A regulated dispensary in the United States averages about $3 million in revenue. With the cannabis industry continuing to grow at a rapid rate, the ability to earn big with marijuana continues to grow as well.
However, to really lead a profitable dispensary, you’re going to have to learn how to market it and increase your website’s SEO. Need help coming up with an SEO plan for your cannabis dispensary? Follow the steps below.
Search for Your Competitors
Learning how to build SEO plans is all about getting down and dirty with your competition first. It’s how you’re going to understand what’s happening in your market and how you can improve upon it or do it differently. Before getting into SEO planning, take time out to really research your competition.
Begin by researching top brands in your industry. This will help you get a good idea of what keywords they’re using, how they’re presenting their marketing message, and what kinds of users they’re targeting.
Then, take a look at your smaller, more direct competitors. See how they’re branding their company and how they’re trying to target the same audience as you.
While you don’t want to copy their branding or even use the same keywords, it gives you a good initial idea of the kind of SEO you’re going to have to do.
Perform Great Keyword Research
Now, it’s time to get to work on figuring out which keywords you’re going to use.
Before you begin to do your research, however, we should mention that it helps if you take the information you learned while researching your competition to form a solid user persona or target audience.
Take a look at the kind of people who interact with similar brands. What do they like, what are their occupations, how old are they, and what is their income? Really try to think of these when you form a detailed target audience.
This helps later on when you’re thinking of keywords to use that will target these users.
Now you’re ready for some keyword research. The biggest tip we can give when it comes to keyword research and SEO strategies is to think like your customer.
What might they be searching for on Google? Instead of “best indica strain” they’re more likely searching for something specific like “what’s the best indica strain for anxiety.”
Make Your Site Search-Friendly
If you have a solid target audience and a long list of high-quality keywords then it’s time to ensure that your site is search-friendly.
Sprinkle your keywords around your website while also ensuring that you’re including them in your blogs.
Make sure your content is in HTML format and that you’re using Alt Text for your images. This can greatly improve your on-page SEO and it takes little to no time at all.
Compress your website’s images to ensure that pages load fast, as this is a core component of simple search engine optimization that many businesses don’t think about.
Formulating a Cannabis-Friendly SEO Plan
Each industry is different and formulating an SEO plan for a cannabis dispensary is going to require a little bit of work than one for a graphic design company, for example.
You’ll need to think about targeting a really specific niche audience and you’ll also need to consider ways in which you can strategically market to them in a booming industry with lots of competition.
If you still need help, then take a look at our article on cannabis dispensary marketing. If you’re looking for help growing your brand, then get in touch to see what we can do for you.