SMALL BUSINESS TIP #5: Five SEO Tips for Small Business Websites

Your website is one of a gazillion stars in the massive internet universe. Unless you sparkle brightly, you’ll only be found by those who are looking specifically for you. Here are five SEO tips for small businesses websites that can help yours shine a little brighter:

Effective SEO Tips for Small Business

1. Make sure your website is mobile responsive and very well-organized.

You have a few seconds from a visitor’s first click to grab and keep their attention. If your website is outdated, not mobile responsive, extremely slow, unorganized and/or messy, you will very likely lose them.

A well-organized mobile responsive website that loads quickly on every device will help you nail the most important facet of SEO and keep as many visitors as possible.

2. Know and solve your customers problem(s).

If you know your customer’s problem, you can solve it. If you solve it, they will very likely return again and again and bring other people with them.

Solving your customers’ most pressing problem(s) should be one of the top priorities for your website. Research trending topics in your industry, including issues, their solutions, the latest innovations, and the newest products, then write about them on  your blog.

Quality content, particularly blog posts written with your customers’ problems at heart, will boost your SEO ranking. The key word is quality. Don’t bother with poorly written posts or irrelevant fluff—Google’s algorithms have ways to measure if people do or don’t find your content relevant and they dole out rewards and punishments accordingly.

RELATED | Why You Need a Business Blog

3. Just say NO to duplicate content.

The same algorithms that reward you for quality content will punish you for duplicate content. Don’t just regurgitate your old blogs in new posts, use the same keyword over and over, and, of course, copy content from another website even if you have their permission.

DO get creative and unique and start making Google happy by establishing yourself as an expert!

4. Snag as many legitimate incoming links as possible.

Similar to life, the company you keep can make or break you when it comes to SEO. When Google sees that a high-ranking website links to your website, your reputation gets a boost.

You get these links by nailing Tips #1 and #2, then asking higher ranking websites to trade links—or write guest blogs or product reviews that link back to your website.

However, no links are better than bad links. If Google finds out that you’ve paid for worthless backlinks, you run a high risk of being punished. Algorithms are smart—and getting smarter by the day—so it’s foolish to believe you’ll get away with this shady SEO practice.

5. Keep your virtual “office” clean.

Once you get the keys to your brand new virtual “home” it won’t be long before it will need cleaning.

Broken links and obsolete page or blog content ding your credibility with your customers and your reputation with Google. (You also increase the risk of virtual burglaries if WordPress, your theme, or plugins haven’t been updated.)

The person who built your website is the best one to maintain it, which is why we offer exclusive maintenance contracts to all of our WordPress website clients.

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The Good SEO News

It is GOOD news that Google’s algorithms are no longer fooled by tricks and reward legitimate websites that add value to our lives. Now, the good guys have a solid chance at winning!

There are many (almost too many 😵‍💫) online resources to teach you how to optimize your blog posts, including proper keywording, meta data, linking (both internally and externally), and optimizing photos.

If you have the time to do some DIY SEO, take advantage of the excellent resources at Moz and Yoast. If you’re feeling overwhelmed just reading our five SEO tips for small business websites, let us do the optimizing for you!

One last thing—it’s important to understand that SEO is not an event. It’s a process.

Anyone who tells you that they can get your website to the first page of Google quickly is someone to avoid. In fact, according to SEO expert Moz, SEO “often does nothing for new and emerging sites” and should be done with the understanding that it is a lengthy process designed to help those who rely on Google to send them customers to avoid problems and perform as optimally as possible.