your experience, make suggestions or ask questions, please leave a message on the space below!