Search engine optimization is highly confusing for many small business owners since they usually think that a really large budget is necessary for anything related to online marketing. This is not actually the case. SEO is definitely costly and very sophisticated at a professional level but the small business has access to all the tools needed for effective results with zero costs. Just time is basically necessary.
DIY search engine optimization is highly recommended for the small businesses that have a limited marketing budget. Remember that SEO is definitely not rocket science so even the smallest website owners can increase traffic if they know what to do.
While success is not guaranteed when you use DIY SEO, you can definitely consider it. Two things should be said about all DIY search engine optimization campaigns:
- DIY search engine optimization is straightforward, simple, interesting and fun. However, it is not easy and you need prolonged and consistent effort for results.
- Basic on-page SEO optimization is always necessary.
Consider the following strategies for any small business website when budgets are limited.
Write For The Blog
Always write unique and highly valuable content on the blog you have for your small business. Having constantly updated content is paramount for making search engines rank your blogs higher. Competition is very high at the moment in all niches so it is really important that your content stands out. Start any SEO campaign with having valuable content written. It needs to be relevant and as keyword-rich without spamming as possible.
Extra Reading: 6 Ideas To Find Topics For Your Blog
Networking And Guest Blogs
Businessmen create connections and so should you. You want to connect with as many other businesses as possible, websites and blogs. Interaction is vital for establishing authority and brand reputation. As you network for business purposes you most likely come across some blogs where you can publish guest posts. These are highly useful in creating authority and credibility. This is why we are offering our guest posting service. Through guest posting you can generate very powerful backlinks from blogs and websites that are established.
Always keep an eye out for opportunities to establish relationships with other businessmen and industry bloggers. Pitch these connections to find guest posting opportunities.
Take Advantage Of Social Media
It is a very good idea to follow businesses and people on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter even if you are not interested in SEO. In fact, the SEO benefits of doing so are not immediately clear for most people. Everything boils down to visibility. Nothing gets visibility like social networks these days.
As you interact with relevant businessmen, influencers and businesses on social networks, some will start noticing you. Then, if the content that you share online is of a very high quality, your following grows. As your following grows, some people may find your content on social networks and link to it, thus gaining free links to your websites.
Interact
In this case the idea is to comment on blogs and participate in industry discussions. You also want to interact with other bloggers through any suitable media and with your site’s readers.
What should be known is that SEO is much more advanced than it used to be. You do not just have to get backlinks. Nowadays, interaction is important as it helps grow brand reputation. If a lot of interaction is present, the site’s authority is increased, together with search results visibility and traffic.
Basically, you want to interact through all the possible channels while not necessarily looking for a backlink. Growing a really strong brand will help a lot since it makes it a lot easier to get organic backlinks (links that come naturally without you asking for them or doing something to receive them).
Perform Basic Keyword Research
One of the most important things in search engine optimization is to identify relevant keywords to target. The professionals you hire will find many but you can easily find 2 or 3 that have high traffic and are mid- to low-competitive. Keyword research will always be important and can give you a clear direction for everything that you write since your topics are going to cover topics that people are actually interested in.
Improve Your Content With Tools
Remember that even the best writers in the world proofread and use special tools because they want to produce the very best possible content. You should do the same as you try to improve the SEO value of what you write. Consistent, high-quality content is going to automatically increase rankings because it catches the attention and interest of your readers.
Look online for guides and information to be sure your tone, structure and language are as close to perfect as possible. Also, your articles should be over 1,000 words, preferably around 2,000 as they are now seen as the best for search engine optimization.
Add images that support your articles and do reference high authority outside sources. This is useful because Google is analyzing what is linked inside an article. Do add social sharing icons to your articles so you can increase website authority and earn increased inbound links.
Pay Attention To Keyword Placement
Keywords are definitely useful, no matter how you add them to your content, as long as you do not spam them. However, they are much more effective when you properly place them in the articles you write. Your keywords should always be present in 3 main places:
- Title – Always try to write a title that is as catchy as possible and that incorporates your targeted keyword.
- Sub-Headers – Also, be sure that you add keywords inside the content.
- Within URL – The URLs should have breadcrumbs trail and feature quality readable indicators. Do not use random text strings or numbers inside URLs.
More about Keyword Placement can be read in this article.
Content Needs To Be Mobile-Friendly
More and more people each day consume news, blogs and access the online world as they are moving, lying in bed or even watching TV. Such a thing is possible because of the evolution of mobile phones. When the blog that you publish content on is not optimized for mobile devices, SEO rankings will be much lower than they could be.
What you might not know is that most Google searches these days happen through mobile devices. If the site you run is not mobile optimized, results will be shown much lower than what happens on desktop PCs. Basically, if the content is not mobile-friendly, you lose a lot of traffic and you do not even know it is happening.
Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool in order to see if your content is mobile-friendly. If not, you need to make the necessary changes to offer mobile users a great experience.
Do Not Make Articles Boring
Many fall into the trap of writing really long articles in order to get SEO benefits but they make it too tedious, technical and long. You want to break up the text with infographics, videos or images. Always format content so that it is as pleasant as possible for the target audience. For instance, you can write shorter paragraphs, sub-headers, bold some points and add bullet points.
The idea is to try to create content that the reader can quickly scan for the desired information. This allows for really fast interaction. There is a much higher possibility that the reader will want to come back. At the same time, when you add extras like graphs, infographics, videos or images, you can add alt-text for every single inset. This improves ranking as people look for videos or pictures.
Make It Easy For People To Contact You
Contact details should be really easy to find for anyone looking at the website. Add all that you are comfortable to allow people to get in touch. The bare minimum is to have a contact form added to a Contact page but you can also add phone numbers and even details on how you can be contacted through social media. Treat every single site you have as a business. You want this since when someone wants to contact you for any type of collaboration you can be reached fast.
