Five simple ways you can use SEO to grow a small business
How do you use SEO to grow a small business? In this article, you will discover ways you can leverage search engine optimization to grow your small business.
Everyone is doing SEO these days. But why? The answer is simple: to stay competitive in the digital world, you need to establish a strong online presence to be more visible, valuable, and available to your customers at all times.
It’s no wonder then that the global search engine optimization market will reach $129.6 billion by 2030:
Image via Research and Markets
But how can you use SEO to grow a small business given that you’re competing directly against larger competitors in the search engine results pages?
In this article, you will discover five important ways SEO can help you grow your small business.
1) Use SEO to create a user-friendly website
Your small business website is your digital storefront for online customers.
It’s where potential customers will land and learn more about your products before contacting your sales team.
But here’s the thing—your website must be easy to use and display content fast to keep users happy when browsing through it.
According to a recent study, 1 in 2 visitors abandon a website that takes more than 6 seconds to load:
Image via Digital
Fortunately, implementing SEO tips and best practices helps you build a website that checks all the boxes below:
- Unique page titles and descriptions
- Easy-to-read, simple, and well formatted URLs
- Unique content and well-optimized images
- Fast-loading web pages
- Clean structure and navigation.
Whether you’re doing affiliate marketing, selling online courses, or anything else, SEO can help you create a website that users want to be on.
2) Use SEO to drive more customers through organic search
Organic search is the biggest source of website traffic, and here’s the proof. According to a recent report by HubSpot, organic search is ranked among the top website traffic sources by 27% of marketers:
Image via HubSpot
Additionally, organic search traffic conversion rates are also high.
Image via Databox
And that’s because organic traffic is highly targeted and includes people who are looking for a solution to a problem they’re facing. When done well, SEO helps your website rank at the top of Google’s search results when people are searching for brands like yours.
The higher your website ranks in Google, the more targeted traffic you generate which translates to more customers and sales.
You can track this traffic by using SEO tools recommended by Attrock. Based on this analytics, you can improve your SEO strategy too.
3) Use SEO to build brand authority and trust
Establishing solid trust among your prospects is a great idea if you want to win more customers and grow your business.
Furthermore, customers purchase from businesses they trust. And statistics can prove this. According to the future of marketing report by Adobe, 7 in 10 customers will buy more from businesses they trust and abandon those they don’t.
What’s more, 46% of US consumers say they pay more for brands they trust:
Image via Salsify
With an effective SEO strategy, you can hit the front page, and rank at the top spot in the search results and establish yourself as an authority in your industry.
When you rank at the top of Google’s SERPs, it means the search engine trusts your brand. Because customers trust Google, they will definitely trust your brand as well.
You can further build trust of the website visitors with website personalization techniques. When they find the information they’re looking for, they’ll see you as an authority in the industry.
4) Build brand awareness
Building brand awareness in today’s overcrowded business world can be a tough task. This explains why 45% of content marketers say increasing brand awareness is their top goal:
Image via Semrush
The good news about ranking at the top of Google’s SERPs is that many people will get to know your business including what you have to offer.
And considering that the click-through rate for websites ranking at the top of the SERPs is the highest, it means your brand awareness will improve drastically.
This is one of the main reasons for investing in SEO to grow a small business.
5) SEO is cost-effective and has a great ROI
Another beauty about SEO is that it can be relatively less costly to implement. You only need to spend money on creating content, promoting it, and on marketing tools.
Of course, you can hire an SEO specialist or create an in-house SEO role in your team. However, this is something you can learn and implement by yourself too.
Furthermore, there are many SEO courses out there, and some are even free.
And what about the ROI, you ask? Well, SEO is also one of the best digital marketing channels that delivers a great ROI according to a recent First Page Sage report. Needless to say, it’s worth investing in it.
Image via First Page Sage
SEO can help you become more competitive
Granted, SEO is a long-term game. However, when implemented correctly, it can not only help you become competitive in the digital space but also grow your business tremendously. It’s also a relatively cheaper marketing method, so it can help you grow on a budget.
So, go ahead and start your SEO journey now to give your business the growth it deserves.
Reena Aggarwal is Director of Operations and Sales at Attrock, a result-driven digital marketing company. With 10+ years of sales and operations experience in the field of e-commerce and digital marketing, she is quite an industry expert.
She is a people person and considers the human resources as the most valuable asset of a company. In her free time, you would find her spending quality time with her brilliant, almost teenage daughter and watching her grow in this digital, fast-paced era.
