Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) as you are probably aware, is the process of increasing visitors to your website by ensuring your site is ranked highly by search engines such as Google, ideally appearing on the first page when searching for your industry, business name, product or service.

It’s a hotly debated topic and has been the subject of scammers offering quick-fix solutions to put you on page one. The elusive page one goal and art in achieving this has earnt SEO something of a ‘witchcraft’ reputation.  

As with any industry some dodgy practices in the history of SEO and aforementioned scams have left many businesses out of pocket and even blacklisted by Google.

Knowing the basics of SEO and where to begin will help you and your business avoid hiring the wrong people and having to clean up the mess or start afresh!

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A small business owner recently asked me about hashtags on Instagram – should they be using them? Do they work? What are they for?

This is a great question, particularly because of the conjecture around it and the different approaches you may have seen.

Your objective on Instagram is to be listed in the top stories on the search page. Stories that are trending on Instagram are shown in keeping with your interests or your likes. By that I mean a trending story that is relevant to something you like on Instagram will show up in your feed more than another story that is unrelated.

You’ll see images from others that will capture your attention, from people that you may or may not be following. The ranking assigned to these stories stems from the use of hashtags: things that are relevant that you might be looking for, or acting on.

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One of the questions I’m asked quite frequently is whether there is any value in boosting posts on Facebook and whether it’s just about reaching more people?

Firstly, the purpose of boosting a post is to ensure it hits your target audience.There would be little value in boosting it if it weren’t going to increase the chances of the people you’re targeting seeing the post. Rather than taking a ‘more the merrier’ approach, look to increase engagement by targeting those with a vested interest in the content you’re sharing.

Facebook has provided us with an incredible platform to engage our audience, asking in return for only a small sum of money to ensure that your brand, messages, video and content are being seen.

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