SEO

Try not to yawn or drift off to a daydream just for a second as we talk about SEO for your small business. Yes, we know, it’s not the sexiest of topics — nor is it the easiest to understand. But if you want search engines like Google to find your small business, you need to have a strategy for SEO. In this post, we will break things down for you as much as possible. We’ve compiled an easy-to-understand checklist for you to read and follow. Don’t worry if you haven’t done all of them. It’s good to have a starting point for these things.

Know your keywords

Keywords are important for your small business. Yes, you’ve been told to find out what they are but it’s always too hard. Basically, you just need to answer this question: What will potential customers type into Google to find your small business? These words or phrases are the keywords you can use for your small business. Of course, you won’t know these words if you don’t know your own business or your target audience so you need to sort that one out first. It’s best if you know your short tail keywords and your long tail keywords, too. To give you an example, our keywords would be ‘digital marketing small business’ or ‘small business content creation’ or ‘small business SEO’. List down what your keywords are before hiring someone to optimise your site. It’ll make the whole process easier.

Join local directories

Don’t underestimate the importance of adding your small business to local directories in your area. Each local directory you list your small business in helps to push your ranking online. You don’t have to be on all of them, because there are hundreds out there. Just pick around five to start with. We recommend you start with the free local business directories in your area. Then add to sites like My Google Business, Yelp, Pure Local, Yellow Pages, Star Local, and True Local to start with. Make sure you have things like pictures of your small business shop front as well as your products/services. Add your address, phone number, website and office hours. It’s a lot of work but it is worth doing.

Add fresh content

Now for some bad news. SEO is not a set and forget kind of thing. When you hire someone to ‘do your SEO’ it doesn’t mean the job is finished when they’ve added all the keywords you want to add. Google loves fresh content and because of this, you’ll need to keep updating your site with relevant information about your industry. How do you do this? A blog is a good place to start. Don’t be overwhelmed, you don’t have to post every day. As we mentioned on our post about why your small business needs a blog, it’ll give you street cred aside from improving your SEO. If you don’t know what to post, find professional content creators like 3C Digital who can help with keywords, choosing topics and writing them for you. Delegate this task if it’s not your strong suit. That way you can focus on what you do best – running your small business.

Brenda Gaddi

Brenda Gaddi is a serial entrepreneur. “Give it a go” is her motto for life. She started 3C Digital to give small business owners like herself the chance to harness the power of social media in growing their business. So far, so good…

Here are some basic SEO steps for small business owners. We wave the term SEO around assuming everyone can just learn it and pick it up. If it was as easy as that we wouldn’t have clients tearing their hairs out trying to figure this out. If you’re a small business owner trying to improve your SEO and online presence, it’s good to start small. You can hire an expert to do it but if you don’t know what it’s all about it’s hard to measure results. In this post, we will give you three things you can do right now to help with your SEO.

List your small business on local directories

This is the easiest thing you can do now. Add your small business to local online directories like Google My Business. There are heaps of free online directories out there and it’s not hard to find. It is time consuming though so make sure you put aside some time for it. Start with sites like Local Search, Search Frog, Pure Local, Yelp Australia, Star Local and Yellow Pages. Mention the areas you service and add some photos too. Start with five directories for now and build up later on. You don’t need to be an SEO expert to be able to do this bit.

Create a keyword list

Everyone hates spreadsheets but in this case, it’s worth doing. Create a list of your long tail keywords and short tail keywords — basically all the words you would associate with your small business. For us, it’s words like ‘small business digital marketing Sydney Australia’ or ‘small business digital marketing’ or ‘digital marketing agency Sydney’. Have a think about your products and services and list down all the combinations you can think of. This will come in handy when you finally start adding keywords to your website.

Write top-notch content on your website

Never underestimate the power of good content. When we say content, we’re not just talking about your small business blog. It is good to have a blog for SEO purposes but if you can’t do it right now then just focus on your website’s pages. Make sure you express what your small business is about clearly. Why did you start your small business? What makes you better than your competitors? Are you offering something different? What is your small business journey? Don’t be afraid to add a bit of personal story there too. It won’t hurt your brand to have your audience relate to the human side of your small business.

For more info on everything SEO related, contact us for a FREE 30-minute strategy call.

Kristyn Levis

Kristyn is the Creative Director of 3C Digital. She is a freelance writer/journalist with over 13 years of experience in the industry both locally and internationally. She has previous experience as TV and radio broadcast journalist as well as print and online writer. Her novels, The Girl Between Two Worlds and The Girl Between Light and Dark, are out now.

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