It is tough for the small business to compete with big business when it comes to marketing and advertising—they just don’t have the budgets to be competitive. This is where small business SEO comes in.
For those who don’t know, SEO (search engine optimization) is the practice of getting keyword phrases (that are targeted to the small business products and services niche) to rank highly on Google’s search results. When we say ranking high, we’re talking about the first page of Google results. When these first page rankings are achieved, lots of traffic (and customers) invariably result.
So, while Small Business SEO is not free, it provides a ROI that makes it a no-brainer for those small businesses to make it an integral part of their marketing efforts. There is one reality about SEO that the Small Business should be aware of: SEO takes time to achieve results. ) That means, if you’re a small business, that you should start your SEO efforts sooner rather than later.
A quick note about SEM (search engine marketing): it’s not SEO. SEM refers to pay per click PPC online advertising—usually Google Adwords. PPC results in sponsored search results for the keyword phrases purchased. While this can result in instant traffic, it comes with a never ending cost for every visitor to the client website. We look at it this way: with SEM you are renting your search engine rankings; with SEO you own them.
In fact, I would propose that Small Business SEO should be brought into the discussions anytime the small business decides to build a website, or redo their existing website. This way, the website may be designed with best SEO practices in mind, and with a navigation/architecture that will be efficient and help with search engine optimization efforts.
There are many tactics and strategies that go into Small Business SEO. Local search, social media considerations, media assets (audio and video), blogging, and the usual suspects: content generation and link building are all part of the mix. It’s usually more than the small business owner can keep up with, much less learn and execute.
More importantly, but often overlooked, is that small businesses do not operate like big business. This gives them many advantages when it comes to Search Engine Optimization, mainly because bureaucracy doesn’t get in the way. Things can get done quickly and easily. If you’re a small business, SEO may be the easiest and best step you can make to increase business. This is especially true if you have not yet achieved the amount of business you thought your website would bring you.