SEO For Small Businesses Is Easier Than You Think
When you own a small business and want more traffic to your website, the best solution is local search engine optimization.
SEO for small businesses is a cost efficient way to gain organic traffic without paying for ads. The great part about it is it’s easy for you to produce results.
It sounds daunting but it is actually much simpler than it seems. All it takes is some research, execution, and patience to gain SEO ROI.
There are multiple ways to approach SEO as a small business.
You can choose to do the necessary research and work to gain organic traffic on your own. Or you can hire a marketing firm that specializes in local SEO to do the work for you.
Either way, seriously consider looking into SEO if you’re a local business (and medium or big business).B2B and B2C business is all going digital, so gaining website traffic is key.
It’s better to get into a habit of increasing your online presence now as opposed to waiting until everyone else is already doing it.
Being proactive never hurts and this relatively easy marketing tactic can increase your customer base. Better yet, you don’t have to pay for vast amounts of advertising.
Gain the edge on your competitors and create the best experience for your customers by educating yourself on SEO for small businesses.
What’s Local Search Engine Optimization?
Local search engine optimization is a strategy to increase organic traffic for local small businesses. A majority of traffic a small business will receive comes from locals in their area.
So, what exactly is local SEO?
It’s the process of gaining search traffic through websites like Google without paying for ads.
There are various tactics to gain SEO for small businesses, which we will discuss further in the blog.
For example, there is on-site SEO which is the actual content in the blog post that increases traffic for your company. There is also off-site SEO which includes outside sources. Outside sources include blog posts and social media referencing your site.
Not only does SEO increase the traffic you receive on your website, but it also gets you ranking on Google. When people are searching relevant keywords, your business will show up. For more information on how much traffic a website needs to make money, check out this article by Robben Media
The Goal Is To Rank #1
You want your business to come up first because that is what people will first consider. People want quick results, and they trust companies who show up first. One of the easiest ways to conjure organic traffic is to have your website appear first with a Google search.
Why does this all matter? Well, let’s say for example you are a small business that specializes in spray tans. When a local in your area does a quick Google search for “spray tans near me” they’re going to explore the first two or three businesses they come across.
They click on your site because it ranked first on the page and decide to get a spray tan from you. From then on you have a new satisfied customer that will recommend you to their friends and will give you a good review on google.
We’re not making up this phenomenon. Data shows that 33% of search traffic comes from the first Google result.
Going Digital
More and more people turn to the internet first before buying. A blog set up for SEO can ensure that your business does not suffer from this reality but instead thrives and capitalizes on it.
SEO for small businesses is not the future, it is the beginning of a brand new world of marketing that embraces the push toward and digitalized world. The internet is not only making life easier for the consumer but is also making life easier for the producer.
You can choose to research tactics on how to effectively practice SEO in your business or you can hire a firm that specializes in the very topic to manage it for you.
The great part of SEO is that it is possible to accomplish without outside help, as long as you have the patience before you see results.
Local SEO Tactics to Earn Website Traffic
SEO is constantly changing, tactics that work last year may no longer be enough to get that first page ranking this year. This is why it is so important to constantly stay up to date on how search is evolving and to keep an eye on the output of your optimization tactics.
Take A Look At Your Website
Before you can even begin with optimization tactics, you need to take a look at your website.
If you want to get organic traffic from search engines, your website has to be user friendly.
This means having hyperlinks that work and are active, quick loading speeds, a mobile-friendly version and make finding information easy.
You want users to stay on your page for minutes instead of seconds and to return to your page.
User time spent on a page and the overall appearance of the page are aspects google takes into consideration when rewarding and penalizing pages for overall optimization.
Keywords Are King
Keywords and topic clusters are words and phrases that will increase the likelihood of your page receiving the first rank on Google. When consumers Google topics, they will typically type something such as “SEO tactics for small businesses” and then thousands of pages will pop up.
Google takes keywords into consideration when giving output.
It is important to choose specific keywords and not general keywords, such as “business”. It is too difficult and unclear as to what the consumer is looking for in their search.
A new feature to consider with SEO is the increasing utilization of voice searches. Voice searches change the way people phrase their searches; they will typically phrase their search in the form of a question rather than a few words.
This is why using topic clusters which are longer phrases as keywords instead of one or two words. This is one aspect of SEO that has changed with the evolution of technology.
SEO for small businesses has an emphasis on the locals. For small businesses, locals are typically your prime consumer.
Create A Google Business Listing
A necessity for a small business looking to optimize their search traffic is to put their business on “Google My Business”.
Google My Business is a feature of Google that allows small business owners to put as much information as possible about their business online. When the consumer searches their business by name it comes up on the front page with all of the possible information they could be searching for, such as hours or address.
The more information you have about your business on Google increases the amount of organic traffic you will receive when people search relevant keywords.
Another thing to consider when catering to the locals is to put your business on as many online listings as possible.
