It’s hard to run a small business. In fact, within the first year or so, many projects fail and many others are not going to last over five years. Even the established brands can crash and burn if they will not evolve with our ever-changing technology. Digital marketing is a tough ability for a small business to master, especially overnight. The black – box nature of Search Engine Optimization can make it the most difficult way to market a small business. It’s a fact that search engines and SEO will play an important role in the future of any modern business.
Luckily, we have some tips for you. The following is a comprehensive guide to SEO, accompanied by 5 useful tips to help you make the best decisions when you put SEO to work for your small business.
What Is SEO, anyway?
Search engine optimization or “SEO” is a practice where web search engines’ unpaid results affect a website or web page’s online visibility. When a site and its content is of higher quality, it is likely to be ranked higher in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) as essentially google is running a popularity contest. When a site or page ranks higher in SERPs, this means that it is more likely to be clicked on by users as we naturally gravitate towards the item at the top of the page, while those below the 1st spot have a significant drop in being clicked on statistically.
When a site ranks higher in SERPs, this literally means that its position in Google’s results pages will change. The closer a particular site or page is to take the place of the top result in a Google search query, the more visible that site is to potential viewers and the more likely you are to see a return on your investment.
What Is Local SEO?
For every local business, local SEO is an incredibly effective online marketing plan. This type of SEO helps businesses promote their products and services at the precise moment they happened to be searched for. This effect is achieved through a wide variety of methods, some of which differ greatly from what has been practiced in conventional Search Engine Optimization, and some of which could be managed much simpler by using a local tool for Search Engine Optimization.
Tip 1: Start a Google MyBusiness Account.
Starting a MyBusiness account with Google is quick, easy, and, most importantly, free. Simply set up and upload all the details of your business. It is completely free and allows you to display queries specific to your area of operation in local search results. But the key here is to do this correctly the first time around, as going back and adjusting things gets messy and can also send messages to google that you’re just trying to manipulate the ranking system.
Tip 2: Make Your Website Mobile-friendly.
With mobile usage soaring through the roof, its essentially crucial that the you not only have a mobile version of your website, but that its user friendly and fast, both of which believe it or not are also crucial components to ranking.
Tip 3: Stay Updated on Relevant Keywords.
Targeting the same keywords will not work, over time. It is easier for larger corporations to select and use keywords as they are more established and have more online coverage. Small business owners can stay ahead of the curb, however, by implementing proper keyword research into every marketing campaign, then staying on top of updates to those particular lists of keywords. Using keyword research tools like Google’s Keyword Planner to spot market gaps will allow you to capitalize on them – they can even convert at a higher rate as well. Meaning instead of trying the obvious and major keywords try attacking smaller more specific phrases as well as trending relevant phrases to keep an edge.
Tip 4: Accurate Citations
A local citation for SEO is wherever your business information appears online together with NAPW (name, address, telephone number, website URL), typically in an online directory or business listing website. Google sees these citations as basic entrance to the playing field as most legit and good business should appear on the major directories. Not only must you appear here but its crucial that your information across these platforms is consistent and accurate as google sees any such errors as failure on the company to be established and powerful enough to rank.
Tip 5: Localization of Your Website
Localizing a website will naturally include names of cities, counties or regions throughout the website. This could involve creating separate pages or content hubs for individual locations for businesses with multiple locations. Other digital marketing and SEO strategies include engaging with and showcasing content related to local community events on the site. This type of strategy goes in hand with tip 3, however here not only are we focusing on a specific keywords, but specific target areas combined with the keywords which will allow you to dominate the competition.
The landscape of the internet is constantly changing as technology becomes more advanced. While we have pointed out the basic tactics on what needs to be done, actually implementing them into a business strategy can be very time consuming without an internal team. Kickstart your local Search Engine Optimization efforts today, before anyone else clings onto those valuable keywords by contacting our seo miami team today, we will handle your marketing as if we were your in-house team.
Local Search Engine Optimization is already powerful and will only become greater and much more important in the years ahead, especially given how inclined Google is to keep the local search experience. Now’s the time to reap the benefits of local Search Engine Optimization before competing companies catch on and steal all your business. Every local business can improve their online presence and digital marketing strategy, in order to make more money through SEO.
