I Built It, Now I Need To Get Them To Come: My SEO Journey

If you’re reading this, you’re looking at my first big pandemic project - this website! Thank you, and I hope you’ll browse all its pages.

It was a challenge, often frustrating, to get it put together. I teetered on the verge of giving up several times. The site itself didn’t create my frustration. I did. When I finally switched off my right brain and started thinking from the left, everything fell into place. I learned and worked within the conventions laid out for building the site and I stopped trying to force through my assumptions about how I thought it should work. Then I had a good time configuring it and playing with it until I got it to look the way I want it to.

I confess that, once it was up and public, I admired my accomplishment several times a day with a much sense of satisfaction. 

I’ve learned, however, that if you build it, “they” won’t necessary come. So, given we’re back in some form of lockdown with COVID rates on the rise, I decided to learn something new. I’ve started my next project — a dive into search engine optimization. SEO.

I’m an accountant by profession so the analysis that SEO entails is already in my bloodstream, but better results would have given me a more encouraging start.

I got my first dose of reality when I ran my site through several analytical tools and discovered I have not one keyword on it that ranks in internet searches. And this after I had combed every page I had created to make a list of words I thought was rather good. All zeros.

I’m all for thinking outside the box but, at the moment, I’m not in an SEO box I can think outside of. I don’t even know where the box is, but I mean to find it, look around inside, and see what’s in there that I can use.

I’m an essayist at heart, so I don’t mind wandering around to find the box. If I’m lucky, and alert, I might find some helpful ideas and wisdom on my search. Then I’ll re-engage my right brain and work on thinking outside of it.

I’m open for suggestions and advice!