Discover how SEO makes a big difference for your small business
As a small business owner, you’re a real superhero. You keep multiple balls in the air and strive for top results. But your reach could be larger and you want to attract more potential customers. Besides, a day only has 24 hours, even for the heroes among us.
No worries. A good SEO strategy increases your online visibility and therefore your revenue in the long run. No idea how to tackle this? We’d love to teach you about the right SEO strategies and tools. And especially, how to measure the success of all your efforts afterwards.
No time to get started yourself? The Digital Climax team is ready for you. Call in our help so you can focus on your super talents: running a wonderful small business.
The importance of SEO, even for small businesses
As a small business, you dream of customers easily finding their way to your website and thus to your shop or offer. A well-founded SEO strategy is therefore also of great importance for the smaller players on the market.
Discover why:
- SEO increases your online visibility, because your website ends up higher in the search results. Greater visibility also means more potential customers. And in the long run, more revenue.
- SEO saves costs: SEO for SMEs is a cost-effective way to attract customers (unlike paid ads, which only deliver results as long as you keep pumping money into them). So choose very consciously where you spend your budget.
- A high position distinguishes you from other and perhaps larger companies. Eat that, big boys.
The cost of SEO for small businesses
Every good entrepreneur looks at the costs beforehand, and so do you. How much an SEO strategy costs for your business depends on a number of elements. We first look at what your goal is and how you get there. The duration of your trajectory also largely determines your SEO budget.
Determining factors of your SEO budget:
- Ambitions and goals
- Starting point
- Competitors
Concrete SEO strategies for small businesses
To build a solid SEO strategy, it’s best to focus on a few key components.
These 3 applications improve your performance:
- Invest in local SEO to increase your online visibility.
- Don’t just focus on broad terms, but on hyper-specific keywords by using sniper SEO.
- Make your website a cohesive whole by building a content cluster.
SEO to-dos for small businesses
Improving SEO happens in small steps but brings great results. See below for an overview of SEO applications and improve your website and SEO performance step-by-step.
Website architecture
It is essential that your website is built to be SEO friendly. Ensure a clear architecture that attracts both Google and your visitor. Moreover, you make it clear to the search engine exactly what is written on your pages. Does this seem like an impossible task? We’re happy to help you build an SEO friendly website architecture.
Keyword research
Just like other companies, as a small player you should know which keywords are important for your target audience. Start with keyword research to be sure which words are relevant.
Tip: Want to do it all on your own?
Our Digital Climax Architect is a handy tool that combines a sitemap generator with a tool to create wireframes and perform keyword mapping. This allows you to quickly build new pages, optimize your link structure, and organize your content pillars according to the search intent of your target audience.
The right content
- Create an interesting and extensive website full of unique content that speaks directly to your visitor. Determine the search intent of a user beforehand. And then provide the right answer to the question asked.
- Determine your USP: tell why your company makes a difference compared to what competitors offer.
No idea how to write an SEO text?
We’re happy to help you get started in our guide on writing SEO texts. We guide you with a handy step-by-step plan. Or download our helpful content guide and consult it anywhere, anytime.
Customized meta tags
Optimize your metadata (meta titles, meta description) and headers: highlight your business story, emphasize your artisanal way of working, or highlight your short-chain story. Let this be the first information a customer reads. This is how you convince users to click through to your company’s website. Accentuate why your business differs from a large corporation or a competitor.
Local linkbuilding
Focus on local linkbuilding, using backlinks from other businesses in your region. Local links ensure that Google associates you with other businesses in your neighborhood and thus with this region. This way, you also score higher locally.
Maybe your son plays for a local team. Support this club by making a (small) contribution in the form of sponsorship. In exchange, the club places your name, logo, and website on their page. Son happy, you happy.
Google Business Profile
Everyone knows a classic business card. It contains the most important information about a company, but honestly? You usually lose it quickly. Luckily, there’s a solution for this: the free tool Google My Business (or nowadays Google Business Profile).
Check the following things and adjust where necessary:
- The location of your business or shop
- The (updated) opening hours of your business
- Any product photos, preferably taken by a professional photographer.
- Any Google reviews: in these texts, customers write about their experience with your product or service. Very often they unconsciously mention your keyword, which in turn has a positive influence on your position. Want to remove fake or even false Google reviews? We’ll teach you all about it.
Want to know more about Google Business Profile? Feel free to look around on our page where we explain how to register Google My Business. And don’t forget to optimize your Google My Business.
Why we believe in SEO, even for small businesses
The website authority of large corporations sometimes scares some small players. But when you invest in a solid SEO strategy within this swirling mass, you will undoubtedly stand out.
What benefits do you as an entrepreneur reap from SEO?
- Long-term results: while SEA mainly delivers results very quickly, SEO improves your performance in the long run. Read all about the difference between SEA and SEO.
- The right target audience through specific targeting: increase your organic traffic by using the right keywords. This targeting ensures an increase in revenue in the long run.
- Conversion rate: users who find your website are already interested. Hold onto this interest and use a good SEO strategy. This increases the chance that these customers actually take action (for example, signing up for a newsletter, scheduling an appointment, or purchasing a product).
- Results are easy to measure.
- Easy to achieve by using Google Business Profile.
SEO for small businesses, also at a national level
Do you have a small business that is active on a national level? Then SEO is also an ideal strategy for you. With good SEO, you appeal to (potential) customers who live on the other side of the country. Your business might be small in size, but it certainly doesn’t have to be in results and performance.
These tips help your business on a national level:
- Mention your craftsmanship in meta tags. This way you immediately convince potential customers to click through to your website.
- Distinguish yourself from large competitors by choosing specific keywords. Accentuate on your page why your business differs from other large companies. Has your business been around for generations? Then be sure to mention your years of experience. Are your employees true craftsmen? Then highlight your expertise.
- Trust in the long-term results of SEO. Competing against large competitors can be daunting. But don’t forget to keep your end goal in sight. SEO pays off in the long run, even for small businesses.
Measuring SEO results for small businesses
Use tools like Google Search Console (read all about it in our Google Search Console guide). Stay critical and regularly dive into the results. Never look at these measurements while leaning back in your chair, but take an active stance. After all, your competitors are doing this too.
Tip
Discover how to link your Google Search Console with Google Analytics to interpret and adjust your data.
Your small business also deserves a good SEO strategy
Go for those bells and whistles on the search engines and attract the right customers. Enhance your image and respond to the needs of potential customers. You’ll get more organic traffic in return. And you distinguish yourself from small or perhaps even large competitors. SEO for small businesses can therefore be a real game changer. It literally takes your business to a higher level.
Get started now that you know everything about a sublime SEO strategy for your small business. Would you like someone to look over your shoulder? Or would you rather outsource everything? No problem. The Digital Climax team is at the starting blocks. Request a free SEO scan for your small business today. Because you only finish big when you start small.
