Fresh off watching the Seaspiracy documentary, software engineer and Ardor SEO founder Kris Reid was thinking of making a donation to the Sea Shepherd organization to help the environment but he understood that there was more he could do.

Just like how he helped Food for Life Global raise six figures last year, digital marketing could do more than what one donation could do.

“Truthfully, I feel that if I get my message across to people, I’m doing them a service,” Kris says, “because I can help any business grow.”

Following the lessons learned from 80/20: Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall, Kris notes that all transactions involve risks, and taking away that risk through a well-designed strategy has increased their sales significantly. He simplifies this strategy to three parts that we can start right now.

Beautiful websites don’t sell things, words do

Before people can judge a book by its cover, they should know it exists first; Kris says when building a business in this digital space, web designers are the last of your priorities.

“A website is like a business card,” he says, “you can have the most beautiful business card in the world but if it’s just sitting in your desk drawer, it doesn’t do anything. Same with your website, it needs to get in front of people’s faces, that’s a lot more important than being pretty.”

He pushes for people to focus on Keyword Research; understand exactly who your customer avatar is and exactly what they’re searching for. Search how many people per month are searching each keyword and have that dictate everything you do—how you structure your website, write your content, and set your title tags.

Build authority

Kris tells us in layman’s term that “Google doesn’t trust new businesses.” He notes that new small businesses need to make sure that their website’s Code Quality is on point since the bar is set much higher for them.

Here he highlights the importance of backlinks and those looking into increasing their website traffic should get as many of these as they can to increase their “credibility” in Google’s PageRank algorithm.

Stick to your Queen Bee role

Lastly, Kris advises that new business owners should organize where they put their efforts into and make sure they’re not wasting their limited resources. Learning from Profit First and Clockwork author Mike Michalowicz, he encourages people to leave certain areas to the experts.

Like in a beehive, the queen has her role, and supporting bees around her have theirs. “Any form of marketing is hard,” Kris stresses, “whether Google AdWords, Facebook ads, or any of it, you can burn money really quick and you can screw it up really quick to. Work with a professional, get them to do it, and stick to whatever it is you do.”

“Unless you want to be an SEO analyst, don’t learn SEO.” Kris reflects on his current role in the world, sharing that during coffee with his entrepreneur wife, they talk about how tiring it is to start new and more projects but he notes that creating more and building a bigger reach is how business owners are making a difference.

More from Kris:

• Website – https://ardorseo.com/