If you have decided to make use of SEO for your small business promotion, do remember that SEO works by some rules. And using the right SEO strategies and tools are extremely important if you want to exploit its full potential. Assuming that your business has a brand new website or a blog, here’s a list of strategies that you need to embrace, if you are looking for seo optimizing it.
1) Set an appropriate and realistic target
The Golden Rule of all SEO campaigns is to set a target which is realistic and appropriate – nothing more, nothing less. In SEO, the keyword phrase that you decide to weave into your website is your target. And for this, keyword research is important.
In most cases, small businesses work within a limited area. For instance, if you own a flower shop, you must be looking for clientele which is local……not global. That is why local SEO is important for fetching maximum ROI in this case and to achieve this, the keyword selection is of utmost importance at any level. For example, if your flower shop is in Denver, then your website must be specifically targeted towards Denver customers and hence keywords like Denver Florist, Denver Flower shop, Denver Fresh Flowers can work the best for it. In other words, your website’s target must be Region Specific Keyword and nothing beyond that. Getting a No. 1 rank in Google for “best florist” is not desirable. The whole world might get to see it, but in all likelihood, it will remain unnoticed by your local customers, who are your best prospective clients.
Therefore, set realistic goals and try to secure a position in Google Local Business Directory. Most customers first look here for products/services. For more exposure, you can step into Yahoo business directory also. Millions visit this venue too for gathering information on local businesses.
2) Small business SEO optimized content
Search engines just hate duplicated content and love fresh and original ones. And your content must be relevant to your niche of business. I mean if you are selling flowers, it must not contain content about toys. At least 10-20 seo optimized pages with related content can help you get a good score from Search Engines.
3) Link building
Creating backlinks to your website is extremely important if you want maximum exposure for it. However, for small and local operators it must be done in a slightly different way. For this, websites must be first submitted to local business directories, forums, directory websites and bookmarking websites. And keywords, titles and tags must include region/area of operation. Bloggers are generous by nature and will definitely link back if they find interesting information to share with their readers. But they look for content which is link-worthy – always remember that.
SEO strategies may vary marginally from one business to the other, but making a seo friendly website is only possible when you handle each of these fields with extra care. There are ways to perform small business SEO and my next post would be dedicated towards it. Keep watch!
Setting an appropriate and realistic target was a problem for me when I first started my online adventure. I couldn’t figure out what was appropriate for me at the time and thus I made a huge mistake. I went in thinking I could rank for something out of my league and I had to learn some things the hard way.
Looking back, I’m glad I learned something but I’m sorry for the time, effort and money lost because of my lack of basic knowledge. That’s why now when I start something new I always try to learn the ropes first and get working afterwards.