Developing a brand is no easy task, but it can be done with the right approach and strategy.

65% of millennials start interactions with a brand or company online, according to Microsoft. Naturally, when someone searches for your brand, you want your products and website to be in the first few search results, but more significantly, you want to ensure that search engines find your brand often and permeate it with authority.

In the last few years, SEO was simpler. However, as the competition in the digital environment grew, so did the requirements for a high-quality SEO strategy. Every element of it, from UX design to content creation, needs to be customer-centric. You will need to concentrate on building a solid online image and presenting your online brand as accessible, usable, relevant and credible.

Here are a few crucial steps for achieving just that.

The human element in the content

Humans have, since ancient times, worked in big social groups. As we go through life, we meet different people and create meaningful relationships with those similar to us. The same principles apply to your business. For people to connect with your brand, you need to tell them your brand’s story.

With storytelling, you have an opportunity to shape the audience’s opinion of your brand and control the manner of forming your brand image. People will understand your brand better, trust it and be more open to it. Whether through tears, nostalgia, laughter or sympathy, it is the human side of your brand that inspires and engages people to take action.

Creating engaging stories relevant to your audience starts with keyword research. Concentrate on your clients’ search queries and stories, as well as your workers’ descriptions of your business. Once you create a list of relevant keywords, find those that are related to your brand, and make stories around them organically.

A unique brand identity

Your first goal is to build a brand identity that is both original and memorable. Original, because it will separate you from the competition and won’t allow potential traffic to mistake you for your competition. Memorable, as it encourages more searches in general. The key lies in balancing these two factors.

First impressions are overly important in the business world. Your brand identity is what impacts such opinions the most. A brand design is the face of your business. If you aren’t sure how to create a memorable and unique brand identity, you can always leave it to experts and consult a brand agency in Melbourne that can do it professionally for you.

Like for the aforementioned content strategy, your brand identity must also have a personality that resonates with the audience. What better way for them to search for it?

Logical and simple navigation

Basically, your website’s navigation works as a map for both your visitors and search engines. Without all these categories, subcategories and labels, this ‘map’ wouldn’t lead us anywhere.

Follow these several tips to make your navigation user- and SEO-friendly:

  • Avoid using generic labels like “Products” or “What we do”. Labels need to be informative for the user while simultaneously filled with the most relevant keywords to make them indexable for search engines.
  • Stay away from drop menus, since they make users skip vital website pages. If you must have a lot of categories, consider adding a mega menu.
  • Build a simple menu with a lower number of categories. Too much info in the menu overwhelms your visitors and distracts them from discovering the product they actually need.
  • Try your luck with user-friendly navigation options, like vertical sliding navigation, globally hidden menus, top story carousels, and sticky navbars.
  • Abstain from putting the navigation menu in nonstandard locations. If visitors don’t find the info they’re searching for fast, they may leave altogether.

That’s it! There are other important tips you can follow like integrating UX into your SEO strategy or guest posting for quality links. Research everything properly and you will be well on your way to optimizing your brand for search engines.