SEO Services for Small Business

Small businesses and startups can benefit from SEO services. The thing with small businesses and startups is that they have a larger scope or more potential to grow compared to established businesses. You shouldn’t waste this potential by being complacent. However, you also shouldn’t risk bold moves that will end up wasting a lot of resources with ineffectual ad campaigns. The key component to small businesses and startups is to gain of position in search engine results. The best way to do that is to employ the right SEO techniques.

The Importance of SEO Services for Small Business and Startups

Marketing has taken a whole new level ever since the invention of the internet. It seems that every year, innovations push marketing to its limits. You now have mobile app ads, social media hashtags, and viral content. Thankfully, all these innovations are covered by search engine optimization or SEO.

Studies show that at least 80% of users turn to search engines to look for a product or service. However, with millions of websites out there, how will you push your website to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs)? This is where SEO services for small businesses and startups come in. With the right SEO techniques, you can grab the first spot on SERPs and see organic traffic increase on your website.

SEO Techniques for Small Business and Startups

Here is a list of optimizations that you should aim for in your business.

Start with the Website Name and Optimize your Website

Your website name should be optimized to be short and memorable. If you look at popular websites, you’ll see that they sometimes use one word for their URL. Examples include Google.com, Yahoo.com, Facebook.com, and Amazon.com. Bots that regularly crawl the internet and index websites also consider your URL name. However, for small businesses, it’s smarter to include the location in your domain name.

Ex. If your company produces furniture in New York, you could use a domain name like www.furniturenyc.com

Follow it up with Title, metadata, description, tags, and more.

Optimize your Website Static Pages

Static pages are used to display information about your business such as contact details, products, company mission and vision, and more. What most business owners don’t know is that you can use these static pages to improve your ranking in search engines. This is a checklist on improving your static pages.

Create the following: About US, Products and Services (an overview), Contact Us.
Use keywords that are relevant to your business in the static pages.
Use NAPS (business name, address, phone numbers, social media accounts) in all the static pages.
Use appropriate links in your static pages. Preferably linking to the rest of your website and other authority sites.

The best thing about static pages is that search engine bots love them. They crawl through these and will index your website faster.

Update Listings on Other Websites

Some websites contain listings of businesses. In earlier times, you claim your listing in the Yellow pages. Now, you can do it via several websites. For example, Facebook.com lists the businesses in a particular locality. You can logon to Facebook.com and ‘claim’ your listing. Update the listing with contact numbers, addresses, and links to your website.

Usually, these third-party websites automatically generate a listing for your business once a user uploads information about it. You don’t have to wait for that. You can ‘claim’ your listing and provide the correct information about your website and your services. You also get to update it with relevant pictures, videos, and more. These listings also boost your website ranking greatly.

These are some of the local listing websites that boost SEO for small businesses and startups.

Facebook
Apple Maps
Google my Business
LinkedIn Company Directory
Bing

These are just some of the many business listing sites that can boost your page rank.

Safe and Appropriate Linking Strategy

Your SEO campaign should also have a linking strategy. By regularly posting links to your website, you can improve your online reputation. These are the activities you can do (don’t forget to provide a link to your website!).

Regularly post content on social media sites. Avoid commenting spamming!
Send out newsletters/emails to customers.
Create events on social media sites.
Do IRL events with local organizations.
Screen out third-party sites that link to your website. The wrong sites can bring your page authority down.

Interact with your Customers Online

Users regularly post comments on review sites about your business. It’s a fantastic way to see how your business is doing and if you need to improve on something. It also gives you a free way to interact with customers. You can respond to the comments – whether if they are negative or positive.

Encourage comments by giving your customers a way to review your service on your website. You can do this via the Contact Us page, a chatbot, an email link, or links to your social media accounts where they can leave comments or use the messaging features.
Check popular review sites and see comments about your business. Review sites are also local listing websites where you can claim your business page.
Maintain professionalism when responding. Thank the user for the positive review. If you encounter a negative review, don’t fight with the user. It will invalidate their feelings. However, you also don’t have to grovel on your feet. Acknowledge the negative review and thank the customer for constructive criticism. You can also offer the customer to contact you so they can express more about their concerns and that you’ll attend to them in person. It also helps to send them a gift card to thank them for their patience.
Do not create false reviews. These websites have ways to check fake accounts. If you are caught, you could be banned or worse, lose your online reputation. And anything posted on the internet will stay there for a very long time.

Is SEO for Small Business and Startups Worth It?

Absolutely! You have everything to gain with a good SEO campaign. The marketing world is evolving and so should you.

If the tips above seem daunting to you, at Blaze New Media, we do the heavy work while you sit back and watch your business grow. Send us a message and schedule an appointment today!

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