One of the biggest limitations that small businesses have is their budget which can stop them from going for full-fledged promotions for their services. Today, digital marketing has changed the way we handle these promotions. Reaching a global audience is easy, and so is building an online reputation, thanks to search engine optimization and use of SEO tricks.
SEO strategies, for the most part, are inexpensive and have long-lasting results. SEO isn’t just about optimizing your website for the search engine results. It can be applied to your business’ social profiles too. This helps in widening your online presence, which leads to more web traffic and sales.
Here are a few simple SEO tricks that every small business should consider implementing for long-lasting and powerful results.
Get your “CAPU” right
CAPU is an acronym for the content, authority, performance and user experience. Let’s break down what each word really means for small business.
- Content: Search engines look for these four elements to see if your content is relevant to the user’s query. Ultimately, that relevance, and how fresh and information your content is, determines your ranking.
- Authority: The content you will have on your site should be useful, be relevant and well-written, so that it can be sourced as a reference by other sites.
- Performance: This is a reference to the load time of your website. The pages on your website should load quickly , and the links should work without any errors.
- User experience: The website should be designed to make navigation easy and keep valuable information secured.
Correct keyword selection
Using broad keywords gives businesses a lot of traffic, but the relevance level is relatively low which means that the conversion rates will also be low since users directed to your site won’t be looking for what you sell. Consider using narrow keywords instead. Keep in mind that narrow keywords may not give you traffic at all, so creating a balance between the broad keywords and narrow keywords will help drive relevant and converting traffic to your site.
Craft your meta description carefully
Search engines take the keywords used for tags and meta descriptions seriously, so craft these carefully.
Remember: SEO is not just meant for your website
Off-site SEO involves accounts on social forums that suit your niche where you can drop your links and widen your online presence. Cleverly built off-site SEO strategies will not only improve your online presence, but also enhance your brand’s reputation.
How can you optimize social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter? When you create your account, your timeline and newsfeed will be empty. Backdate posts to give yourself a longer history on a particular social platform, and appear credible to your new followers. Share news about your company and engage regularly with your followers by asking questions or offering discounts to bring more loyal customers to your business.
As mentioned earlier, SEO is one of the simplest marketing tools that all small businesses, can and should consider using. With a good strategy and use of SEO tricks, you can also expect a solid return on investment no matter what your budget looks like.
Fred T. Murr, CEO and founder of Tracy Suttles Real Estate with over 30 years of experience in the real estate industry in Houston, TX. He graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School. And currently represents high profile clients and estates.