Is SEO really necessary for your small business? The answer may surprise you
As a small business owner your time revolves around finding clients so that you can offer the service or products that will make their lives better. How do we reach these people? As I'm sure you know the internet is one of the best ways to make that happen.
There are plenty of ways to source potential clients online. Many of the same techniques and strategies that have worked for decades like paid marketing have grown and adapted to the effective methods to use an online spaces. But there is one other technique, while perhaps not necessary, has outstanding abilities to support any marketing campaign and that is search engine optimization.
Search engine optimization or SEO for short is a collection of techniques designed to make it easier for businesses to be found in search engine results. The better your SEO, the more likely your business is going to show up in the top results. That means more phone calls, visits and appointments for you.
Millions of words have been written about search engine optimization over the years so I'm not going to go over it again here but what I will say is that there are certain types of SEO practices that can have major impact on your online marketing efforts, driving potential clients and sales to you. In fact there's one type of search engine optimization that it's free, easy and highly effective.
Local SEO and the small business owner
Local search engine optimization is just one specific subset of search engine optimization techniques. It's pretty straightforward. It involves making sure that individuals using Google, Bing and other search engines to help find location based services and businesses like yours. This is incredibly important for local businesses.
Optimizing your services for local searches is almost foolproof. Services like Google My Business provide free opportunities to list your company website and the name, address and phone number. This means our company details will show up in searches Of people looking for your services or products. After all, Google is the 800-pound gorilla in the room When it comes to search engines.
Easily avoided mistakes
There are some pitfalls to avoid when it comes to using local search engine optimization properly. A little diligence on your part ensures the details of your website address, local address and phone number are accurate. While it's easy to avoid these mistakes, it is extremely crucial that you do. Inconsistent listings will rank your business lower.
Is it a good idea to get outside help?
There's a lot of clutter on the internet and when it comes to marketing your business properly sometimes making it almost impossible to do so. For example, search engine optimization is a generic term that people throw around. The true benefits of SEO happen with big national websites rather than local businesses. However there are a lot of other areas that diligence and expertise can be applied to your local business to bring you more views, visibility and ultimately Revenue.
This is what I do and the clients that work with me and buy into the coaching that I give them end up doing quite well. The field is only going to get more crowded and more competitive. In my opinion, it's nice to get a head start when it's going to be a long race.
Want a sneak peak at what it will look like for you? Try a Google search for “chicago plumber” “houston attorney”. This is how you will need to stand out sooner rather than later.
