A Small Business SEO Consultant (For Small Business Owners)
The internet is a big place, especially for most small to medium size businesses.
And the competition for your customer's attention can be fierce since your SMB likely competes in a local market saturated with highly targeted campaigns. That’s why it’s important to consider how an SMB SEO consultant can help your business grow.
With today's increasingly digitized world, there are two simple and fundamental ways small businesses can grow:
1) by generating more sales and
2) by generating more traffic to their website or blog.
Another way to look at digital transformation is in terms of both a threat and opportunity for your business.
So if you're looking for a way to boost those numbers, then SEO services are a superb way to launch your digital initiatives and set your digital transformational priorities straight. An SEO consultant will help you generate both website traffic and sales through proper optimization of your content.
Contents:
What is SEO and how does it work for small businesses?
3 Reasons Small Businesses Should Invest in SEO
3 Benefits of a Small Business SEO Consultant
How to use SEO to help your small business grow
How is SEO different from Paid Advertising?
Other Factors That Contribute to the Success of a Small Business
What is SEO and how does it work for small businesses?
The first question on everyone's mind is what exactly SEO means, and how it can help my SMB grow.
The simplest answer that we have to that question is this: "SEO" stands for "search engine optimization," which helps your site rank higher in the search results page of a search engine like Google or Bing when someone searches for something.
What does that mean for your small business? It means that if someone is looking to purchase a product or service like yours, they're more likely to find your site when they search on search engines like Google.
And the higher you rank in their results page, the better chance of them clicking through and becoming a customer. Furthermore, many small businesses rely on local search results based on a device’s geolocation, and that’s how SEO works to a local small business’ advantage.
That's just one aspect of the benefits of using SEO for small businesses.
How do I use SEO to help my small business grow?
The simplest answer we have here at Rocket Park is this: "Always provide content."
That doesn't necessarily mean blog posts (though we love those), but it can be anything from social media updates such as Facebook status updates or Twitter tweets; or even images uploaded directly onto your Google My Business page.
3 Reasons Why Small Businesses Should Invest in SEO
1. High Quality Traffic
One of the biggest reasons you might want to use SEO is because they help generate more traffic for your site by directing users who are looking for what you have to offer.
This isn't just any traffic - it's high quality since their goal or question is met or answered by your optimized business website.
2. Passive Acquisition
SEO done wisely can prepare your business for long-term returns and a shift to spend less advertising, and as a result you'll likely see an increase in sales.
Rather than paying for each click driven by paid advertising, an SEO consultant can help craft content that can continually acquire traffic even long after its launch.
As long as the content is relevant and trustworthy, the traffic will find you.
3. Local Visibility For Local Customers
By investing in search engine optimization, your business will become more "visible" to potential customers in and around your area.
Why pay for ads locally if your business deserves to rank organically in maps and search results?
This is what Google and other search engines believe so they want to reward small businesses with websites that are optimized.
3 Benefits of a Small Business SEO Consultant
1. Strategic Insight
Let’s be clear, there are many factors that contribute to the success of a small business, and SEO is just one tool.
Investing in an SEO consultant can be beneficial for any size company looking to grow its customer base through an online channel that is often underutilized or at worst, not even considered as an important part of its strategy..
2. Navigate A Rapidly Changing Industry
The digital marketing landscape moves at lightning speed.
Organic search is an entire field of study within marketing and requires constant education to remain afloat in an increasingly competitive environment.
Small business owners can focus on delivering the best products and services instead of trying to navigate the complexities of another industry.
3. Partnership To Meet Business Objectives
Search consultants serve and function as part of an overall and integrated marketing strategy.
They should gain a thorough understanding of each business so that SEO goals match business objectives.
We believe that only smaller and nimbler teams with dedicated SEO consultants that have a firm grasp of your business can produce the most impactful results.
So a partnership relationship like this can go a long way for your business.
How to use SEO to grow your small business
When it comes to a small business, SEO is just one tool in the shed for marketing and sales. Your website should perform well and provide stellar user experience - things like aesthetic design and ease of site navigation, including internal site search if especially if your small business needs a large website.
Furthermore, there is no magic to this process. An SEO consultant for small business can help your business grow through strong partnership and an investment for the long haul.
As any owner or manager would know, results should not be short-sighted.
Businesses take time to grow and scale and it’s the same with SEO initiatives. Goals should be aggressive yet feasible at the same time.
Simply put, an expert SEO consultant will focus on producing content and other technical aspects of your site to help expand your reach online.
What makes SEO different from Paid Advertising?
SEO is different from online advertising like paid search advertising in that you pay for each visit through an ad placement.
Instead, SEO has a long-term impact and the best optimization over time will typically cost less than paid advertising.
Another significant difference as noted before is that organic traffic is ‘passive’ and less distracting than paid search ads.
Why?
Because paid search ads may often not be what users are looking for, and sometimes advertisers can bid for ads to have more control over when and to whom they’re shown.
This can be a bit awkward and inefficient (but of course still worthwhile for the right strategy and goals).
However, organic search results are usually the most useful and relevant content for users.
Other Factors That Contribute to the Success of a Small Business
Other factors that can contribute to the success of a small business include social media posts, content marketing, or video creation.
Holistic SEO touches all these factors and more.
SMB consultants for small businesses work best through collaboration with other experts, be it designers, social media managers and writers.
It is important for any company that wants to grow its customer base and increase sales numbers to invest in at least one of these things on top of SEO
Is SEO for Small Business Worth Investing In?
You have a business to run which is why you should consider using an SEO consultant.
The benefits of using an SEO consultant will vary based on what type of company they are working with, but generally speaking, this is a great thing for any size company looking to grow their client base or sales numbers.
It's a lot of work to run and maintain your own business, especially if you're just beginning.
It can be difficult to keep up with all the social media platforms, blogging on a regular basis, updating your website content-all while trying not to let customer service slip by the wayside!
Contact an SEO consultant today in order to partner with and finally alleviate this workload.