SEO is crucial for small businesses this is especially true if you don’t have the budget for advertising. SEO allows you to get leads and conversions on your website without having to pay for ad costs.
SEO is the process of improving your website to ensure it appears higher in the search results.
Many small business owners can get overwhelmed by SEO and often ignore it. It can be seen as too confusing and even not worthwhile if you have not yet seen any results from your SEO efforts.
In this short blog, we are going to look at 5 tips for small businesses to ensure you get success from your SEO.
1st SEO tip for small businesses – Be clever with your keyword targeting
Be clever with your keyword targeting. This is the most important tip to anyone running a SEO campaign. A common mistake is to find a keyword that suits your business but not to look into how competitive it is, who currently ranks for it, and the potential of your website ranking for it.
If you are just starting with SEO, aim for less competitive keywords. The best way to do this is to long-tail your keywords.
Let’s say you were an online store that sells trainers. You may think “Buy Trainers Online” is a perfectly acceptable keyword.
The problem is this is highly competitive and it’s extremely difficult for your site to rank on the 1st page at the moment.
Long tailing the keyword on your pages to terms such as “Buy Red Men’s Sports Trainers Online” will give you a much better chance of ranking.
You can do the same if you are a service-based business. Think of niches inside your target market and ensure your keywords target these people.
Doing this will give your small business a much better chance of ranking.
2nd SEO tip for small businesses – Target local (even if you offer a nationwide service)
This is something people are confused about at the start until they see the value in it.
People who are based locally to your business are much more likely to convert. People prefer to support small local businesses.
This is why if you are just starting out in SEO, I would look at targeting just your local area.
Even if you are an online store that delivers nationwide.
This will give you a much better chance of ranking for some initial keywords alongside having a noticeable impact on your conversion rate.
Start local with your SEO and once your domain & website has more authority you can look at competing nationally for your search terms.
3rd SEO tip for small businesses – Look to outsource (if you can afford it)
SEO takes time. Sometimes months.
As a small business owner, you are most likely very busy. You should look to outsource if you can afford it.
Many digital marketing agencies will offer different SEO packages to suit different budgets.
It may seem annoying to have an outgoing, especially if your business is new; however, outsourcing your SEO to a talented professional will more often than not be a very good investment for your business.
Outsourcing also saves you the most important asset of time. If you are new to SEO, you will often spend hours researching, setting up & optimising your campaign.
An SEO professional will be able to get your site rankings quicker giving you a better chance of getting conversions sooner.
4th SEO tip for small businesses – Create content to help your customers & rankings
Google loves content and so do your customers.
You have most likely been on a website that doesn’t feature much information.
This often leaves you confused and with questions about the product/service they offer.
I would make sure you answer as many questions your potential customer may have on your website.
This is not only great for your website visitors but also will help your rankings.
Google will see your website as a useful resource in your industry and rank you higher than competitors.
5th SEO tip for small businesses – Build backlinks
On-site SEO is very important and must be done. It is however not very efficient without correct off-site SEO.
Backlinks are one of Google’s key ranking factors.
Building a good backlink profile will allow you to have a better chance of ranking for your selected keywords.
I would look at adding your business to online business directories and citation sites as a starting point.
Make sure your NAP (name, address, phone number) is correct. This will also help boost your Google My Business ranking.
Overall it is crucial you see SEO as a long-term investment. Like any investment, it can go up and down. At some point, you will have a rankings drop-off and traffic will follow. It is crucial not to panic or give up on SEO.
Build on your SEO on a monthly basis and it will create long-term stability for your business.
