When you are operating a small business, you are going to face stiff competition from much larger businesses or corporations in the same line of business as you.
Because of this, you will need to implement some strategies that will enable you to compete in the market with these big businesses and corporations. One of such strategies is the almighty SEO!
When it comes to marketing and promoting your business, you might have a handful of options to choose from like advertising and social media marketing, but SEO is something you should never joke with.
So, would you like to know why SEO is so important for your small business? Let us dive right into it.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about getting your business to show up in search engines. Some popular search engines include Google, Bing, and yahoo. For example, when somebody asks Google a question, SEO is the way Google connects the question to the answer.
Let us look at SEO from your perspective. What do you do when you want to find something on the internet? You go to Google, Bing or Yahoo to search for it right? Then, you click on the website that best suits your need or answers your question. Those websites you see on the first few pages of Google are all making use of SEO and that is why you can find them there.
One of the great advantages of SEO is that it is free but may seem confusing and technical for newbies. But once you get the hang of it, SEO is so straight forward. It just involves a few concepts you need to know.
SEO helps people to find your business easily. When you start utilizing this strategy for your business, you will get in front of more clients. This is so important because word of mouth referrals will only get you so far, but SEO will take you farther.
With SEO, you can build your business and whenever you have to change the physical location of your business, your clients would still be able to find you.
When SEO is done correctly, new customers are easily connected with you. As of today, there are multiple businesses in the world. To get in contact with them, most people rely on search engines to find them. When you do your SEO properly and someone searches for something you offer on a search engine like Google, it displays results of your website and other businesses that are relevant to what is being searched for.
If you can continually show up in all these search results, then you will eventually gain more and more customers. With each click on your website, the chances that a potential customer will purchase your goods or services will increase.
SEO is important for your small business since your business is always in competition with other online businesses. It is paramount you make sure your business competes for the top when displayed on search engines. SEO gives you a global reach and clients from far and near will get to know what your business is all about.
More clients mean more money. So, the more the clients or customers that see your business online and patronize you, the more money you will keep making.
As important as SEO is, it is free and cheap to use. Paid advertising is not as guaranteed as SEO. If you have probably put money into Facebook advertising, Instagram advertising or Google ads, the reality is while it may work, you will need a lot of money to get the results you want. On the other hand, SEO is something you can do without a dime. It is a strategy that only requires you to put in the work without costing you money.
SEO is important for your small business because, unlike other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram which could shut down temporarily, it works directly with your website and maintains your presence online.
There is a ranking system that exists online, and you want your site to rank high. Two corresponding components of SEO are keywords and backlinks. Keywords allow search engines to display your site on web searches when they track all the related words present on your website. Backlinks, on the other hand, are referrals from other websites which moves your website up the food chain. Ensure you create backlinks to your website that originate from other sources. Links to your site can be created using other websites’ articles, social media, blog posts and discussion boards.
Your chances for a better ranking position are dependent on using the exact words that are being searched by users online. That is why search results are called organic or natural results. They constantly change based on what people do on the web. Keywords are also more effective when they are found in the website title, address, or headings.
This means you must ensure your site is full of words relating to what your site is about. For example, if you sell candles in Lagos, you want to make sure some relevant keywords are on your site like candles, fire, matches, Lagos, etc.
Conclusion
SEO is king when it comes to moving into new markets, expanding your business objectives, and getting in front of ideal clients. The more influential or legitimate the websites’ articles, social media, blog posts or discussion board that links back to you are, the more effect that backlink will have on your search ranking. It is very important for every small business to use SEO in today’s modern world. It will surely give your business an edge.
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