SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of improving the amount or quality of traffic a website receives. The official start date of using SEO practices was somewhere around 1997.
Selling Simplified: 3 Small Businesses That Can Start Succeeding With SEO
One story is that SEO got its unlikely start when the manager of a band called Jefferson Starship discovered that they weren’t the first search result to pop up under their name.
When the band’s manager asked if anything could be done, the company that designed the band’s website launched an investigation. They discovered that if they included the name of the band a few more times on the site, it moved up in the ranking.
From there, others adopted the practice, and SEO became the new trend in marketing. These days, just throwing the name of a company into the description a few more times won’t cut it. As the internet changes, so does SEO, but one thing remains the same… Results.
SEO drives 1000% more traffic than organic social media, and 60% of marketers say that inbound content like SEO and blog writing is their highest source of leads. To put it simply, SEO is what can get you on the first page of search engine results, if done right.
That’s crucial, considering that less than 1% of people will look beyond the first page.
So who gets the most benefit from SEO? The real answer is most people, but for now, let’s focus on three types of small businesses that can easily improve by adopting SEO.
1. Niche Businesses
A niche business appeals to a very specific audience. Let’s say, for instance, that you run an organic pet food store. Your audience is people who are health-conscious and want their pets to have the best possible ingredients.
Catering to a smaller market can be helpful because there are fewer options for them, but the challenge is reaching them. Luckily, there are SEO strategies that can help. Here are a few options to add to your SEO plans.
- Analyze the search terms used for your industry. Are people searching “organic pet food” or are they searching “what’s the best food for my pet?” You need to show up under the results that are populating most often.
- Check out what the competition is doing. What’s working successfully for them when it comes to getting search results, and can you use that to get ideas for your own business?
- Understand what specific keywords are used repeatedly when people look for services like yours and incorporate them in your content in a natural way.
- Use keywords on your page title. This should look something like “Organic Pet Food | The Healthy Pet Store.” That way, people see the term they searched for first, not just some random company name.
Operating in a niche market can be tricky, and it’s actually one of the tough decisions business owners have to make because it makes more sense to appeal to everyone versus a select audience, right?
Well, the thing to remember with a niche market is that if you can drive search traffic to you, you have the benefit of captivating that specific audience, and it will indeed grow over time.
2. Maintenance And Home Improvement Services
Maintenance or home improvement companies generally operate in a specific area and need regular clients to keep them going. That means that if you run one of these companies, you need your advertisements to be seen by your local community often. In this case, you can benefit from local SEO.
Local SEO works like traditional SEO but with a target area in mind. It doesn’t do you any good if your name pops up under home improvement results in Maryland when you operate in Tennessee.
So how can you use local SEO to help ensure that you’re one of the local results 46% of people are looking for when they do a search?
Create A Google My Business Page
Google My Business is the leader when it comes to local searching. When you create an account with them, they’ll verify that you’re a real business operating in your area. That means you’ll rank higher on their searches and look more professional.
This creates an easy place for customers to review your services, which can help generate more interest in what you do.
Once you have the account, link to it on your social media accounts to boost your rating even more with google.
Ensure Your Information Is Accurate And Consistent
Your name, email, phone number, and physical address should be the same across all platforms. When you update it in one place, take the time to make sure it’s updated everywhere to avoid confusing potential customers or looking like a scam.
There are a lot of fly-by-night maintenance and home improvement companies out there, so customers want to know they’ll be able to reach you if they hate their new flooring.
Create Content That’s Interesting To Locals
When you’re operating in a specific area, you have the opportunity to cater your content to a common audience. Let’s say that you offer storm cleanup as part of your maintenance services.
That gives you the perfect opportunity to write a blog post about the most recent large storm that went through your area.
You can include how the community has been affected, where people can turn for help and other content that people from your area will actually be interested to read. That way, when your link to storm cleanup services shows up, it’ll seem naturally placed.
3. Law Firms
Internet searching is fast and free, which is why 96% of people use the internet to find an attorney. Out of that 96%, 87% will go on to contact an attorney. 72% will contact only one before they make their decision.
That means, that the deciding factor in who they contact is what pages turn up in that very first search, and your company only has a few seconds to make an impression. SEO can help ensure that you’re one of those pages.
Conclusion
We’ve already gone through how it works. You put the SEO tactics in place, they help drive searchers to your site, and you get more clients. The difficult part when you’re working in a law firm is having the time to do it.
Most lawyers work over 40 hours a week, and if you’re one of them, you probably don’t want to spend your remaining free time handling online marketing for your law firm.
Fortunately, you can get all of the benefits of SEO without having to do it yourself by hiring an SEO agency for your law firm. The agency will handle setting up a comprehensive SEO framework that draws in new clients, without sacrificing any of your valuable time.
If you do have some time, you can track the results in real-time via the tracking dashboard and watch as the visits to your site grow.
No matter what it is you’re selling or providing, SEO can help your small business succeed.
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