Reflection on SEO Strategies

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a dynamic and multifaceted discipline that has become a cornerstone of digital marketing strategies. At the heart of SEO lies the quest for visibility. It's not just about creating compelling content but also about ensuring that this content is easily discoverable by search engines.

In theory, I've had a professional website since 2013. In reality, I've been paying for a registered domain that has been viewed by a few friends and relatives and has basically been hidden for the past five years.

I've known about SEO ever since I bought my domain and created the first version of my website. I also know that I've never used SEO effectively or at all. Currently, my website is under construction and there is no SEO strategy. However, that is something I want to change.

At the beginning of the course, my mother passed away and I was and am consumed by grief. I wanted to target the blog section of my website toward coping with the loss of a loved one and hopefully, by sharing my experience it would help others feel not so alone in their pain. I'm not entirely sure that is the direction I want to base my entire identity on, but for now, in many ways, everything I do is shaped by my grief.

To attract a target audience who may be looking for real stories they can relate to in their grieving process, one strategy I definitely want to pay more attention to is how I use (or don't use) keywords in my blog posts. This will involve in-depth keyword research to identify the words and phrases my target audience is likely to use.

Currently, I'm using WordPress as my site platform and I know there are built-in tools or plug-ins I can use to help improve my WordPress SEO. I plan to research these tools as well to see how effective they are. If nothing else, this seems like a good first step until I learn how to do everything on my own.

One thing my website has going for it if I am to believe what I read in Steve Krug's book Don't Make Me Think, is that it is already pretty straightforward and easy to navigate. Krug writes, "Your goal should be for each page or screen to be self-evident, so that just by looking at it the average user will know what it is and how to use it." He later clarifies that if something isn't self-evident, it should at least be self-explanatory.

My goal for my site is for it to be a living resume that I can use for self-promotion. I want it to reflect my current and past writing endeavors. I have created a page for everything I want to showcase and have tabs labeled, "Resume," "Writing Portfolio," and "A Day in the Life," all with a brief explanation of what will be found on each page. My layout is simple and easy to navigate. I'm hoping that will positively affect the traffic to my site once my SEO strategy is fully executed.