The Small Business SEO Process
Writing by Brick Marketing in SEO
Due to time and budget limitations, small businesses are typically slower to get involved in online marketing. They may be comfortable with the success that has been achieved from referrals, word of mouth, or traditional marketing practices like direct mail, flyers, coupons, ads, etc. However, even small business owners have to agree that the Internet is where we live our lives today. People turn to the Internet, and more specifically, to the search engines to find just about anything and everything. This means that no matter how small your business is, what you offer, or where you are located, people are looking online for what you have to offer. If a small business decides that it’s time to grow, building an online presence and investing in small business SEO is the way to do it.
Every business is different and will take a slightly different approach to suit their needs, but this is the process that we recommend for a small business that is just getting started with Internet marketing and is looking to get involved in SEO:
Step 1- Research
There are plenty of free resources online that will provide small business owners with a wealth of information about SEO. It’s important to learn the basics and understand the difference between white and black hat and the proper way to optimize a site and link build.
Step 2- DIY
For a small business that is just getting started and may have just launched a website, it’s advisable to do SEO on a small scale on your own at first. If you can afford to do so, attend an SEO training session or hire an SEO consultant. Under the guidance of an expert, a small business owner can achieve initial results on their own as long as they dedicate an appropriate amount of time to it.
Step 3- Hire an Agency
Once a small business owner has experienced some online success and has achieved an increase in website traffic, then it is time to take it to the next level by hiring an SEO firm. At this point, a small business will be able to get much more out of the services since the website has aged and it isn’t like starting from scratch.
