Think search engine optimization is just for big businesses with huge marketing budgets? Think again. Even if you're a small business owner, SEO can and should form an integral part of your business practice. So what can you do as a small business owner to incorporate SEO without taking valuable time away from other business activities? These 7 easy strategies will improve your search engine optimization without taking you away from your customers.
1. CONTENT IS KING. If you've ever been involved with SEO, you've probably heard this phrase before. It's never been truer or more important for small businesses. High quality content can either make or break your website from an SEO perspective. Remember that "high quality" doesn't mean SEO-driven content with no purpose other than targeting a search engine. It means authoritative writing from an expert source that adds quality to your website and imparts value to your website's visitors.
2. FORGET KEYWORDS. Keywords, keyword research, keyword stuffing, anchor text, and a whole nexus of related issues used to form the lifeblood of SEO - but that's no longer the case. In fact, over-optimization of keywords can actually hurt your website's search engine rankings. For the best results, forget targeting specific keywords, and instead focus on simply articulating what your business does, and how it does it.
3. NARROW YOUR FOCUS. As you lay out your website, make each page as focused as you can. If you have separate business locations in different cities, make a page for each one listing hours of operation, contact information, and relevant details. If you offer editing and writing services, create a page for each one - just make sure that each page is thoroughly fleshed out with quality content, and doesn't appear "thin" or spammy.
4. USE LOCAL CITATIONS. Take a few minutes to register your site on Yelp!, Google Places, and other local citation services that are relevant for your business. You'll not only pick up additional business directly through the citation, you'll be building better SEO in the process. Also make sure your site is registered with Mapquest, Yellow Pages, and City Search. Developing a wide local footprint will help customers - and search engines - find and index you much more efficiently.
5. GET SOCIAL. It's no secret that social sharing is the lifeblood of the new internet economy. Just like local citations, social media will help you draw customers directly to your business website, as well as increase your authority with search engines. Remember, though, that social media only works if you provide value to your followers. Avoid the temptation to buy followers or engage in other spam tactics - you'll quickly alienate your customers, as well as the search engines.
6. BUILD LINKS - CAREFULLY. Link building does still have a place in SEO. Getting links from high quality websites relevant to your business is incredibly helpful when it comes to achieving a higher search engine ranking. You can get links by reaching out to colleagues in your field, offering guest posts, or simply writing expert quality content people can't help but link to. But remember that link building for the sake of link building can hurt your SEO standing. Never solicit links from poor quality websites, and don't participate in link exchanges.
7. BLOG YOUR BUSINESS. The idea of starting a blog is still quite foreign to many small business owners, but it can be incredibly useful from an SEO perspective. By keeping a regularly updated blog, you continually give search engines new content to index. Focus on adding high quality information to your site, and you'll keep visitors coming back, too.
About The Author: Matthew Walden is a partner at Infinity Consulting Solutions (ICS), one of the top IT staffing agencies in New York City. As an expert in the recruiting field, Walden offers over 20 years of expertise. If you would like to reach out to him send him an e-mail at matthew@infinity-cs.com.
Did you find this article helpful? Do you have any SEO tips to share? Please let Matthew and myself know by leaving us your valued comments in the comments section below.
Would you like to guest post on the blog? Please use the Contact tab above to get in touch if you write business-related articles or articles on the topics of Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Social Media Marketing/Optimisation (SMO), Blogging, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
Related articles:
SEO On A Budget
Why Web Hosting Is Important To Your SEO
How And Why You Should Start A Blog To Promote Your Business
What Steps Should You Take To Make Sure Your Site Is SEO Friendly?
How To Hire A Good SEO Company
Use SEO Copywriting Services To Drive Traffic Your Way
SEO Tips After Google Panda Update
How Often Should You Do SEO Rank Checker On Your Site
You Don't Have To Be An SEO Whizz To Improve Your Search Engine Rankings!
10 Easy Steps To Boost Your SEO
Top SEO Do's And Don'ts
How To Improve Your SEO With Backlinks
The Seven Deadly SEO Sins
The 10 Week SEO Diet
For a full list of helpful articles on SEO, use the following links:
http://www.derekjones.co/search/label/SEO
http://www.derekjones.co/search/label/SEO%20Tips
If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar below or by using the "+1" and "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.
As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on NetworkedBlogs, via Email (maximum of one email per day), on Facebook and Google+ or by subscribing to our blog feed at:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog
You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/djones1509
https://plus.google.com/104849975941505117776
Until my next (and slightly different) post on Monday on getting the most out of commercial properties, have a wonderful and relaxing weekend! See you back here on Monday!
© 2013. This article is DMCA protected. Republication is prohibited.
