CANNABIS SEO MARKETING
No matter the industry, Search Engine Optimization is growing in popularity for its ability to generate relevant, organic traffic that leads directly to increased sales and a more extensive customer base. And with the stiff competition and unique challenges posed by the legal cannabis industry, the SEO trend has become extremely pronounced among cannabis businesses that need a reliable way to generate leads and reach a larger audience. Of course, when businesses first look to SEO, they may become jaded by all of the third party companies claiming to offer miracle results with little to show for it. That's because while everyone may be talking about, effective SEO is not easy, and requires a strong commitment and significant investment in time and resources.
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At The Hood Collective, our cannabis focused services directly support your SEO ambitions. By investing in quality, attractive cannabis content that fits in seamlessly with your overall brand aesthetic and marketing strategy, you are also doing the best thing you can do to optimize your search engine rankings. Whether you are a local cannabis producer or dispensary targeting a specific geographic region, or a hemp or CBD looking to make a name for yourself nationally, The Hood Collective will help you grow your digital presence, including in terms of SEO, social media, and localized services such as Google My Business.
THE SECRET BEHIND AN EFFECTIVE CANNABIS SEO STRATEGY
No matter what any shady marketers might say, Search Engine Optimization is extremely difficult. You're competing against countless other companies in order to get a top page rank in Google, because showing up on page 2 or beyond is basically worthless. And because in most instances, pay-per-click advertising is not an option, organic SEO is your only option for getting your website seen by a lot of potential customers.
With everyone chasing the same goal, only a handful will succeed. Anyone promising you an easy path to success should not be trusted, and the hard truth is that you need a comprehensive SEO and content strategy and then the commitment and follow through to stick with all the proper steps. The best way to generate sustained and relevant web traffic is with high quality content that provides value to your customers. This might include educational videos, blog tips, professional photography, white papers, humor, and thoroughly vetted data and statistics.
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To really master SEO, you need to work with partners that both understand how Google and the other search engines work and can create the kind of quality cannabis content that will resonate with your potential customers.
WHAT SEO TECHNIQUES ARE MOST EFFECTIVE FOR CANNABIS BUSINESSES
The first step to any successful SEO strategy is to thoroughly assess your current standing as well as research the competition. You need to know what sites are already ranking in your industry, figure out what they are doing right, and then prioritize actions that will help you compete. This may involve identifying a number of less competitive keywords, or capitalizing on currently existing content that may be ranking well, but hasn't been updated in a while. You can only craft an effective strategy with a complete audit of keywords that are relevant to your business, and then deciding which ones are going to be easiest to compete for.
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It's also necessary to understand what the search engines (primarily Google, but also Bing and Duck Duck Go) consider important and respond accordingly. A good SEO strategy will start before you've even built your website, and smart cannabis companies will structure their website in a way to maximize their appeal to search engines. Another essential ingredient is regularly updated or added to content. The fresher your content is, the more appealing it is, while a website or blog that never gets added to will gradually lose its relevancy.
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With this in mind, a good SEO strategy is largely identical to a good content strategy. If you are already creating a monthly newsletter or have a thriving presence on social media, you can probably leverage that same content as part of your overall SEO goals. But the reverse is also true. By committing to a regular schedule of blog posts, educational and informative videos, infographics, news recaps, and/or whatever other high value content you think will appeal to your potential customers, you not only will have plenty of updates for your website, but it will also serve you in your email marketing and social media as well.
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Finally, there is a vital geography component to SEO. Assuming you are a cannabis company primarily marketing to one city, state, or geographical area, you will need to tailor an entire portion of your SEO strategy to location-based services, such as Google My Business, Yelp, Leafly, and several dozen other platforms. This will help you rank well in searches that are the most valuable to your cannabis company, ie those that originate nearby to your place of business. Obviously this applies most to dispensaries and product brands that sell to one particular area.
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Example of an educational video series that will do wonders for your website's SEO:
WHY HIRE THE HOOD COLLECTIVE FOR YOUR SEO CONTENT
The Hood Collective specializes in producing the kind of content that is perfect for optimizing your search engine rankings. This includes premium video, photography, graphic design, drone, and written cannabis content that will appeal to both the Google algorithm AND actual living and breathing cannabis consumers. Stop paying for SEO gimmicks that don't work. Partner with The Hood Collective and you'll see immediate SEO and branding results that directly lead to increased sales.
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We have an experienced and dedicated team graphic designers, animators, photographers, videographers, writers, and drone pilots who have one goal: to help your company succeed.
