Do you sell CBD products online? Demand for CBD products has risen over the past few years, with last year alone recording a whopping 55% increase. This makes CBD a potentially profitable business, though soon to get competition.
With more and more people looking to venture into the business, it would be advisable to take advertising and marketing to the next level. While running a business online is convenient for most people, proper planning is needed when running advertisements and marketing campaigns for CBD websites.
The CBD businesses are profitable ones. CBD businesses can generate sales upwards of $300k within 3 months comfortably- all through organic traffic.
With a proper marketing strategy, sales and profits would be over the roof. Although researchers are still uncovering the benefits of C
BD and its awesome uses, many people can attest to its effectiveness in the wellness sector.
CBD Advertising vs. CBD SEO
Although the FDA and Google are hesitant to acknowledge the effectiveness of CBD, millions of people still use and want to buy CBD oil products.
Since you do not expect Google to promote your business or CBD products in its search results, it is time to think outside the box to reach your target customers within the right time, place, and message. CBD SEO is the way to go if you are to reach as many potential customers as possible.
With Google advertising out of the question, the only feasible option to market your business online is through CBD SEO. This method is quite similar to search optimization and is effective for every business.
All one needs is a clear strategy and proper execution to realize returns. This article will focus on the top 5 pillars of running a successful SEO campaign.
The SEO landscape is always evolving. A CBD company thus need to know and understand the latest changes and trends, then make the necessary changes to stay afloat.
SEO has seen drastic changes in 2023; off-page SEO and brand marketing are the key traffic drivers. Creating a clean and easy-to-use CBD website and web pages is not enough to make the cut.
How CBD SEO Is Relevant For CBD Brands and CBD Companies
Aside from setting up an e-commerce website for your CBD products, the next but crucial step is to develop a solid CBD SEO strategy. With a well-executed SEO strategy, you can be assured of improved product/brand visibility online, more sales, and an even higher rank on a popular search engine.
SEO for CBD entails identifying and choosing the right keywords and products to boost visibility, traffic, and conversions. Here are a few insights and tips on how to approach and execute CBD SEO.
What is CBD SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website/brand to boost visibility online, hence increasing traffic to your CBD website. The process mainly focuses on attracting quality organic traffic for better lead conversions.
Cannabis SEO is thus no different from any other SEO known to the industry. You however have to make a few adjustments and tweaks to navigate the tricky cannabis industry.
One reason that makes cannabis SEO tricky is the ‘anecdotal’ health benefits surrounding the product.
Cannabis companies thus have to choose the right words (without making medical claims) when marketing their products. If one knowingly/unknowingly makes many medical claims on cannabis on their blog or website, the chances of hurting their search engine and organic rankings will be very high. This is because most of the popular search engines will not be so willing to trust your website. This could hurt your overall ranking and trust with organic visitors.
1. Technical, Off-Page, And On-Page SEO
CBD SEO services can be divided into three categories namely:
i. On-page SEO
ii. Off-page SEO
iii. Technical SEO
i. On-page CBD SEO
On-page SEO mainly focuses on content published on your website/page. Titles, Keywords, headings, and metatags are key factors to consider when handling on-page SEO. Search engines rely on keywords used on your website to determine its relevance and usefulness to the end user. This is why you must identify and use keywords relevant to your niche.
ii. Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO basically focuses on promoting the webpage or site through other pages and media. It mostly entails having your website or products mentioned on other high-PR websites, which are then linked back to your pages. Links and backlinks play a crucial role in creating brand awareness and boosting traffic to your website. The more backlinks you can get, the more trustworthy and authoritative your website/business will seem online. This is a basic cannabis SEO tips to get more search queries via search marketing techniques.
iii. Technical SEO
This type of SEO is mostly technical, focusing on the cores of your website. Its purpose is to ensure your website is user-friendly, crawler-friendly, fast, and has an SSL certificate, among other features.
Technical SEO is, for the most part, all under the hood of your website. Its main role is to make sure your website is crawler-friendly, secure, and fast enough.
Meta Titles and Descriptions
Page titles, also known as meta titles, are just that, titles of pages on your website. While page titles might not be visible, they certainly are to the SERPs. Using the proper meta title (unique) for each page can boost its visibility to search engine bots.
Page descriptions and meta descriptions are an attribute of HTML that briefly summarize the post or page’s content. These can be optimized to boost the page’s search engine ranking. Proper keyword use and placement is, however, key to boosting its effectiveness.
2. Keyword Research
This is the most crucial part of search engine optimization and any other form of online marketing. SEO for CBD companies hinges on good keyword research. A keyword is the only thing that distinguishes your CBD business from others online.
SERP bots hunt for keywords when a query is entered, a reason you want to use the proper keyword for your website. That said, keyword research tools help identify quality/relevant keywords for you, which then allow you to create a content strategy for/with the same. SEMRush is a good example of efficient keyword tool you can use for keyword research.
Most keyword research tools make it possible for one to toggle keywords to match their specific expectations. The research tool will also identify the most converting keywords relevant to your niche as well. Incorporating these keywords in your content can significantly impact content creation and brand marketing.
3. Mobile Friendly Pages And Page Load Times
User experience and page load times are two factors you must consider when developing a webpage. For starters, the webpages must be mobile-friendly – easy to access on various mobile devices and screen sizes. How fast the page loads is another factor, you need to be careful about.
Most people have less than 3 seconds of patience with websites, a reason you want to ensure your pages load fast enough. Optimizing pages and other media on the website for load times during the page’s development is one of the best ways to optimize page load times and speed.
Many people today use their mobile devices to browse and shop online. This is also one of the reasons Google gives priority to mobile-friendly websites. With Google’s mobile-first indexing, only mobile-friendly websites will appear on the top search engine results page. Be sure to make your website mobile-friendly to take advantage of this.
4. Web Design
Web design is directly proportional to user experience. A well-designed website makes it easier for one to navigate all pages with ease and find whatever they are looking for fast too. It is thus imperative that all pages are internally linked to facilitate navigating to and from.
Creating a perfectly designed web page for CBD dispensaries can be challenging for many designers. This, however, only needs proper planning with a bit of creativity. Researching more on the basics of fluid web development can help – most SEO firms can help with this.
Link Building
Link building for CBD is simply the process of getting links/backlinks to your site from other websites. Link building plays a crucial role in building trust, expertise, and authority with your audience and search engines. While great content can boost your visibility remarkably, backlinks will often give you an edge in the overly competitive market. A good SEO agency will also tell you internal links within the site are also very important.
5. Social Media
Social media is an excellent platform anyone can use to promote and advertise their businesses. You can thus use the various social media platforms to promote content already published on your website and blocks.
With billions of people using social media daily, promoting content on the said channels will help improve brand visibility and even generate leads to your website. You’ll, however, need to be consistent and creative when publishing posts on social media to generate organic traffic.
Local SEO
Local searches, local keywords and audiences are crucial for local CBD dispensaries in the CBD industry. That said, you want to optimize your local business website for local audiences, especially those closest to you.
A good SEO company can help you with this. Optimizing your content for the local audience has its perks too. For starters, it will be easier to grow your brand and beat the competition locally and gain valuable traffic. One of the best ways to handle local SEO is by:
i. Creating A Google My Business Account
Create a personalized Google Places and My Business account for every municipality and city you serve. Be sure to list all services clients can get from these locations. Consider mentioning all the areas your branches are on the main website for transparency as well. List other local citations related to your business, e.g., cannabis directory websites and local chambers.