When running a small business, it can feel like you鈥檙e trying to do everything at once. From keeping the finances to bring in more leads, being the owner of a small business can feel challenging. When you throw in competition from much bigger chain stores or national brands, it can feel as though you鈥檙e up against the odds.
Digital marketing for small businesses can be a huge advantage in helping you to gain more awareness and generate more business. SEO for small business owners can be a great way to boost your business further. This can be helpful for profits and also if you鈥檙e hoping to sell your business at some point further down the line.
Local SEO strategies
Local SEO strategies can be of huge importance to small businesses. It can help you to be found online by customers in your area, preventing them from going to a chain brand. Local SEO can help your small business to thrive, as long as you know what you鈥檙e doing!
One of the most important things is to build your Google My Business page. This is the best way to make sure your business appear in local search results online. Even broader searches can bring back local results, which can benefit small business owners hugely when it comes to finding more business.
It鈥檚 also important to make sure your website features on online business directories. This can ensure customers can find you when needed, but also means that your search rankings will improve too.
Keyword Research
Any SEO strategy requires some work with keyword research; it鈥檚 how you do your keyword research that makes a difference to the success of the campaign. When it comes to trying to make your website rank for certain phrases, look for any gaps in your market.
Carry out competitor analysis to find out what your competitors are ranking for, and see if they have missed anything. This could be the perfect chance for you to capitalise on a missed opportunity.
Blogging
Google loves content; there鈥檚 a reason you鈥檝e heard 鈥榗ontent is king鈥� a thousand times when searching for SEO advice. This doesn鈥檛 just mean including lots of information on your website; it can also refer to blogging.
Any website that has a blog has the opportunity to share even more information with its customers. Not only is this great for being a thought leader within your industry, but it can also hugely improve your SEO. Upload regular and unique content to your website through the blog and Google will recognise it.
Blog about anything to do with your business or the wider industry, sharing your knowledge while also optimising the content for related keywords.
Easy-to-navigate Website
No matter what industry you鈥檙e in, your website must be easy to use. It鈥檚 all too easy for customers to click off your website and visit a competitor鈥檚 if they are having trouble. It鈥檚 key to ensure your website has a simple but engaging layout, making it easy for users to navigate to different pages as well as navigating back to the home page.
Include call to action buttons to encourage customers to get in touch or subscribe to a mailing list, or even include internal linking that takes the customer to relevant areas of the website.
There are many things you can do to ensure your website is easily found and used with ease, which also has an impact on your SEO performance. The best thing about this is that these features are easy to implement even if you don鈥檛 have the money to spend with a marketing agency. This includes things like choosing a simple URL string and links to easily navigate to various parts of the website.
Know Your Audience
For any small business, it鈥檚 crucial that you know and understand your audience. Your customers are likely local, and many of them may even be repeat customers. By understanding what it is they are looking for and their problems, it gives you the perfect opportunity to tailor your business to their needs.
This can also help when it comes to social media marketing; something that is incredibly useful for small businesses. By knowing who your audience is, you can post relevant information online that customers will find genuinely interesting.
