You’re a small fish in a big pond- you don’t have the budget to spend on marketing like other businesses do.
It can cost a lot of money to implement a full SEO strategy, especially if you’re locked into a contract with an SEO agency. They charge through the roof.
So it’s understandable that a lot of small and micro business owners put SEO on the backburner and focus on other important areas of their business.
In the early days of running a business when cash flow is non-existent, what you choose to spend your money on is limited.
But that shouldn’t make you think that you don’t really need SEO!
In this blog, I share myths about small businesses and SEO and help you understand how SEO can help your business, even if you’re only starting out.
I’m a small business, do I really need SEO?
Yes, you do still need SEO, even if you’re a small or micro business.
(Duh Natalie, of course you’re going to say that, it’s your job!).
Ok yeah, but I do have valid reasons why:
A website without SEO is not a finished website
A website without SEO is like spaghetti bolognaise without garlic: SEO adds that extra “something” to your website that takes it up a notch and gives you a better chance of getting organic traffic from Google. (And spag bol without garlic? Are you kidding me???).
You’ve no doubt spent a lot of money building a great website and need a maximum return on your investment. SEO helps you attract more organic traffic and when done right, leads to more conversions, more sales and, of course, more profits.
SEO helps you create a better website experience
In an ideal world, a small business client comes to me before they have built their website.
When I’m doing your keyword research, I find out the best way to structure your website so that it makes sense to your ideal clients and customers.
I’ve seen many small business owners throw all their services onto the same page and expect to rank for specific keywords, but that would be like Myer or David Jones not having separate departments. Finding what you need would be so much harder, you’d quickly give up and leave.
Your website visitors behave the same way. If they can’t find what they need quickly and easily, see ya later!
Regardless of whether your traffic comes from Google, social media advertising or email marketing- a good website experience is so important. A great SEO consultant understands this and puts this at the front of what they do.
SEO helps you get the most out of other marketing activities you do
SEO isn’t a quick win and is a medium to long term strategy.
One of the things I love about SEO is that it helps you with other areas of your marketing.
That person who found you on Google, visits a page on your website that you have a Facebook ad pixel set up on, and now they have your Facebook ads in their feed and are more likely to take action. All because they found you on Google!
For e-commerce businesses, I help them write detailed product descriptions that include relevant SEO keywords so that they have a better chance of ending up on page 1 in Google, but also so their customers know more about their products. The more detail you add to a product description, the easier it is for a customer to decide to buy.
My keyword research service also helps you uncover keywords to target when running Google Ads- you get more bang out of your buck when finding keywords for organic SEO and search engine marketing!
Small, local businesses thrive using local SEO
Believe it or not, not everyone is on social media.
And not everyone uses social media to find a product or service.
Often, local businesses find it easy to attract customers via Google when their website is properly optimised for local SEO.
There may not be many local competitors in your industry, so why not take advantage of that and get your website optimised so that your business stands out in Google?
I always say to potential clients, how many website sales or bookings would you need to make to cover the cost of SEO implementation? It might only take a handful of sales- totally worth it for something that can bring you business for years to come!
How SEO helps you in the early days of your business
When your business is new, you’re focusing on building your name and profile.
SEO helps you do this when setting up citations and making sure that your NAP (name, address, phone number) are consistent across the world wide web.
Establishing your brand is important because you’re more likely to rank for branded keywords than any other type of keyword. Branded keywords are keywords with your business name or brand name.
Imagine someone hears about your business on Instagram but when they Google you to find your website, you’re not ranking for your business name? Or even worse, a competitor’s website shows up instead?
A final word
SEO isn’t something that gives you results right away, so people are quick to assume that it’s too expensive and not worth it.
But you can also run social media ads which might be cheap per unit, but end up costing you a lot of money without a good conversion rate (especially if you’re not using a social media ad expert).
While SEO might not be on your to-do list from day 1, it’s certainly worth considering as you’re building your website.
Contact me for more information about my services and how I can help you and your website rank in Google.
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