1. CONTENT IS KING. If you've ever been involved with SEO, you've probably heard this phrase before. It's never been truer or more important for small businesses. High quality content can either make or break your website from an SEO perspective. Remember that "high quality" doesn't mean SEO-driven content with no purpose other than targeting a search engine. It means authoritative writing from an expert source that adds quality to your website and imparts value to your website's visitors.
2. FORGET KEYWORDS. Keywords, keyword research, keyword stuffing, anchor text, and a whole nexus of related issues used to form the lifeblood of SEO - but that's no longer the case. In fact, over-optimization of keywords can actually hurt your website's search engine rankings. For the best results, forget targeting specific keywords, and instead focus on simply articulating what your business does, and how it does it.
3. NARROW YOUR FOCUS. As you lay out your website, make each page as focused as you can. If you have separate business locations in different cities, make a page for each one listing hours of operation, contact information, and relevant details. If you offer editing and writing services, create a page for each one - just make sure that each page is thoroughly fleshed out with quality content, and doesn't appear "thin" or spammy.
4. USE LOCAL CITATIONS. Take a few minutes to register your site on Yelp!, Google Places, and other local citation services that are relevant for your business. You'll not only pick up additional business directly through the citation, you'll be building better SEO in the process. Also make sure your site is registered with Mapquest, Yellow Pages, and City Search. Developing a wide local footprint will help customers - and search engines - find and index you much more efficiently.
5. GET SOCIAL. It's no secret that social sharing is the lifeblood of the new internet economy. Just like local citations, social media will help you draw customers directly to your business website, as well as increase your authority with search engines. Remember, though, that social media only works if you provide value to your followers. Avoid the temptation to buy followers or engage in other spam tactics - you'll quickly alienate your customers, as well as the search engines.
6. BUILD LINKS - CAREFULLY. Link building does still have a place in SEO. Getting links from high quality websites relevant to your business is incredibly helpful when it comes to achieving a higher search engine ranking. You can get links by reaching out to colleagues in your field, offering guest posts, or simply writing expert quality content people can't help but link to. But remember that link building for the sake of link building can hurt your SEO standing. Never solicit links from poor quality websites, and don't participate in link exchanges.
7. BLOG YOUR BUSINESS. The idea of starting a blog is still quite foreign to many small business owners, but it can be incredibly useful from an SEO perspective. By keeping a regularly updated blog, you continually give search engines new content to index. Focus on adding high quality information to your site, and you'll keep visitors coming back, too.
About The Author: Matthew Walden is a partner at Infinity Consulting Solutions (ICS), one of the top IT staffing agencies in New York City. As an expert in the recruiting field, Walden offers over 20 years of expertise. If you would like to reach out to him send him an e-mail at matthew@infinity-cs.com.
Did you find this article helpful? Do you have any SEO tips to share? Please let Matthew and myself know by leaving us your valued comments in the comments section below.
Would you like to guest post on the blog? Please use the Contact tab above to get in touch if you write business-related articles or articles on the topics of Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Social Media Marketing/Optimisation (SMO), Blogging, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
Related articles:
SEO On A Budget
Why Web Hosting Is Important To Your SEO
How And Why You Should Start A Blog To Promote Your Business
What Steps Should You Take To Make Sure Your Site Is SEO Friendly?
How To Hire A Good SEO Company
Use SEO Copywriting Services To Drive Traffic Your Way
SEO Tips After Google Panda Update
How Often Should You Do SEO Rank Checker On Your Site
You Don't Have To Be An SEO Whizz To Improve Your Search Engine Rankings!
10 Easy Steps To Boost Your SEO
Top SEO Do's And Don'ts
How To Improve Your SEO With Backlinks
The Seven Deadly SEO Sins
The 10 Week SEO Diet
For a full list of helpful articles on SEO, use the following links:
http://www.derekjones.co/search/label/SEO
http://www.derekjones.co/search/label/SEO%20Tips
If you found this or any of my other posts helpful, don't forget to share the posts to your favourite networks using the toolbar below or by using the "+1" and "Share" buttons located at the bottom of each post.
As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on NetworkedBlogs, via Email (maximum of one email per day), on Facebook and Google+ or by subscribing to our blog feed at:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog
You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509, Google+ and on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/djones1509
https://plus.google.com/104849975941505117776
Until my next (and slightly different) post on Monday on getting the most out of commercial properties, have a wonderful and relaxing weekend! See you back here on Monday!
© 2013. This article is DMCA protected. Republication is prohibited.
Admiring the commitment you put into your website and in depth information you present. It's good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn't the same out of date rehashed information. Excellent read!
ReplyDeleteThese are some great SEO tools. Some of them I've never heard of. I used to use Ubersuggest when I first got started online. It's definitely a great tool and does what you need it to. I will have to check out some of the other tools that you mentioned above. Thanks for sharing and I hope you have a great day.
ReplyDelete