5 easy steps to unlock the power of SEO for your unique small business

Why do I need SEO for my small business?

I know lots of people who ask themselves this question. SEO (search engine optimisation) can seem very mysterious, difficult, and perhaps a bit of a dark art, so it’s understandable not to bother with it. 

But, according to Yelp:

“Only 36% of small businesses have an SEO strategy.”

Imagine what a huge advantage you would have over your competitors, if you have an SEO strategy. The almost ⅔ of small businesses who don’t have an SEO strategy are literally handing you customers on a plate.

But what is SEO?

According to Google Developers: 

“SEO – Search engine optimization: the process of making your site better for search engines. Also the job title of a person who does this for a living: We just hired a new SEO to improve our presence on the web.”

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5 powerful reasons why SEO can help your small business

1. Rank higher on Google

If you improve your SEO, your website can rank higher on Google (and other search engines like Bing, Yahoo etc).

If your website ranks higher, it will be easier for customers to find you, get to know you, trust you, and buy from you. 

Yes, ranking on Google is super important. We know that, but specifically why? 

We can dig a little deeper here.

2. Build Brand Awareness

When your website pops up in front of someone searching, it helps to remind them of you, your business and what’s awesome about it. 

This principle in psychology is intriguing…

Mere Exposure Effect (or Familiarity Principle)

In other words, the more you are exposed to something, the more you like it simply because it feels more familiar to you. It’s not a logical response: more exposure to something doesn’t mean it is more trustworthy or worth feeling great about.

It may not be logical, but it’s true.

So making sure your business is in front of as many eyes as possible, as often as possible, will ultimately help your sales. Improving your SEO will do just that.

3. Find new customers

Maybe someone is searching online for something they’ve never needed before. Like dog toys, or a hairdresser who’ll visit their house. Having a great SEO strategy means that your product or services will be easy for them to find, even if they’re not sure what they’re looking for.

“Remember, search engines have about a 6th grade (around 11-12 years old) reading/understanding level.”

David Harry – Lead SEO consultant, Verve Development

When you make your website and blog posts easy to read, using clear language, you’ll help new customers AND search engines find you. Using jargon or overly technical language isn’t a good idea.

4. Become an authority

“No matter how niche or mainstream your market is, great content remains a significant focus for SEO.”

Kristopher Jones – Founder of LSEO

Regularly updated blog posts can position you as an authority in your field. Readers will be eager to learn from you. In time, you may earn backlinks (a hugely valuable SEO tool) from other trusted authorities.

5. Low-cost investment

“Investing in content is huge. There are thousands of keywords apart from what you actually sell that can help you to attract your target customer. Blog content can not only help you rank for these keywords, but also convey your authority, pushing visitors down the sales funnel.” 

Clayton Johnson – SEO expert, The Holt

Advertising on search engines can be tempting. But this is only ever a quick fix. The benefits will stop as soon as your funding does. 

If you invest in quality content, the benefits keep on building, month after month. You’re likely to see a rise in your Google rankings, and convert more website visitors to customers.

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How do I get help with SEO for my small business?

Improving your SEO needs you to do some homework. 

To start with, you could:

• – Find out who your main competitors are
• – Start learning about keyword research (you could use a tool like Ubersuggest where you get three free searches every day)
• – Spend some time writing regular, interesting blog posts 

I get it. You’re a small business owner, and you simply don’t have time to learn about keywords or write blogs.

But if you’re serious about improving your SEO, so you can boost your sales, then it may be worth asking for help.

Your best bet would be to look for a skilled copywriter or content writer. They are likely to have the expertise to offer you SEO services. You could ask them how much it would cost to start improving your SEO.

Other factors which can affect SEO are your website speed and responsiveness. Perhaps also consider an SEO audit to check how yours is performing.

Your small business is undoubtedly awesome – it’s why you set it up in the first place. Now you know why you need SEO for your small business, why not get in touch with me and start boosting those rankings today?

For your free 30 minute Zoom discovery chat…