It’s been an exciting couple of years for the CBD industry, hasn’t it? Congratulations on seeing the wave of the future above the others. It doesn’t take long before more and more people jump on board, and you quickly go from pioneer to one of the masses. Little did you know that being an expert in CBD has now led you to a need to be an expert in search engine optimization (SEO). 

Why do you ask? Let us count the ways…

1. Stand out in front of the crowd

As soon as CBD becomes legal in a demographic, hoards of merchants jump on board. Drive down the Main St. of any given town, and banners start to appear in all kinds of businesses that they, too, are selling CBD, from health food stores to smoke shops, and even spreading to gas stations and nail salons (hand on heart, I’ve seen it). You know, and the public soon knows that all CBDs are not created equal. 

There are several variations of the plants used to create oils and tinctures, and they directly contribute (or not) to the desired effects that your customers seek. Now, you and I know that, but educating your customers is a primary goal, so they may clearly understand why your product is most likely to meet their expectations and why they should make their CBD purchase from you. The good news is that teaching your customer works in two-fold to your search engine optimization.  

2. Prove legitimacy

Your website is so much more than a place for purchase transactions. It is your marketing foreground. When it comes to search engines, their algorithms give top results, not in any static order, but a means of rank – with those ranked highest showing on top. There is a special place for companies that pay to be on top, but this can be accomplished organically, which is a specialty here at Joseph Studios.  The ranking is determined by the amount of activity on your website, so to rise in the ranking, you must encourage more activity on your website by your visitors. Now, think of all the ways you might entice them!

Website content

Make your website one that your visitors want to explore and engage beyond the “see it – buy it” expectation. The longer they spend on your website, the better ranking it receives from Google as a legitimate and useful. This ranking is what puts your company at the front page or the fifth page when someone initiates a search for CBD, which leads new customers your way when they start a keyword search. 

Before you hire an agency, fill your webpage with useful information for your customers about your product. Include links to other parts of your website, history of your company, philosophy of life…all things good. Using specific words and phrases in your content writing will help users to find your site easily through keyword searches. The heavier the concentration, the closer to the top of the list your website appears in the search results – without having to pay extra to be there. 

Blogs

Blogs serve multiple purposes for your business, your clients, and your SEO. Utilize blogs to provide targeted information to your clients to specific uses, anecdotes, and the latest studies and breakthroughs associated with CBD. 

Blogs like these start to establish your brand as an expert in the CBD field, so your customers look to you and your company as a source of knowledge. Your blogs are content on your site, so keyword utilization may be used here to aid your keyword searches. As you continue adding useful information to your readers, they start looking forward to your next blog entry, and your reputation starts to grow as a company with a heightened sense of integrity.

Next, the blogs entice readers to linger on your site longer than a browsing visitor would. This lingering behavior also positively affects your SEO ranking, for your website is judged not only on the frequency of visits but also on the duration of those visits. 

Awareness against making unverified claims is essential to your integrity, so if you engage outside writers, they need to be mindful of their writing of anecdotal claims versus clinical claims. Joseph Studios’ writers understand the incredible potential of CBD but also the limitations of clinical test funding and product refinement investments. There is so much more to explore in understanding and validating the benefits of CBD and cannabis alike.

3. A brand they can all trust

When a potential customer does a Google keyword search, and your company shows up near the top of the list, the first impression is that you must be there because you are a popular and trusted company. This, of course, entices them to click on your link as one of the first to start exploring. We are not talking about one single person, either. Imagine these results making that same impression for every time a keyword search shows your company at the top results for a day, a week, a month.  We are talking hundreds and even thousands or more people seeing your company as one of the top ones in their search results.

Backlinks

One final SEO trick to share that benefits your company is seen as a trustworthy brand is by the use of backlinks. Backlinks are links on other websites that point readers to your website. This practice is done between companies of similar interests that their customers would appreciate the shared resources. It may also be done in relevant conversations where a comment recommending your company would prove useful as part of the conversation, and link the readers back to your website. 

Joseph Studios does a tremendous job at fostering relationships between businesses that can mutually benefit from each others’ client base and makes an artful effort in getting a mention in casual conversation in a way that is relevant and meaningful.

Who has time for this?

The good news is that there are plenty of books, articles, and advice columns out there on how to launch and maintain marketing campaigns for your business, so there are plenty of opportunities to learn. Which method is best? The best answer is “it depends,” and many people learn this through trial and error. How much time and funding do you have to experiment?

If you are working hard at building and operating your CBD business, you may find it challenging to put the amount of quality time required to build a strong presence and reputation for your business beyond the personal relationships you have already been making with customers face-to-face. Word of mouth has tremendous value, but by not establishing a media presence, you may be missing more opportunities than you can imagine. We at Joseph Studios can be your complete marketing resource, or we can customize a plan and help you sort and delegate the marketing assignments to get your company noticed. We make it easy for you. How can we help? Ask us today and get Joseph Studios in your corner.