- Do you have a team that helps you with the content of your site?
- Are you a team leader?
- Do you administer site content?
- Do you contribute to the content of your site?
If the answer is 'Yes' to any of these questions, read on!
It's really important to have a basic understanding of SEO when creating content for your site, as it really is one of the major contributors to how your content performs in search engines.
Understanding the basics of content search optimisation is crucial if you are serious about developing a long term SEO strategy for your organisation. You don't need to be an SEO guru it's simply just about being aware of what the do's and don'ts are when looking at content optimisation and what is considered best practice when trying to get a site's page ranked.
An SEO workshop with your team is a really effective way to share information on current SEO trends. Broadening and up-skilling the individuals within your team so they are aligned with your overall SEO or content strategy is key. I'd recommend inviting a guest speaker like an industry professional as it allows the team to understand a potentially different angle to SEO or simply a validation of your existing SEO knowledge and skillsets.
Meetups are also pretty popular these days that are purely on the subject of SEO. These are a really effective way of getting your team to engage in SEO industry discussion.
Recently I was asked to give a presentation for the team at NCPIC on SEO. Based on Amanda's brief, Communication and Marketing Manager at NCPIC, I geared the workshop towards their organisation providing practical examples along with actionable outcomes that they could put into place with their current site strategy. Amanda did a great job in creating a relaxed cafe-style environment, which allowed for extensive group discussion around strategy and the ability for the team to have the floor and ask questions if they weren't sure on some of the workshop's content and concepts.
I would urge any organisation with a significant web presence to participate in these type of workshops. They offer a real opportunity to enhance the effectiveness of your team's site and strategy.
3 Things I learnt from this experience that I'd like to share if you are looking to run your own SEO workshop:
- Make it offsite: Depending on your company's policies, you may be restricted to on-site events. However, if you can have your workshop away from your place of work, it really helps with putting your team in a different frame of mind, ready to learn and contribute. If possible, a relaxed environment that offers some sort of reward also - E.g: a nice cafe, with the reward of lunch at the end. Ultimately it really depends on the size of your group, but do try and make it an environment conducive to learning and contribution.
- Practical Examples: It's all well-and-good to talk about the theory of SEO however discussing how this affects your site and how you can develop a strategy is a really important outcome to have for the workshop. Practical exercises on existing content are really effective.
- Have a reference Guide/Agenda: If you are the presenter or if you make a contribution to the workshop, ensure the rest of the team can gain access to the content you are delivering. E.g. if you are giving a presentation on a particular SEO toolset you use - ensure you give your team an electronic record of how to access this toolset, whether it be a PDF download of your presentation, or simply a group email. If the team doesn't have a record of it, they may forget it and not use it!
Thanks Amanda and the Team at NCPIC for the opportunity - keep up the great work guys!
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