Basic SEO for small business owners
- List on local directories
- List on Google My business
- Create a keyword list
- Add keywords to your website
- Write good content regularly
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.
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.