SEO Tips for Small Business Owners

A strong SEO strategy can be truly life changing for a small business owner. As a way to attract new customers, using search engine optimization can help put your company in front of potential customers when they’re ready to make a purchase.

But SEO can be incredibly confusing if you’re not an expert. For small business owners without the funds to hire an entire marketing department, finding the resources to create an SEO strategy can be a real challenge.

If you want to implement SEO practices into your online marketing strategy, you don’t need to be an expert. There are a few tips and tricks even internet-impaired business owners can implement to boost their search engine ranking.

Use of Positive Reviews

Small businesses typically rely on loyal customers to help improve business. When a happy customer shares their experience with friends and family, that network is more likely to come to your business when they need products or services that you offer.

Online reviews will work the same way. When someone is considering your business, they can check online reviews to see if you’re worth working with. A search engine will consider the number of positive reviews your company has and push you towards the top if you have a strong reputation.

Asking for positive reviews is simple. When you speak with a customer, ask them to share the details of their experience on Yelp, TripAdvisor, or Google My Business. But be sure you’re going above and beyond – a bad review can negatively impact your ranking.

Having VPS Hosting

If you rely on an online store or website to keep your business running, you may see a lot of traffic coming to your page. While you want a high number of customers coming to your site, too many can actually crash the site. If you don’t have the right hosting, this will hurt your business – and your SEO.

Search engines are always looking for ways they can improve the experience of their user. This means they only want to put the best websites at the top of their results. If your page is constantly crashing, is slow to load, or customers are coming to your site only to leave again, Google and other search engines will push you down the list.

VPS hosting, which stands for Virtual Private Server, allows you to have more space on the web. Because you’re not sharing your server with other websites, you’ll experience more uptime, fewer crashes, and happier visitors. Your SEO will improve because of this.

Consistent NAP Information

For a local small business, your customers and clients need to be able to contact you. Your NAP information, which includes your Name, Address, and Phone Number, will need to be clearly visible throughout your various pages.

However, if your NAP information is not consistent on each page, your SEO strategy may take a hit. Search engines, including Google, will use a company’s NAP information to connect various pages together. If the NAP information on your website does not match the information on your social media pages, Yelp or Google MyBusiness page, or local listings, the search engine may classify them as separate pages.

Go through and ensure you’ve entered your NAP information exactly the same on each page – even down to the punctuation. If you have multiple phone numbers or you’ve recently changed locations, be sure the information is up to date.

Take Advantage of Social Media

Many small businesses believe they don’t have anything to share on social media. While you may not need to have an entire campaign for each platform, staying active on social can help you build stronger relationships with your clients while also improving SEO.

If your social media pages are properly connected to your business, each Tweet, Facebook post, and Instagram picture will improve your chances of appearing at the top of a search engine results page. Because your social posts are now part of your SEO strategy, it is even easier to add new content to your site and increase the number of links to your page.

If you haven’t already, create social sites for your website. Depending on your business, you’ll at least need Twitter and Facebook. You may also want to consider LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest. You can add other pages later as you become comfortable using social media.

Create a Blog

Blogs are a great way to update your site and provide you with an opportunity to improve your SEO strategy. With each post you upload, you’re able to target your keywords and improve your ranking. When you provide valuable, interesting, or engaging information to your clients and customers, they may also be more likely to share your page with their friends and family – increasing your reach and bringing in new customers.

Get strategic about the blog posts you create. Think about what your audience may be looking for when they use a search engine. Instead of uploading details or news about your business, consider what questions your audience may need answering. Write a blog post about various tips and tricks in your industry or include posts that show your expertise.

Aim to upload new blogs frequently. To begin, aim for once a week. As you become comfortable blogging, you may want to up your posts to two or three times a week. Be sure you’re only uploading high-quality content.

If you’re a small business, you shouldn’t feel like you can ignore SEO practices. While you may have a steady stream of local customers bringing you business, you are likely losing potential customers to competitors implementing strong SEO strategies.

Consider these tips and tricks when creating your SEO strategy. Remember that you don’t need to do everything at once. Ease your way into implementing SEO and you will be surprised at the number of new customers who come into your store.