SEO Tips For Small Business, My Top 10
As 2017 continues, small business owners are beginning to understand how in depth the topic of SEO is. In fact, with recent Google search algorithm updates, we have started to truly understand the impact of an optimized mobile website to supplement your current online activities.
Although the methods of optimizing your search engine rankings changes with every algorithm update, there are key concepts that you can implement that are relatively universal in this field. In this article, I will be explaining the top 10 SEO tips for small business owners can create an edge against their competition by implementing simple and cost-effective tactics and additions to their online presence.
Understand Your Audience
It may sound simple. However, this is a topic you have the least control over as a small business owner. This concept is crucial to you as a website owner if you want to drive traffic. This brings us to Google’s mission statement: “to make and organize the world’s information and make it universally acceptable and useful.”
Based on this and previous algorithm implementations, Google does not care about the number of keywords you have in your article; they care about their users being satisfied with the information you provide. Therefore, it is a great tactic to understand what your audience is looking for based on the current market trends.
Look At Your Competition
Like Sam Walton of Walmart, you must always compare yourself to your competition. What are they implementing that grants them higher results and how can you implement it in a sleeker, more useful fashion.
If you are not ranking in search on Google or Bing, then you have room for improvement. Taking notes from your competition is a useful method to enhance your SEO.
Also be sure to look at the local 3 pack, or google maps results.
Being Genuine In Business
Other SEO experts will speak endlessly about different methods to make yourself sound like an industry expert. Thus diminishing the amount of personal voice on your website copy and blogs. Unfortunately, this tactic will end up hurting you in the long term. The difference between an industry expert and someone who wants to be an industry expert? The industry expert doesn’t pay attention to the tone of his writing.
Your customers will understand your level of knowledge and expertise based on the value you provide them on a daily basis. Instead of focusing on the way your voice, pay attention to your brand and value, stop worrying about how a 300-word blog will be interpreted.
Create A Business Blog
The more high-quality content you have on the internet, the higher the chances are of your customer reaching you. Nowadays, there are inexpensive ways of integrating a blog into your website. In my experience, adding a blog to a website will increase your traffic simply because people are curious about many different topics, no matter how esoteric they are.
Adding a blog will help to increase your small business online presence and leads to people who are curious about your field. Incorporate a great call-to-action with every blog and you may find yourself with new business opportunities.
Make sure you proofread and grammar check anything you publish with Grammarly.
Do Not Go Keyword Crazy
This is my go-to search engine advice. When search engines became popular in the late ’90s to early 2000s, marketing experts noticed that particular keywords drove traffic to websites.
Within a few years, Google began to realize that business owners were “stuffing” keywords into their articles and have implemented changes in the algorithm to diminish this activity. Use a simple WordPress plugin for SEO at a minimum.
Link To Your Website In Your Posts
Every website should have a blog or news sections. There is a term called the digital rabbit hole where phone/computer users search the Internet without realizing how long they are spending on their devices. This is primarily due to the idea that they are gaining useful information or are entertained.
To help keep users on your website, you can captivate them by educating or entertaining them and allowing them to stay in your digital rabbit hole. The longer a user is on your site, the more likely they are to purchase a service or product.
Cultivate User Reviews
Encourage reviews from your customers whenever they purchase a service or product. This tip doesn’t necessarily qualify for search engine advice. However, good reviews will provide positive confirmation for future customers.
I can work with you to reach our to your clients or customers to post reviews within the given guidelines of Yelp, Google, Facebook, etc
Optimize Page Loading Speed
The speed at which your pages load will directly affect your sales.
On average, consumers expect a page to load within two seconds and will leave your website if it takes longer than three seconds. Page loading is crucial for small business SEO because every visitor counts. Google is now using page loading speed as a ranking factor.
Learn From Those Who Link To You
There is a significant amount of information that can be gained from those who link to you. These two SEO tips can increase your audience size and also encourage collaboration between you and those interested or in your field. If another website is always linking to yours, reach out to them or learn from what they are doing with their website. By reaching out to them, you may have the opportunity for a guest post, or a collaboration (increase your reach). Furthermore, look at the way they form sentences and utilize keywords and learn from it.
Remain Patient
Organic SEO is a long-term process, do not expect results within the first couple weeks of implementation. I continually learn, adapt and optimize. A long-term approach will bring sustainable long-term results.
Consider Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)
PPC or Google Adwords can bring direct traffic and results. Providing value to your customers will ensure long-term prosperity overpaying for their attention.
In my twenty years as an internet marketing and SEO Expert, I have learned many methods by which small businesses can optimize their performance and reach on the web.
I’ve served over 280 clients, completed over 350 projects, and have had over 10,000 hours of experience in this field. I’d love to hear from you, but more importantly, I hope these SEO tips for small business will help you and your internet marketing efforts in the future!
