SEO for Skin Care Professionals
Once upon a time a business could open its doors, write a few advertisements in the newspaper, post a few flyers around town and achieve the success they were looking for. It is no surprise that there is a surplus of solo practitioners, med-spas, plastic surgery centers, and beauty brands starting up daily. With market saturation comes the need to let your customer 1. Know that you exist and 2. How you can help them (A.K.A. your niche).
Devising a marketing plan becomes a hurdle to overcome, when you are trying to get customers to notice you. This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes into play. SEO optimizes your business by placing keywords on your site so that search engines recognize your site and shows it to potential customers first. When possible, it’s beneficial to hire an SEO expert to help with your website development. Since that’s not always possible, we’ve compiled a list of 3 things you should know about SEO for skin care professionals.
- Keyword Optimization: The first thing to consider are the key words you use on your site. Use a tool like Google’s Key Word Planner to do research on keywords that are related to skincare. You may be tempted to use phrases like “anti-aging” or “acne fighting” but what you will find is that those words have a lot of competition. Also, be sure to avoid creating your own keywords. While branding yourself you may be tempted to come up with something catchy with which to self-identify, but until your product is well known, any attempts at using your branding as keywords will likely not provide the results you are looking for. Instead, use words that apply to your skin care business that aren’t the highest searched, as those will have the most competition. Use narrower key word phrases and specifics to create key word phrases that will optimize your results.
- Fluidity is Key: While searching out key words to use in your SEO, make a list of words that you can use. Be willing to make changes if you aren’t seeing the results that you’d like. Use a variety of the keywords on your list, and research new ones. When you’ve eliminated some due to a lack of results, be sure to do additional research to add new ones to your list. It needs to be a fluid and ever-changing list that you can build upon as your business grows.
- Blog, Blog, Blog. If you don’t have a blog, start one! Not only does a blog give you ample opportunity to discuss the different services or products that you offer, it also gives you a platform for explaining to your customers why it’s important. This benefits your business in two ways. First, if gives you the opportunity to create specific pages focusing on one keyword. It’s more likely that you will be able to get your blog on the first page when you focus on one specific keyword. Use these various pages within your site to be specific. Additionally, when you share your articles on different social media platforms, it may boost your article to the first page of the search engine results for the various social media platforms where it is shared. It also drives more traffic to your site, which helps different search engines know that your page isn’t spam. In short, this is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your online business!
Skin care is a fast-growing industry. There are more companies, and more available products all the time. Don’t let your business get lost in the crowd. Use these three simple tools to boost your SEO performance and place your skin care business on the first page of results!
If you prefer to spend your time in the treatment room working on your specialty, our marketing gurus can handle the SEO work for you! Contact us about our custom marketing packages today.
Thank you for this article! I’m a new Provider at HSS and looking forward to utilizing this option for SEO Optimization. I’m so new to blogging, a little nervous but will definitely incorporate this tool as well. (Fingers crossed!)