Looks like 2015 is going to be a year of SEO. I’ve had so many projects and queries around keyword research and site optimization! Since it seems that SEO is on the marketing radar for many a small business this year, I thought it was a good time to talk about search in a blog post.
First and foremost, let’s address what SEO is exactly. It’s an acronym that many small business owners will see, but may not know exactly what this is. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Basically, this means making whatever you have online the best it can be for search engine results (a.k.a. your website showing up when someone searches your small business keywords).
One of the most common questions I get asked by small business owners is “How do I get my site higher in search rankings?” Ahh… the million dollar question. Unfortunately, there is no set answer I can give. It will be different for every business, every industry, every city.
Remember, we learned here that there ain’t no such thing as guarantees in SEO and to beware of any service provider making impossible promises.
When chipping away at the mystery surrounding SEO, let’s first touch on what we know won’t work…
- A bunch of cheap links to your site won’t work.
- Slapping a bunch of poor quality articles online won’t work.
- Trying to stuff a bazillion keywords into your content won’t work.
So what should you do? While every business has unique SEO needs, there is one thing that matters, no matter what.
Apart from keyword research and laying the foundation for your site, content is the very best thing you can do. More often than not, when providing search marketing recommendations with my keyword research report, I am always suggesting more content. So if you find yourself in a super competitive industry when it comes to search, or you’re not seeing your site go up in rankings the way you’d like it to, give your content some thought.
Website content
Think about how you can beef up your site content. Think about what kind of information would be helpful for your customers and work that into your site. Some ideas:
- FAQ page: A fabulous way to share your expertise, beef up your website and use keywords in a natural and informative way.
- Testimonials: If you are a location specific small business, testimonials are also a great way to slip in geographical indicators in a natural way. Do this by including a specific location along with the name of the individual or business that gave the testimonial. So for example, if I gave a testimonial for a local business, they could include “Martina Iring, North Vancouver, BC” along with my comments.
- Resources page: Put together some information to help educate your customers. A list of links to outside sources is a great way to do this. You can check out my resources page as an example.
Blog
When we’re talking about content, new content is gold. Search engines gobble this up. What’s the best way to keep getting new information up on your site, gracefully speckled with your keywords, of course 😉 ? Blogging!
New to blogging? Check out these posts from the archive.
Additional content
There are other forms of content as well that can help boost your content efforts. You could create pdf downloads for example. Or perhaps a series of articles or tutorials. Or a slidehare presentation. Go ahead and get creative, experimenting with different forms of content.
It’s not just about SEO
It’s also important to mention that while SEO is a big deal and a big focus for marketing for most small businesses, content is not just about SEO.
Creating content is not just a way to plug in keywords and get to the 1st page of Google tomorrow. Content is part of an overarching, quality marketing strategy.
It’s a way that you can educate your customers on what your small business is about. Sharing information and tips. Providing value. That is the golden rule for content marketing, SEO and really just marketing in general.
So go ahead and make content your best friend!
How do you use content marketing for your small business? Feel free to share links in the comments to your website or blog – it’s always so great seeing real life examples from others! Haven’t done too much content wise and are ready now to remedy that? Share in the comments what you plan to do next to get your content in gear!
Image source: Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net
My name is Martina and I’m a 
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Extremely helpful post Martina!
And your overall content marketing strategy and advice makes perfect sense!
And it’s truly practical and applicable (thank goodness!) no matter what the current size your business and or service is!
And it can be systematically applied, no matter what your current advertising/marketing budget is!
I’m so glad I wisely decided to click your link and read your highly informative post! Thanks so much for sharing it!
mark recently posted..Three More Really Cool Reasons Why Your Business Definitely Needs To Be Using Email Marketing!
Awesome Mark! So glad that you found the post useful 🙂 Thanks for your comment!
The need for quality content in every SEO campaign has never been this higher compared to the previous years as Google has made it a point to value quality over quantity of the content of your site, and negligence has consequences.
Tabby recently posted..When a Blog Post Goes Viral—To Tweak or To Repeat?
Hear, hear Tabby! Quality all the way. Thanks for checking out the post! Cheers