SEO works for small businesses, it really does.
You don’t need to feel intimidated by competing against large well-known brands. With a smart
Smart business owners typically weigh the pros and cons of an investment before fully committing to it.
When spending money on search engine optimization (SEO), it’s often a matter of how much to invest rather than why.
If you’re still questioning whether SEO is worthwhile for a small business, we have eleven reasons why SEO works for small businesses and why you won’t regret investing in it.
Quality User Experience
The goal of SEO is to provide online users with the best answers as quickly as possible. When your business optimizes their website and social accounts, it’s easier for people to find you online.
Ideally, there is a seamless flow of information from the company, to search engine, to the searcher.
Behind the scenes, search engines constantly work to improve user experiences and provide correct answers. The person searching will find an answer and take the next step towards a solution—which means interacting with your business.
Optimal Reach
Investing in SEO also increases the reach of your business. As a website becomes optimized, it’s easier for search engines to navigate and understand your site’s content.
This higher understanding gives your website favor; resulting in search engines ranking you as their highest suggested result.
As an example, Water Extraction Experts has invested in adding relevant keywords to their website.
Search engines now have a better understanding of what the company offers, and it’s more likely to show people results for their business when those keywords are used.
This also helps to build a stronger connection between the company’s website, social accounts, and links across the web.
Now that Water Extraction Experts has an effective SEO strategy, the company has multiple results on the first page of this search. Included in the search are links to their website, contact page, and social media accounts.
Cost-Effective Marketing
SEO methods target users who are actively searching online, which means they are looking for specific products, services, or answers.
By creating optimized content, your business can reach people who are searching in the awareness, consideration, and decision stages of their purchasing cycle.
Once these users land on your page, you can lead them down the appropriate inbound marketing or sales funnel.
Marketing Agency Impact found that properly optimized websites result in organic search leads that have a 14.6% close rate compared to a 1.7% close rate for outbound leads.
Boosted Brand Awareness
As the saying goes, “Any publicity is good publicity.” When it comes to SEO, gaining exposure in search engines is your best opportunity for growth.
As you create more optimized, relevant content, your business will build credibility. This causes search engines to trust that your company provides users with high-quality content.
The more trust that you have from search engines, the more your business and brand awareness will grow. The cycle then builds again and again for each new piece of optimized content you produce.
Easily Trackable ROI
Once you begin investing in SEO, tracking your growing traffic will become addicting. While proper SEO methods are not an overnight solution for growth, they will add up in the long run.
Some businesses do see almost an instant improvement, but others can take a couple of months or even a year to fully see growth. The great thing about SEO is that you can quickly change tactics or use new keywords if a strategy isn’t working.
By keeping track of traffic, unique visitors, page rankings and keyword search frequency, it’s simple to see if your methods are going to be a good return on investment.
Improved Local Search
Local search SEO efforts are especially important for businesses with brick-and-mortar stores or services that rely on local customers.
This optimization tactic includes sharing company information and using keywords specific to your area. One way to boost local search is to add your business address and contact information across multiple platforms.
Another is to include keywords such as your city or business name, or “find near me”; considering that people now narrow searches specific to their location.
Because SEO works for small businesses, family-owned businesses are a perfect example of companies that need to invest in it.
Let’s say that ‘Betty’s Bakery’ in Boca Raton, FL makes incredible breakfast pastries but lacks the awareness to attract guests. By using keywords such as “breakfast in Boca Raton” or “Boca Raton best pastries”, Betty’s can attract more vacationers searching for a restaurant.
Efficient and Effective Marketing
As a marketing method, SEO one of the most effective tactics for growing business. While large companies have entire teams dedicated to SEO, it is not as hands-on as social media, blogging, or email.
Once a page is optimized for SEO, you can sit back and watch it bring in new customers.
Pages, however, do need to be tweaked and updated to reflect new keywords or updated strategies. Overall though, SEO is not as time-consuming as other marketing efforts.
It does, however, take time to learn the ins-and-outs of an effective SEO strategy. It’s smart for small businesses to consult with a marketing agency to get an SEO plan started.
Higher Search Rankings
How many times do you view the second or third page of results when searching online? Probably not much if you’re like many other online users.
This is why SEO works for small businesses and is so important. It’s the primary path to getting your business to the top of the first page.
Remember the cycle of quality content and trust we mentioned above? SEO starts this cycle to boost your visibility, credibility, and likelihood of rising through the rankings.
In the case of online search engine rankings, being #10 is much better than ranking #11; although you should still aim for that #1 spot.
Quality Sales Leads
Cold-calling is an essential sales method for some businesses, but why not let your website do the work for you?
With an optimized website, potential customers can find your services and reaching out when they are ready to purchase. While this process applies to businesses in the service industry, the idea behind it can work for any business.
Reaching out to these warm leads through a phone call or email is much easier and more effective when they already know about your company.
Ideal Audience Targeting
Reaching your ideal customers is easier with SEO since it’s possible to target age, location, gender, and interests through keywords.
Not only can this attract customers who may be more interested in your business, but it also increases the likelihood of qualified leads. With qualified leads comes a boost in sales, customer referrals, and loyal customers.
When choosing keywords to reach an ideal target audience, don’t be afraid to get creative. For example, instead of entering “plumber in wellington fl” with 685,000 results, a local business could use the keyword “friendly plumber in wellington fl” with only 293,000 results. Just one word can change your ranking!
Competitive Advantage
SEO works for small businesses and when your business invests in a solid SEO strategy, it makes you more competitive online.
If your rankings are below similar local businesses, SEO may be all you need to steadily rise to the top. While white-hat SEO isn’t a quick-fix solution, it will benefit your business and make you more competitive.
Build an Effective SEO Strategy
Investing in SEO is worthwhile for any small business that wants to improve their brand awareness, build quality content, attract new customers, and increase credibility.
If you’re ready to take the next step with SEO but want guidance on best-practices and how it can affect your ROI, contact us today for a free 1-hour consultation.
You can also fill out the short form below and we will get back to you as soon as we are able. Let us help you get started with the best small business SEO strategy for your business.
About Elevare
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