You’re a small business and want to invest in some search engine optimisation (SEO) for your website… But what is it and what should you know before you start?
Basically, it gets you more customers.
Terms that are used often are:
Keywords: It mean the terms that people search, for example, ‘beauticians perth’ is a keyword. Also, ‘best beautician perth’ is another keyword term.
Google rank: What position you are for searches of specific Keywords.
Now that’s clear, here are 7 things you should know before you invest in SEO for your business website…
1: What is your Google rank vs your competitors?
Search engine ranking can be very competitive in certain markets. Your main objective though is to out-rank your competitor so that potential new customers click through to your site first. Taking a look at how your competition is doing will give you some great tips on how you can move up the rankings. Get in touch and we can give you a quick report on how you rank compared to you rivals.
2: The Google Algorithm…
…changes all the time and have around 11 major changes per year. Why? They do this to get you better results. A good example of a major change was when they updated the results to promote mobile friendly, responsive sites above non-responsive sites. This is due to over 70% of users viewing sites on a tablet or mobile.
There are also some SEO companies and online marketers that find loop holes to gain “quick wins” for their clients. This may seem great at first, but if, and when, Google penalise you, it can be disastrous for your business, especially if you are a small business with no backup funds to recover. Your SEO consultant should give you a break down of the work they’ve done and should always clarify what they are doing. Be very weary if they are keeping things from you.
3: Local Listings
A great starting point for your SEO journey is to get yourself a Google Business page. It comes as standard with any website you get from us, but if you want to do it yourself, its super simple to setup.
NOTE: Google will not rank your local listing if your website is not responsive!
This is a solid base for you to start accumulating Google Reviews which do wonders for your rankings. For more details about other tools we use, get in touch!
4: Building stronger reputation through SEO
How do you pick a service provider? How do you get to hear of a great mechanic or electrician? It’s always through a referral! Searching for a service, you always pick a top result, because you trust that top search rank must be good.
Good SEO takes time, but once you start ranking highly for specific keywords, the amount of organic clicks through to your site will soar. Combine that with a decent, up to date website that converts then you are on to a winner.
The average time to start seeing real results would be around the 3 month mark, possibly sooner depending on the market you are in. For more SEO tips, check these out!
5: Good quality websites that grow with your business
In the news post outlining what platform to build your website on, it details the pros and cons of different website creation tools. With browsers and code always changing (for the better) it is essential that you have full access to all areas of your site. With WordPress, you have just that and that is what we build with. SEO ranking is also based on small tweaks to code and speed so if you don’t have access to change all areas of the website, you are likely to get stuck. I wrote an article detailing why I only use WordPress to build quality websites.
6: Your call to action
If you invest in SEO and get your business website ranked high on Google, but you don’t see increased conversions, what is the issue? Lets say there are hundreds of clicks to your site, but only 1 / 500 visitors clicks a button on the page they land on, chances are its not clear what they needed to do.
Every page on your site needs a clear call to action. It may be obvious to you, but its not always to the visitor. Ask how I upgraded one clients site to become really conversion friendly.
7: Adwords vs SEO vs Social
In some markets, SEO is going to take far longer to start returning on investment. For quicker ROI seeing an Adwords specialist may be a better option. Social media ad campaigns are also another way to get quick wins, but again does depend on the website the ad is directing them to and the promotion being offered.
For a free website review and consultation, get in touch!
Next steps…
As you’ll see, there a lot of things that make up a good SEO marketing campaign. If you are considering growing your business through search engine optimisation or having your website re-branded to prepare for an Adwords or SEO campaign, get in touch to get a professional review.