This article will tell you everything you need to know about how to use SEO for your small business. We’ll go over the cost of small business SEO and tips for small business SEO.
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Small Business SEO
You might hear a lot about SEO and think it might just be for big businesses. Maybe you think it’s too expensive for a small business, or not very effective. But that’s absolutely not the case. SEO is as, or even more important, for small businesses than large businesses. We’ll tell you why later in this article. But first, let’s discuss the definition of SEO.
What Is SEO?
SEO is an acronym that stands for search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is the means by which websites increase both the quantity and quality of their website traffic by increasing a website’s ranking in search engines. The goal of SEO is to gain a higher search engine ranking and more organic traffic for a website.
Why Is SEO Important for Small Businesses?
If you want potential customers to find your business online, SEO is one of the easiest ways to help. By optimizing your small business website for search engines, more people will find your business. Good SEO practices are less expensive than running pay-per-click ads or other costly advertising campaigns. And, we can teach you how to get started with good SEO practices for small businesses in this article.
How Much Does Small Business SEO Cost?
Unfortunately, there is no exact answer for this question. Every business is different and the cost of SEO for every business is also different. To determine exactly how much SEO services for your business will cost, you will have to discuss your goals and needs with an SEO agency like SEO Design Chicago.
However, we can tell you that the cost of optimizing your small business website for search engines depends on several factors. Here are some of the factors that can affect that cost of SEO for your small business:
Your Industry
If you’re in a highly competitive industry for search engine traffic, the cost of SEO for your business might be higher than if you’re in an industry where SEO services are not always utilized. However, as a small business, you are most likely not in a highly competitive search traffic industry, which means it may not be as expensive as you might think to hire an SEO agency.
Your Goals
What are you trying to accomplish by utilizing SEO? What are your goals for your small business? The answer to these questions will also affect the cost of SEO for your business. Are you trying to increase traffic to your website? Improve your conversion rate? Become a leader in your industry? The bigger your goals are, the more you’ll most likely have to spend on SEO services.
Your Target Audience
The bigger and broader the audience you’re trying to reach is, the more expensive SEO services can be. As a small business, you most likely have a smaller target audience, so this will probably not cost you as much money!
Your Location
The cost of SEO for your business also can depend on where you’re located – and how many locations you have. If you need to optimize websites for several different locations in several different cities, the price of SEO services will skyrocket. However, as a small business, you likely will not encounter these high prices.
Your Keywords
If you choose to bid on keywords on search engines like Google to help your SEO, it can get expensive, depending on which keywords you choose. The more popular the keyword is, the more expensive it is. However, if you choose to go to the low-budget route and not pay for keywords, this will not be a problem for your small business.
Tips for Small Business SEO
Utilize Local SEO
The number one tip for small business SEO is practice local SEO. Small business SEO and local SEO are very closely related. Local SEO is the technique brick and mortar local businesses utilize to help connect with potential customers in their area.
So how do you practice local SEO? The first step is to list yourself as a local business on Google My Business. Setting up a page for your business on Google My Business allows potential customers to find you on Google Maps and on Google Search. Did you know that more than 70 percent of consumers who performed a local search visited a store within five miles.
Make sure to add plenty of professional photos to your page and add all relevant details about your business, like your hours. Note if you have any particular services or products that other businesses don’t offer.
Next, make sure you have profiles set up for your business on other local review websites like Yelp. If you have a small business in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago, for example, you want everyone who looks at things to do in that neighborhood after going to the zoo to find your business. If you’re lacking reviews on local review sites, you can ask family, friends and regular customers to write some for you!
Optimize Your Website
The next step for small business SEO is to make sure your website is optimized well for search engines. What do we mean by that? First of all, make sure your domain name accurately and easily depicts what your business is and where you’re located. For example, if you’re Karen’s Bakery in Chicago, it’s important to incorporate all of those components in your domain name. While a cute business name is, well, cute, it doesn’t help you with SEO if your domain name doesn’t include words people might be searching for, like “bakery” and “Chicago.”
Next, add keywords on page titles that identify your business, its products or services, and your location. Then, add a page including as many details about your nearby area as possible. Are you located near a baseball stadium that many people frequently search online? Or a zoo? Make sure to include that information on your website! An SEO agency can help make sure you’re not missing any information on your website that could help you be attracting valuable web traffic.
Build Your Brand
As a small business, one of the most important things you can do to gain visibility is to build your brand. How do you do that? Make sure you have a logo and tagline that are catchy and easy to remember. It’s also important to make sure your logo and tagline reflect your small business’s values and your field of expertise.
If you don’t have a logo that is used across not just your website but all of your social media pages, too, it’s time to invest in a great logo. A full service digital marketing agency like SEO Design Chicago can help you design one. We can also help you implement it across all of your web pages!
Find Your Niche
Every small business has something that makes it unique and helps it stand out from the competition. What’s yours? Whatever your niche is, find it. Not only does finding your niche help with branding, it also helps your search ranking. If you carry a product or offer a service that no other business in your area does, that’s an easy search engine win.
Share Your Expertise By Starting a Blog
One of the ways to build your small business’s brand and your visibility in the community is to represent yourself as an expert in your field. One of the best ways to do this – and to help your website’s search ranking – is by starting a blog. Make sure the blog contains plenty of keywords pertaining to your industry to grab web traffic! You can find keywords relevant to your business by using the Google Keyword Planner.
Content Is Important Too
When most people think about SEO, they think about the technical aspects, like coding and using keywords. But your website’s content is just as important for your search ranking as your website’s loading speed. Search engines these days care about the quality of your content, not just the quantity. So when you’re writing your blog, or any content on your website, keep in mind that the quality of your content is just as important as any other aspect of your website for SEO purposes.
Utilize Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO refers to all the things you do to help your website get a high search ranking that happen off of your website. Some examples of off-page SEO are building links on your website to other websites and also getting other websites to link to your website; guest blogging on other websites; and influencer marketing, where you have a local influencer talk about your business or website on their page. All of these examples of off-page SEO help build your website’s credibility in the eyes of search engines.
Contact SEO Design Chicago today
For help with SEO for your small business, contact SEO Design Chicago today. From helping with blog writing, to designing a new logo, we can help you with all of your small business SEO needs.
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