Are you a small business owner looking to get started with SEO? We’ve compiled this quick guide for small business owners outlining exactly what you need to know about SEO, and why you need it for your local small business.
Many businesses fail in the first few years of doing business.
It’s true that many will not make it to the five-year mark, either. But even long established businesses can fail if they are unable to adapt to an ever changing marketplace.
And let’s be honest – marketing is difficult in 2018. There are so many components to owning a successful marketing plan: an awesome website, social media management, SEO, paid advertisements, referral networks, eCommerce, print advertisements, branding, and much more.
The purpose of this article is to familiarize you with Bellingham SEO for small businesses – what it is, and why you need it to compete in today’s marketplace.
What is SEO For Small Businesses?
SEO stands for search engine optimization.
What are you optimizing? Your website. You see, after you have your website designed the journey is hardly over. In fact, you are just scratching the surface in the journey of building your online presence.
So when you optimize your website for search engines, you start to become more visible to people searching for information online about your business, which drives visitors to your website. Otherwise your fancy, expensive new website is just collecting dust.
In addition, without an effective SEO strategy in place your direct competitors are likely eating up all that search traffic and gaining new customers instead of you.
So now that you know what SEO is and how it affects your business, let’s dive into how it all works.
How do SEO campaigns work?
It’s all in the keywords.
As an example, let’s take something common you might do a quick Google search for – a plumber. Maybe your kid flushed an action figure down the toilet and you need to get it snaked out (hopefully that’s something not as common).
What would you type into Google? Perhaps “plumber Bellingham”. Yes, that would be a very common search term. And there would be a number of other people who search that same keyword, called the monthly search Volume.
But there are countless other keyword combinations. “Best plumbers in Bellingham” or “tankless water heater plumber” etc.
The most important part of starting a new SEO campaign is doing Keyword Research & Planning.
That way, you understand exactly what your customers are searching, how many of them are searching for specific keywords, and thus which keywords might be profitable to your business.
Without proper Keyword Research & Planning, you could be wasting money optimizing for search terms that don’t drive traffic to your website.
Everything Else.
There are over 200 ranking factors Google takes into account when ranking a website.
On-page SEO, Off-page SEO, Backlinks, Content, Social Signals and more.
Not only that, but Google’s algorithm is changing everyday and SEO specialists have to stay up to date on the most recent requirements to stay ranked in the search engines.
The Power of SEO
However, when SEO is done well, there is nothing that can compete with strong, organic search engine visibility to promote your small business. Period.
Think about it – every time you need something done and don’t know which business to call, what do you do? You Google it.
Don’t know what time a business opens, or closes? You Google it.
Want to find a new dentist? You Google one.
In summary, SEO makes your business visible to people searching for a business like yours everyday. Once they find your business online, your website needs to be designed well enough to convert them into a paying customer.
In today’s digital landscape, it is becoming harder and harder to rank online.
And let’s face it – SEO is the holy grail of marketing.
By being visible to your customers when they pull out their phones and make their next Google search, it’s the easiest marketing you’ll ever have to do.
Business in a Box
SEO is truly a “Business in a Box”. If you have a website that is ranked in Google for a particular service or product, then your phone will ring, and you will make sales.
It’s just how the internet works. And that, is why it’s a business in a box.
So whether you’re ready to embark on the journey SEO on your own, or you’d like a fully managed seo company to do the work for you, it’s time to get your SEO campaign started today.
