If you have a small business, you are probably thinking about several elements and tools to run it successfully and effectively.
One of those elements might be…you know…customers!
Therefore, customers are one of the key components every business needs, online or offline.
Think about it.
Popular video creator and influencer, @caramel.plugg, talked about how she made $5000 in two weeks after the launch of her clothing line on her Youtube channel and how big of a role her platform and audience played in it.
Similarly, you first need to get potential customers to see your goods and services before they can patronise you. That is where SEO comes in.
As a small business owner, you may or may not have heard of SEO. So…
What is SEO?
SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization. Simply put, SEO involves everything you do to get people to see your site whenever they search for products and services in your business industry on Google and any other search engine.
Therefore, a small business website will have to be search engine friendly to generate traffic and attract customers.
Why is SEO important and why do small businesses need it?
Well, SEO gives small businesses a steady stream of traffic. Even more, it is a great way to get leads.
Good SEO can help you do the following:
- Gain your audience’s engagement
- Increase your recognition
- Generate more traffic to your site
- Get an advantage over the competition
- Build credibility
- Make more sales
- Gain more loyal consumers
- Grow your business.
Getting SEO right will help your business become more profitable.
When people search for something you have to offer, you would want them to find your business as one of the top or first page searches.
That is why, the higher you appear on a search engine result page (SERP), the more likely potential customers will see you and visit your website.
The role of content marketing in SEO
Content marketing and SEO are like two peas in a pod. They are similar but slightly different in their own way.
Content marketing without SEO is comparable to a body without a soul. Both must work together in order to thrive.
And if they are combined effectively, they are sure to achieve great results.
It’s a matter of figuring out how to use powerful SEO to boost the visibility of your content and once you have done that, you have successfully brought them together.
At Hera Marketing, we are big on making this possible with our unique content writing services and processes. In fact, our goal is to meet you at whatever stage you are in your marketing and help make growing your business easier.
SEO Keyword Research
Keyword research can give you a clear wealth of details about what your target audience is looking for on Google or other search engines.
The knowledge you gain from these specific search phrases can influence both your content strategy and your overall marketing plan for your small business.
Meanwhile, because Google is constantly making changes to improve their user experience, there is a tendency for your content to rank lower on the search engine result page if you don’t offer extraordinary value to site visitors.
In today’s search engine optimisation (SEO) process, finding the correct keywords and deploying them wisely is critical.
READ: How to write copy that people want to read
Take three simple steps to do your SEO keywords research –
1. Discover what terms or topics people are searching for in relation to your business.
You may be able to describe what you do, but how does your target audience find the product, service, or information you offer? This is a very crucial step and question to answer.
You can do this by searching for a particular keyword you have in mind on Google and exploring the ‘people also ask’ section or doing the research with a simple tool like Answer the Public.
2. Create a list of seed keywords.
These keywords should be connected to your numerous topics and, more significantly, terms that your target audience would normally Google to find your business.
Seed keywords are also known as focus keywords and they help form the core of your keyword research.
3. Make the most of keyword research tools.
SEO and Keyword Research tools like Moz Keyword Explorer or Semrush for advanced SEO professionals, help you build more keyword opinions based on exact fit and phrase match keywords, depending on the concepts you’ve already generated.
Common SEO issues small businesses face
There are a lot of common issues small businesses usually face with SEO. Here are two major ones:
- Money: A lot of small businesses experience financial constraints when it comes to search engine optimisation strategies. Many cannot easily afford to do all that is required, including running search engine ads, hiring writing talent or digital and SEO experts.
- Time: In many cases, time is also a challenge. This is because many small businesses have few staff members who might already be stretched thin with a lot of tasks. So the CEO or any other staff assigned to handling SE) might struggle to make time for learning and implementing SEO strategies for the business.
Regardless, it is important to do what you can with what you have.
And that brings us to our next point…
SEO tips to optimise for small businesses
Here are ten(10) top SEO tips you can start applying to your small business now to rank higher in online searches –
- Do a thorough keyword research
- Concentrate on your unique products
- Optimize your website for mobile phones and make it user-friendly
- Build quality links to your site
- Publish high-quality content and lots of it
- Create video content
- Use internal links
- Boost your page loading speed
- Get quality backlinks
- Post your content on different platforms
SEO Common words/Glossary
Find a full Glossary right here and find words to add to your SEO vocabulary.
Final Thoughts
Using SEO strategies in your small business is something that requires a variety of approaches, techniques, and best practices (that change literally everyday). Regardless, SEO is still very critical for any company that wants to be found on the internet, big or small.
About Oyinkansola Ogunyinka
Oyinkansola is the Marketing Strategist at Hera, a platform that delivers content marketing services to high-growth companies. She is a fiction author, hopeless romantic and ice-cream lover. Read more from Oyinkansola.
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SEO is always a great way to boost visibility for small businesses but sometimes it can be really tasking. This article helps a lot with reducing the headache.
This is good to know Abimbola. I wish you all the best with optimising SEO for your own site!
The idea of optimizing SEO is something I haven’t even considered as a Small business owner, this article has really opened my eyes to understand it’s importance and how it can help me grow my business.
That’s the spirit Amanda! Love it 😉
A very helpful and insightful read, i love this
Thanks for this feedback Doyin. I trust that if you ever need to apply this for yourself, you now have a pretty good foundation of what SEO is and how to start applying it. Even if you never need to, feel free to share this with others who might. Cheers!