Add Your Business To Listings
Sites like Yelp, the Better Business Bureau, and the Chamber of Commerce go a long way to establishing search credibility.
The locals look in other places to find information about small businesses and it doesn’t hurt to give yourself that extra edge in the competitive world.
Traffic Just Takes Work (Or Money)
Whether you choose to tackle SEO on your own or hire a firm that specializes in it, gaining organic traffic takes a significant time or capital investment.
SEO Is A Long Game
SEO for small businesses is a long-term marketing tactic that requires patience, dedication or paying someone that has the skills needed.
This is not meant to discourage you from trying to do it on your own. If you believe you have the time on your hands to gain traffic on your own then by all means do it. If you don’t think you can manage it on your own or have better strategic operations to handle, then there’s no shame in hiring someone to do it for you.
There are SEO companies who specialize specifically in generating traffic and revenue, Robben Media being one. They’re good at it and they want to help business owners that are running the other operations of their company.
There are perks to doing it yourself and there are perks to hiring a company to do it for you.
At the end of the day, you have to take a look at your business and decide if you have the time and skills needed to get your website traffic using SEO tactics.
SEO Takes Work
If you decide to gain traffic on your own, there will be a decent amount of work associated with it.
To begin, you need to do extensive research on the topic. We have provided some tactics and some resources for you in this post but you will need to do additional research on what tactics are effective and what doesn’t work anymore.
SEO for small businesses also doesn’t produce output overnight. To reiterate, this is a long-term marketing tactic that takes around six months to start seeing results.
SEO Takes Patience
You most likely will not see results for months and the results you first see will just be the small increases in traffic that will eventually pick up. It takes patience.
Each day you will have to put in the work to include SEO keywords in your blog posts. As well as make sure your business is up to date on Google and in the local directories. You need to make a constant effort to ensure that your business is easy to access and easy to find when locals search for local services or products your business offers.
While you’re constantly updating your pages and writing search optimized blog posts, you also have to keep up to date with the ever-changing SEO tactics.
Google’s constantly updating their algorithm. Meaning tactics that worked three months ago may no longer work; you have to be prepared to learn what is new and to apply it immediately.
While all of this seems like a lot, it is completely manageable to gain traffic on your own. You just have to be aware of the time commitment and make sure you plan accordingly.
Just remember planning is key for optimization. Make it a part of your daily duties to ensure that you are keeping up to date with new tactics and that your business grows from your time investment into SEO.
SEO Takes Money
If you don’t think you can handle gaining traffic on your own, consider hiring a marketing firm that specializes in SEO for businesses like yours. These firms are here to help you and to do all of the technical work for you.
While this will cost you, the output you get from the optimization techniques will make the cost worth it.
There are many benefits to hiring a SEO company to drive online customers.
First of all they have experience working with all sized businesses and know what techniques work and what techniques don’t work. This saves you time wasted for trial and error if you tried it on your own.
You Get Penalized If You Do It Wrong
There is more than just time wasted when you experiment with trial error for SEO. Google gives out penalties to websites that can end up hurting your overall traffic instead of helping.
For example a bad bounce rate for your website (when someone clicks to your site then clicks away without visiting other pages) hurts you. Using too many keywords can also cause you to get a penalty from Google.
Hiring an amateur to do your SEO or even doing it yourself can increase the likelihood of receiving such penalties and can make gaining that first page spot much more difficult.
Google rewards good websites that provide the user with a positive and efficient experience and penalizes those that give the user a headache.
Consider hiring a firm that is local to you so they understand the traffic you will most likely be receiving as a small business. They most likely have experience with businesses in your area so they know what works and does not work.
Sometimes hiring a professional to do the work for you will yield the best outcome which will in the end help you make more money and gain more customers.
Hiring a professional also allows you to focus solely on the operations of your business and providing the best experience for your customers.
Small Business SEO Wrap Up
SEO for small businesses is paramount to your marketing and sales process going into 2020 and the years to follow.
The beauty of this marketing tactic is it benefits both the consumer and the producer.
The consumer benefits because SEO has a heavy focus on making the online user experience better. It involves improving your website to have faster speeds, working links and easy readability. It also provides your customer with all the information they need about your business in plain sight. You don’t want them digging for your phone number or your hours.
The company benefits because they are getting organic traffic for a relatively low price and are increasing their local customer base. When customers are satisfied with your business, they recommend their friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc to try your business to cater to their needs.
Gain An Edge Over Competitors
A steady stream of search traffic can help your small business gain an edge over your competitors. Your information will pop up first with a Google search and will provide the user with an overall positive experience.
Start investing in your website traffic now so you’re not irrelevant when a new trend comes, like 99% of sales are purchased through online search.
P.S. Want to work with Robben Media to grow your website traffic and online sales? We’ve taken blogs to millions of views and have produced millions for customers with our SEO strategies.
