Every small business owner must get a grasp on the internet and the world of "SEO" (Search Engine Optimization), or risk being left behind. The sooner you start learning, the better. Of course, the SEO rabbit hole is deep, and hiring an SEO agency that knows what they're doing is often difficult and expensive. However, the beginning steps are often easy to take. Here are 3 simple to implement tips that will put you ahead of 90% of your competition.
No, not MY business (well, I mean, you can, but that's not what I mean). Rather, head over to Google and type in "Google My Business" and claim your business's listing.
Now, Google's share of search traffic is lower than it used to be, but it still commands a powerful 70% or so, which means if you want your business to be found, you really want to be found in Google. Like, REALLY want to be found in Google! Once you've claimed your listing, fill it out with your website info, store hours, phone number, etc.
Simply doing that could be enough to get you to page one if you do a thorough enough job and the competition isn't too steep!
Search has gone social, and these days, sites like the aforementioned major search engine, but also Bing, Yahoo!, and others, look for social cues from users to tell them how to rate your business. If you're on page one but you nave a low or non-existent reputation, then you're still not going to get clicked on like your competitor with 600 (or even 6) 5-star reviews. Fortunately, you have a list of email addresses from all of your customers from the last 5 years, right? RIGHT? Hmm..., well, no time like the present to start. Ask your customers who seem to have a positive experience to review you. Just make sure that you don't incentivize positive reviews, as these break the terms of service for Google, Yelp, and many other review sites (and, generally, are rather unethical!) Check out Google's Local Review Policy here, which is representative of other sites policies.
Get a real website (one that runs WordPress.org is fine - all of mine do), and write something about your business. You do it for a living, so you should be passionate about it. Don't write mere self promotion, but write creative and helpful content. In fact, the more you give away in value in your posts, the more you will receive as people begin to congregate around you (digitally, at least) because you help them solve some problem (like how to do basic SEO, nudge nudge), or at least you entertain them.
You could consider even hiring a content producer of some sort (hint: Find a freelance writer who want’s a few hours per month of work at a reasonable price), just be very wary about hiring overseas outsourcers and fiverr gigs, as many of these (though not all, to be fair) wind up being low quality and often plagiarized (and Google hates duplicate content!).
Take these three simple steps, and you can’t help but improve your business!
