A well-crafted search-engine optimization (SEO) strategy can help you stand out from the digital crowd.

SEO is a strategy aimed at giving your website or social-media presence a high ranking in a web search, says Loic Jeanjean, director of web marketing with Vancouver-based Advisor Websites. Your ranking is your position on the list of results or “hits” generated by search. A Google search, for example, can yield thousands of hits on hundreds of pages; your goal is to get your link on that crucial first page.

Yesterday’s BYB article focused on how to craft an SEO strategy. Here are tips on how to make the most of that strategy:

> Start blogging
A blog helps foster interest in your business and can improve your search-engine ranking.

Building a community of readers through a blog increases traffic to your website, Jeanjean says, because it gives you brand exposure and generates long-term interest in your business. This increase in traffic improves your search-engine ranking.

To create a successful blog, he says, brainstorm ideas in advance and commit yourself to a posting schedule — whether it’s once a week or once a month.

> Focus on social media
Search engines place an emphasis on social media when ranking websites, says Jeanjean. So, it’s important to keep your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts fresh.

Constantly publish content on your social media sites, he says. For example, you could update your status or place a link to a recent blog post.

As well, make it easy for visitors to share your blog through their social-media networks by using “share” buttons.

Share buttons are the small buttons you see on websites that invite visitors to “Share,” “Tweet” or “Like” the content. The buttons can be set up through the social media platform’s website (such as www.linkedin.com or www.twitter.com).

> Bring it all together
For an SEO strategy to be successful, all of your online platforms — from your website to your Twitter feed — must work together.

Some advisors have older websites that are not compatible with social media, Jeanjean says. Or they may have set up a blog or social-media account that is not connected in any way to their website.

Look at your various online platforms and make sure it is easy to share content among them, he says. If not, you may need to update your website or blog.

> Track your progress
You won’t be able to make sense of your SEO strategy, Jeanjean says, unless you have some method of measuring your results. Google Analytics, he says, is an effective tracking tool that is free of charge.

Google Analytics allows you to track important data, such as, how many people visit your website, how they find it, and which pages they visit when they are on your site.

To make sure you are making the most of your online marketing, Jeanjean recommends following these three metrics at the very least:

1. How many people arrive at your site via a referring site, such as an online directory, vs. search engines;

2. Which keywords visitors use to find your site;

3. Which pages on your website receive the most traffic.

This is the second in a two-part series on search-engine optimization.