SEO is not at all problematic for small businesses if there is a proper understanding	2.0/5.0 (1 votes total) Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
Charlie Brown August 15, 2018

Times have changed, and the approach to SEO too has changed as it is now an integral part of setting up small businesses. Today, no small business can afford to do without search engine optimization because it is the only way of gaining visibility on the web and take the first step in online marketing.  It is difficult for small businesses that operate on a limited budget to create costly marketing set up, but online marketing has made it possible at a negligible cost. Small businesses can use SEO to boost marketing unlike earlier when it appeared that it was for big companies only. Although you would need professional guidance from SEO companies like Internet Business Solutions for launching the online marketing campaign, there are a lot of things to do on your part to make the campaign a success.

Google has introduced local SEO that addresses the marketing needs of small businesses, and you have to know the ways of optimizing it for local search results. It is essential to understand how to implement SEO for small companies by understanding where to begin and how to unfold it for meeting the business needs. As you go through this article, you will get a fair idea about how to proceed in implementing local SEO.  In this article, we will use the terms SEO for small business and local SEO interchangeably.

What is your business niche?

Search engine optimization aims at earning high ranks in search results for the products or services which you have to emphasize on features that make the brand unique.  But before you can highlight the brand’s uniqueness, you have to know the correct niche of your business which is vital. Instead, you should begin the exercise of implementing SEO by understanding the niche first.  When your company belongs to a defined niche, it gives you the power to compete with bigger and national brands at a local level in spite of their higher spending power in marketing.

Research your customer base to identify the section of customers that you want to approach. Understand the words they use to describe the products or services because these are words or terms they would use when searching for your website. Creating long tail keywords by using the words should help to gain mileage in searches. Keep assessing your niche that tends to evolve as the business grows.

Initiate low-cost branding

Every business has to create a brand that makes it easy for customers to recognize the brand and its products or services quickly and small business is no exception. Create a tagline and logo of your company that helps customers to understand the broader aspects of your business and what it relates to without the need for further explanation. The logo and the tagline should reveal the values of your business as well as the area of expertise. The logo becomes your brand that helps customers to connect with your business quickly. Now you have to establish the brand and add value to it.

Branding with good content

The best way of branding is to share your expertise for which you have to create great content to convey your thoughts. It is not just enough to put up your product and contact details on your website and stop at it. You have to create a high impact first impression on the targeted customers by writing about your business, sharing your business goals and telling them why your products are unique and useful for them. You can even share market information and events related to your business niche. Create content that contains valuable information covering these aspects and help customers to get closer to the business and realize the worth of the products or services that translates into brand value. Seek professional guidance in creating content that is not only useful for customers but also helps better search rankings.

Use social media for sharing content

The social media platforms are beneficial for creating brand awareness and driving traffic to your website. Exploit the social media networks to your advantage for promoting your company and brand as well as your products or services that help to establish your image and drives quality traffic to your website.  Your small business can acquire massive outreach through social media sharing of content that you can cross promote across different platforms and your site. The social media is an excellent place for expanding your market and growing new customers.

Know the local ranking factors

NAP or name, address and phone number is the most critical local ranking factor. You must ensure that it appears correctly not only on the website but across all other places where your business appears on the web. Besides providing the correct information consistently, the formatting too has to be right by using local SEO plugin or schema.org details.

Google My Business

Listing your business in Google My business is a must and besides maintaining the NAP consistently in the listing ensure that you leave a link of your website too. That would help to drive traffic to your website, and Google will clearly understand the relationship between the business and the site. Google My Business listing is handy for ranking in specific geographical areas, and it provides an excellent opportunity to increase website visibility.

Focus on reviews and ratings

Not stopping at listing your business in Google My Business as well as well as Facebook, go a step ahead to add reviews and ratings by users as there is suitable provision for it on both platforms.  Good rating invites more clicks on your website link, and you have to maintain and monitor and these reviews. 

Following the above steps should help small businesses to make good use of SEO that holds excellent prospects for business growth.  Have patience and work diligently because success will not come overnight. And you have to go through a process that teaches you as you progress so that you can fine-tune it for increasing its effectiveness.