Even though Google favors big brands, the truth is that small
businesses can compete with the bigger names for organic search engine
traffic. This is possible even though big brands often spend tens of
thousands on SEO without batting an eye, and even though small
businesses are spread thin on budgets and staff. Here’s how a small
business can get its fair share of organic sales leads on Google:
Step 1: Take Inventory of Your SEO Assets
If your small business has a domain that goes back to the 1990s or
2000s, you’re sitting on an SEO goldmine. Google is impressed with old
domains because it signals a business is stable, reliable, and
competent—just the sort of company Google wants to serve up to people
searching for the products and services you sell. Don’t abandon an old
domain to pursue some sort of branding or URL/SEO tactic, as it will do
more harm than good.
Review Google Analytics to see which pages of your website and blog
get a lot of organic traffic, get a lot of overall page views, are
popular entry pages, are infrequent exit pages, and have page views of
three minutes or longer. These make good initial SEO target pages
because they are already valuable to your website visitors. Google knows
this, and will reward those pages with good visibility when they become
part of a sustained SEO campaign.
Step 2: Whip Your Website Into Shape
Before spending a nickel on an SEO campaign, make sure your website
is communicating clearly to Google. This can be done by using Google
Webmaster Tools, which tells you exactly where Google wants you to fix
your website. Here is a quick list of attributes of a well-optimized
website.
Step 3: Identify a Long Tail Keyword Strategy
Competing head on with big brands on high-volume keywords is
usually a losing strategy. Instead, identify “long tail” keywords—longer
search phrases with a high probability of conversion—and build your SEO
campaign around them. You’ve got a better chance of securing high
visibility, and even though raw traffic numbers may be lower than what
the big keywords deliver, your traffic stands a great chance of
converting.
Make sure your website has pages specifically designed to be
relevant to your target long tail keywords. These are the pages you want
to have links coming into. These pages should be maximally relevant to
the keywords and have great conversion elements; that is, strong offers
that inspire visitors to phone you, fill out a form, or place an order.
Step 4: Build Your SEO Campaign Around Content Marketing
Producing high-quality offsite content is where most entrepreneurs
can beat big brands, and beat them soundly in many cases. Anything an
entrepreneur writes about his or her business or industry will be
authoritative and useful. Big brands often delegate offsite content
creation several rungs down the corporate ladder, making content written
by actual small business owners all the more attractive to blogs and
websites in your niche.
Create an editorial calendar for offsite content with topics you
know are interesting to your prospects and publishers. Pitch your ideas
to blogs and websites in your niche (you know who they are), and you’re
likely to find a great deal of interest. When your ideas are accepted,
submit articles with links to your website home page and/or to those
target website pages. Over time, Google will reward these efforts with
greater visibility.
Recognize the Full Value of SEO
Writing and pitching content takes time, but it’s time well spent
depending on the lifetime value of a new customer reeled in from SEO
traffic. Beyond that, optimizing your website—and then maintaining
it—will require an investment, but keep this in mind: a well-optimized
website not only helps SEO, it helps your effectiveness with prospects
and customers no matter how they get to your website. For instance, page
loading speed and clear navigation are highly valued by Google. If your
site is slow loading and hard to navigate, human visitors will click
off and buy from your competitor.
Following good SEO practices is good for conversions and good for
business in general, because it forces your business to invest in a
website that attracts business rather than just sits there or deters
business. This is the “hidden value” of SEO a lot of entrepreneurs
miss—one that you will benefit from immensely once you recognize it.
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