You’ve probably all heard the phrase SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), but have you thought about the impact this can have on your local business? Considering the importance of these three little letters could see visits to your website soar which in turn can provide quality leads and sales.
What is SEO?
But what is SEO do I hear you cry? In short, SEO, is all about making your website visible to the people who want your products or services. When you search, for example when you use Google or Bing, you get an immediate list of results. These search engines use complex algorithms to decipher what is most relevant to the question you’ve asked. Ultimately, you want your company showing on that first page of results. And, for local SMEs looking for business growth, this is extremely important because it helps create stand out amongst competitors offering the very same service as you in the same geographical location.
If you think about walking down the high street you’re attracted to shops because of window displays showing what you want. The online world is no different, it doesn’t matter how good your website looks, if you don’t have signposts directed to it, it won’t be seen. Utilising local classifieds such as Yell or free local listings can help enhance your visibility and improve SEO ranking.
Build trust with relevant content
Customers feel trust towards what they see first – in SEO terms that means being top of the list. But you need to build that trust first which is why SEO is so important for local businesses. To gain that trust and up your rankings you need fresh and relevant content on your website. A blog is perfect for this. Whether you post images with a related picture caption or share insightful news, including appropriate keywords, this will all help build towards you becoming visible in the SEO crowd. This is referred to as link building and a vital way of building your page authority.
We’ve only touched on a few key points here but they are important ones to take on board. It’s not a quick win, SEO does take time but by working in partnership with SEO experts who can devise a tailored campaign, your business will reap the benefits. Be patient, build a comprehensive website and people will come!
What you could do to complement SEO activity initially is consider Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising with Google AdWords – but that’s another blog!
SEO agency Croydon
Contact us about building Search Engine Optimisation into your inbound digital marketing strategy. We can also conduct a free audit of your website. Call on 020 3137 1826 or email saymoo@smart-cow.com