Get prospective members to your website quicker with a solid Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. Thriving membership associations identify specific keywords for concepts prospective members would want to understand at every stage of the buyer’s journey. Creating content explaining those concepts your Future Members (and existing) Members are already searching for online will help them find you as the organization who gives them the answers. That’s a pretty powerful way to connect your brand to your target audience.
When you are first on a Google search page based on a concept your audience craves, people see your association first, get to your website first, then you take over showing them all the wonderful things you get with a membership to your organization. Gain their trust and that trust will also lead to an increase in membership sales because you have proved yourself an invaluable resource to your target audience. Amidst all the noise, you helped the the people you were meant to help: that is the essence of all sales.
5 Ways SEO Keywords Increase Traffic to Your Membership Association Website
1. Leverage Topic Clusters to get found easier on Google. Topic clusters begin with central or “pillar” topics acting as a hub for your content. Pillar (or Core) topics are a main problem point your customers are looking for solutions to. When you establish pillar topics, build relatable sub topic pages and link them back to the pillar pages. For example, a pillar topic for your membership organization could be solutions for small businesses. Add relatable sub-topics such as bookkeeping, small business loans, or how to get your small business off the ground and link each article to the pillar page: solutions for small businesses.
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Select a SEO Friendly URL by placing a keyword phrase in your association's web address, different pages and subpages. This is a great way to get noticed by Google and make it easy for people to find your site. The most successful membership associations employ this strategy and yours should too.
3. Use Keywords in your metadata to increase your site’s credibility in the eyes of search engines. Metadata is data about data - think a description about your images, videos, webpages and more. A Meta description is small but vital snapshot of your page’s content. All search engines show this so you want to have one with your keywords for optimal results. When this credibility is increased, your ranked higher, seen quicker and more people land on your site.
4. Don’t forget headings, body text and hyperlinks.Headings are more than a bold title; they grab your reader’s attention and provide structure. Add strength to that structure when you place keywords into headings. Body text is the meat or the bulk of your content. Using keywords and hyperlinks ie. sending the reader to a related topic in your website will strengthen your site’s integrity from a search engine’s point of view.
5. Using keywords in your image tags and captions is an effective way to broaden your SEO strategy. To do this, make sure every image on your membership association site has a keyword in the image tag.
Discover the Keywords Your Membership Association’s Competitors Are Using
Employ a little espionage with spyfu.com to see what specific keywords your competitors are using and work out what yours might be. Go behind enemy lines and learn analytics of what words are used and more to apply to increasing traffic to your membership association's website. Also use a good old fashioned Google search using prospective keywords to see what comes up.
Use keywords, topic clusters and these simple but effective SEO strategies for your membership association and get more people to your website. Keywords will quickly get you a higher ranking on Google and generate more traffic on your site - traffic you can convert to increased membership sales.
Learn More About Search Engine Optimization And How It Can Help Your Membership Organization Get Found
With this free e-book, you will learn about:
- Successful SEO Strategies
- How To Implement Your Keywords
- Where To See The ROI Of Your Efforts
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