The success of any website is quantified and measured by how many people visit and then convert on it. The best way to organically compound traffic to your website is by taking the SEO route. We speak to Anthony Hayes, an SEO expert, and owner of AnthonyHayes.Online, to share his thoughts on how early-stage businesses can use the organic route to drive traffic to their website. He also talks about the relationship between SEO and new domain names and shares nifty marketing hacks with businesses planning to create an online presence. Read on!

What inspired you to start AnthonyHayes.Online? Tell us the story.

 

I wanted to have a blog to create a log of my internet marketing journey and up until recently I was doing multiple free training webinars for SEO, so I needed a dedicated place to centralize all this material in a way that was searchable and easy to find. Having a blog also helps to build a strong brand and this is useful for list building and remarketing the traffic I generate from the website.

How can startups and early-stage businesses effectively use SEO to increase traffic to their website?

Startups can use SEO effectively by targeting specific keywords, brand names, competitor names, and product names, etc. to appear the first page of search engines’. Using a comparison of your own product vs a well-established product can be a great opportunity to generate traffic that is searching for your competitor and introduce them to your product.

How have your tools helped brands drive rankings and traffic?

I insert several ranking examples on the blog and regularly create case studies and proof of fast rankings. There is a new course called RankAttack SEO, which I make available for free from time to time for my email subscribers. I often give it as a bonus for various promotions that we do or to people who purchase our Alpha SEO tools. This tool has helped many of my clients to drive traffic to their website.

Do new domain extensions impact SEO rankings?

In theory, new domain will take longer to build trust and authority for ranking purposes but in truth and in reality, if you have quality content and the user signals that Google picks up are positive, it will not have any negative impact and you can build authority over time.

By user signals that Google can pick up on, I mean Click Through Rates (CTR) from the search engines, retention time on your website and in YouTube for your videos, social interactivity such as comments and social shares etc.

How important is social media in promoting businesses online and acquiring new customers?

Social media can be huge in promoting businesses if used correctly. Twitter is often underestimated, whereas Facebook can be a great way to build your audience and then remarket to whereas Pinterest can drive huge amounts of traffic.

Could you share a few marketing hacks with businesses planning to create an online presence? 

For businesses planning to create an online presence I would suggest the following:

• Create branded social media accounts on all leading platforms and use high-quality graphics on your profile headers, etc.
• Set up your blog correctly for on-site SEO by registering with Google Console, Bing Webmaster tools, and Google Analytics.
• Set Up automation for any new content created on your blog to post into your social profiles.
• Hire a social media specialist if you are not sure about how to go about conducting this activity.
• Create content for the user first and not for search engines.
• Track your results for all your campaigns
• Set up retargeting pixels on your website to build a Facebook audience and you can do the same with AdWords remarketing
• Use paid advertising to build your audience. Create a budget for this activity and implement it accordingly.

Why did you choose a .ONLINE domain name? How is it helping you develop a unique online brand?

I took a .online domain because I could not get the .com to be honest. I previously had .me which I never felt comfortable with and the .online seemed a better choice.

 

“Starting an online business? Get your .ONLINE domain now!’