Yardi Kube: A single connected platform for flexible workspace management
Yardi Kube
The coworking movement was built on a foundation of human connection. Pioneering serendipitous networking and community building, many coworking space managers have successfully brought together independent thinkers, freelancers and anyone else interested in pursuing a new way of working together. While no coworking space manager wants to turn their attention away from their members, it’s vital that coworking spaces learn to navigate the online world if they are going to thrive. Luckily they can harness the power of search engine optimization, most often referred to as SEO, in order to grow their communities.
By Amanda Gray - Wednesday, 20 September 2017

If coworking is so human centric, why should SEO matter? Well, there are a few reasons.

Search engine optimization was often associated with “keyword stuffing” a popular method coined in the 1990s that was used to increase traffic by using words that met exact keyword matches. While this was effective to some degree, it didn’t take long for it to become apparent that filling texts with the same phrase and words was not only boring to read but came off as disingenuous. To meet changing market needs, such as consumers demanding more transparency and socially conscious business structures, SEO has evolved and is now considered a fundamental part of building websites.

Here are some of the key reasons why SEO matters in the coworking space:

Firstly, navigating the correct search engine keywords, that will drive exposure to your website or community board, will help expose your coworking space to a wider audience. Secondly, original and curated content, that has been crafted with your SEO content strategy in mind, is an effective way to get the word out there, while encouraging other platforms to share your work. Track your progress using tools such as Google Analytics to see what your traffic stats say about your progress. Know what works and what doesn’t work with your community and potential users will help you craft more personalized and genuine content.

As these changes have made SEO more human-centric and inclusive, it’s vital that you keep up to date on the latest practices in the SEO community. Today, there is no specific rule or guidelines that drive SEO success, but rather a combination of content quality, keywords and user activity. We will provide some resources at the end of this article that will help you optimize SEO for your benefit.

Know your audience

Understanding your community, or in search engine optimization terms, your target market, is the first steps to harnessing the power of SEO. The first step to getting to know what your members want is by talking to them. Coworking may have changed in recent years, branching out into coliving spaces and retreats, inviting everyone from small businesses to corporations to partake in coworking. While embracing more traditional business entities may prove to be lucrative for your business, it’s vital that you get to you know your current community to identify their needs before you start making any changes.

Some key questions to ask your members to help you better understand your community are as follows:

Explore community demographics, such as median age, location and profession.

Survey your community’s movement, for example what kind of events they attend

Explore your current offering and services to see what members and visitors are more interested in

Of course, there are endless questions you could potentially ask, it’s important to focus on a few key points to ensure you can make actionable changes. By understanding these key demographic points, you can mirror this in your SEO. For example if your monthly networking events are well received, create content about the benefits of networking and share this with your members and the general community. Overall, understanding your community will highlight your strengths as a space and will help you understand where to focus your energy and produce content that is relevant to your members, which will boost momentum and potentially attract new like minded members.

▶ Next page: Now that you’ve covered the social side, start setting up the infrastructure

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