No matter the size or age of your business, you’ve likely heard of SEO. That being said, it’s understandable that small businesses choose to prioritize other areas with their limited resources. However, investing in an SEO strategy can earn you an incredible return on your investment and provide you with a whole host of other benefits that go beyond just revenue. So read on to learn more about how SEO can be affordable and beneficial for small businesses.
What Is SEO?
Generally speaking, SEO or search engine optimization is the process of optimizing a website to increase the quantity and quality of traffic to a website. We say quantity and quality here because website hits won’t mean much if the visitors aren’t actually interested in your business. You need quality hits that are going to convert into real business.
SEO involves using Google’s algorithm to your advantage. This system gathers data on billions of different web pages and websites in order to provide the best possible results to users. After all, people use Google to search for something they need — and the goal of Google’s algorithm is to provide them with the best possible answers to those needs. As a result, effective SEO involves knowing how this algorithm works and using it to your advantage to get to the top of the search results list.
That being said, there’s more to SEO than just knowing the algorithms. You also need to know people since they are the ones doing the searching. An effective SEO strategy involves knowing what people are searching for, what they want to know, how they are searching for it, and what types of content they want to see within their search results.
By combining these two components, you can use the power of Google to your advantage to reach people who are looking for companies just like yours and products just like the ones you offer! Without SEO, you may have never ended up on their radar. Thanks to SEO, you now have organic traffic to your website that didn’t involve the use of paid advertisements.
Why Do Small Businesses Need SEO?
While boosting organic traffic to your website is definitely a huge benefit of SEO, there are tons of other ways that SEO can help grow your small business:
- Many people falsely assume that newer and smaller businesses cannot effectively use SEO since they aren’t big enough. However, that’s really just a reason for you to start using it! SEO can help newer and smaller businesses establish brand awareness to build trust and credibility for their brand. After all, people trust Google. By association, they will trust you to be a reputable and credible business when you show up high on the search results page.
- SEO also helps the credibility and trustworthiness of your brand in another way: by improving your actual website. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how high your website ranks on Google, when a potential customer visits it, they can be immediately turned off by a slow or overly complicated website. On the other hand, when you invest in your website to create a seamless user experience, people are more likely to have a positive view of your business and end up making a purchase as a result.
- SEO doesn’t just get you website hits, but it gets you actual conversions as well. This is because with SEO, people who visit your website are actively searching for answers or products that your brand can provide! They aren’t just aimlessly browsing the web for unrelated reasons. This is one area where SEO has a clear advantage over paid advertising strategies on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. On those platforms, people aren’t searching for answers — they are just trying to scroll through their feeds to keep up with family and friends. SEO, on the other hand, is really a win-win strategy as it provides users with relevant answers and information while providing you with potential customers.
- Small businesses also need SEO to keep up with the competition. After all, how are you supposed to compete with big brands who always seem to rank #1 on Google when you can’t even make it on the first page? With an effective SEO strategy, you can compete with the big guys and really make a name for yourself.
- SEO investments can be tracked and measured to ensure that you’re spending your money in the right places. With SEO, you’re never going to be spending endless amounts of money without actually seeing where it’s going and the effect it’s having.
- Finally, SEO is a long-term investment for your business that will be well worth it in the long run. Ranking #1 on Google isn’t something that will happen overnight. Instead, it will be a journey that requires persistence and flexibility along the way. But with the right investment and strategy, you can boost your organic traffic and get a substantial boost in conversions as a result.
Cost-Effective SEO Strategies for Small Businesses
We have said that SEO is an investment for small businesses, so how can you get the most bang for your buck in terms of your SEO budget? Here are some cost-effective SEO strategies that will work well for small businesses in terms of return on investment:
- Your on-page SEO strategy should involve URL optimization, copy and title tag formatting, image optimization, and linking to internal and external pages.
- Your off-page SEO strategy should involve link building, a solid social media presence, soliciting reviews from past customers, and working with influencers.
- A local business SEO strategy should involve adding accessible contact information and location data to your Google business profile so that all relevant business information is presented in a quick and easy box for potential customers to view. You should also make sure that your website is mobile-friendly so that people can easily access it on-the-go.
- An eCommerce SEO strategy should involve efficiently organizing your website, creating relevant content for customers, and optimizing your product listings on Google and Amazon.
What to Look for in a SEO Service
Clearly, a lot goes into an effective SEO strategy. As a small business owner, you already have a ton of responsibilities on your plate — adding SEO to the list is likely not a realistic approach. The good news is that you don’t have to tackle SEO on your own. There are experts out there like Greg Gillman who have the skills and experience in this area to help you optimize your website and grow your business.
Greg Gillman has helped his clients earn more than $4 billion in annual revenue as a result of his services and expertise. He has worked with big brands like Adidas, Lunya, Petco, Ring, and Theragun but also knows what it’s like to be a small business and the challenges that it entails. As a result, he can truly understand what your small business needs in an SEO strategy and help you make the right moves to achieve your goals.
Final Thoughts
Many small businesses falsely assume that they cannot afford to invest in SEO. Perhaps the better question is can you afford not to? With the help of experts like Greg Gillman, your small business can rank #1 on Google to grow your company without spending a fortune.
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