For small business, it’s a completely different game when it comes to SEO techniques. It has everything to do with the market in which they’re targeting of course, but for the most part everything they do is different from the big box retail outlets and global shipment services.
Small businesses generally target a small area or region, often very local in nature with limited reach. Because of this, their approach to optimization, marketing and the SEO techniques they use has to be more refined.
The audience is smaller, therefore the message must be more precise and targeted for the heart of the listener. There can’t be any guess work, because in small business and local marketing lost customers can be crippling.
That’s why optimization is of the utmost important so that small businesses can stand out over other local competitors. If you’re looking for some SEO techniques to improve your presence online, start here:
Claim your local listing and add your details
Google local business listings present your business for a number of keywords within your local target area. That listing can contain your brand info, the map showing your location along with address, directions to your office, phone, email website, etc. Unless you’re strictly e-commerce, this is a great way to help publicize your business.
You can have clients upload reviews about your business and even enhance your listing with photos, coupons and more. This is a great start to a long list of SEO techniques for improving your position online.
Registering your business on Google Product Search
You can create a feed for your products that include information such as the price, specs, the product value for a customer, etc. List within that the most pertinent keywords, brand name etc and add product reviews to make your claims trustworthy. If you can do so, motivate your customers to go here and leave feedback for you by offering incentives and discounts.
Generating Buzz Online
Social media marketing is a great way to start turning traffic to your site & get people to start talking about your brand. If you want to spread the word about your product or service then go where people generally hang out in social media and get your name out there. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter as well as LinkedIn are great places to utilize these SEO techniques and marketing tactics for building a presence.
Utilize Multimedia
While the web is driven by the written word for the most part, one of the best SEO techniques for catching the eye of the masses is multimedia – either audio or video. People love podcasts because they can get information on the go, all the time. Convenience makes it simple. Video helps put a face to a business and lets people connect with a company on a more intimate level while learning about a product or service. It’s all about building credibility, and that is easily done through such seo techniques like this provides the content you put out provides value.
Publishing Articles
Search engines like Google love to display new and relevant content for users. That’s how they get users to continue using their service. This is another one of many effective SEO techniques to get eyes on your site. Create content that is relevant to your market, particular content that contains info on trending topics within your market, and you can improve your position within the SERPs by using targeted keywords. Well written content can bring in a lot of inbound links from other websites and help improve your own link profile and trust with the search engines.
If you’re a small business struggling to push past the competition, you need to understand that it all begins with a proper strategy to leverage the SEO techniques that will get you ahead. If you’re not applying even basic SEO tactics with your marketing, then you’re going to struggle. You need to understand that your website will not miraculously improve overnight.
To Your Success,
Joerg Weishaupt
P.s. Get more information on social media and marketing in my free primer "Building A Successful Marketing Strategy". Sign up for your free copy today.
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Joerg Weishaupt is a 48 year old entrepreneur, software architect, search engine optimization and social media expert. Joerg has been building a lot of profitable Internet businesses since he put his first website online in 1995. He is also one of the founders and partners of Social Media Science LLC, where he launched a content syndication network called SYNND.
Joerg resides in a small, quiet community about 100 miles outside of Munich, Germany. If you ever seek to find him, look for where the cows gather.
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