The value of local SEO for small businesses.
Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an online marketing channel that many businesses have used to improve online presence, generate leads, and revenue. The introduction of local SEO has dramatically improved the ability of local businesses to gain reach and local customers. Before we dive into this topic, let’s take a look at the meaning of local SEO and how it improves a local business’ online presence in general.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO is the act of gradually making your small business more visible to online searches made by an individual in a given geographic area. For many companies, local SEO is as a very effective way to promote and market your small business online. These days, getting your small business online is one of the most important decisions you can make to grow and scale. Local SEO helps small businesses get the right amount of publicity to move their products to customers.
It is essential to note that getting good local SEO results takes a fair amount of work. Hiring a reputable Local SEO company can make all the difference. However, some businesses do attempt to tackle this alone if they have the in house expertise and bandwidth. Sometimes it can be challenging to handle both the running of the business and the setting up of the marketing strategy. This challenge is a pretty universal struggle among small businesses. In many cases, it is essential to find a well-rounded SEO company to help you boost your small business, and you will not regret it.
There are numerous benefits from local SEO for small business.
There are several benefits of local SEO, especially small and medium-sized businesses. Let us look at five ways local SEO helps to boost your business, generate more leads, and drive more revenue. Let us look at how Local SEO augments a successful marketing strategy. Here are a few facts:
1. Fact, It helps your business to be seen online, especially by prospects searching for services or products around you.
As an owner, your small business needs to have a substantial online presence to reach a lot of the customers and clients around you. These days, prospects tend to place more confidence in a business that has a robust online presence. When in need of a particular service, an online search is usually the starting point. Companies that come up at the top of the search results get the largest market share. Local SEO helps your business appear at the top of the search results. As a business owner looking for ways to improve marketing strategy, get more customers, and make more money, local SEO is a powerful tool.
2. Fact, You can get ahead of your competition.
A properly executed local SEO marketing strategy helps you to get and stay ahead of your competition, especially in the area you do business. Most local business owners often recognize the competition, but don’t focus on ranking better than they on Google. This lack of focus creates an advantage to whoever decides to act first. Businesses with this first-mover advantage often grow because local SEO has them covered.
3. Fact, when done right, it increases your website ranking.
For a small business, there is a tangible impact when your website appears at the top of Google Search results whenever potential clients search for your product or service. Getting your site to the top of the search ranking helps customers to know your business. Once your business or businesses are at the top of the search ranking, you will see the volume of customers increasing.
Remember that, clients who are interested in whatever you offer do not have the time or desire to search through all the results the search engines generate. Having your website at the top enables them to save time and go straight to your business.
4. Fact, Local SEO helps to increase organic traffic.
Organic traffic is defined as visitors who find your website through the use of search engines. The benefit of organic traffic is you do not need to pay for customers clicks when they visit your site. For a small business, organic traffic is one of the critical elements necessary to help your business grow. Unlike paid traffic, organic traffic generated through local SEO leads to higher conversions and lead generation. With this organic traffic, you can quickly get clients to your products and services, unlike paid traffic. Local SEO is a crucial strategy to build your organic traffic and build your small business. Organic traffic is key.
Organic traffic and lead generation.
One of the most important things a business needs is a fully functional website, which a lot of small businesses already have. But by leveraging a local SEO strategy, companies and small business can drive relevant organic traffic to their website and convert them into leads. Effective Local SEO is a great way to drive local lead generation.
CONCLUSION.
So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen! As a small business owner, you should not overlook the value that an effective local SEO campaign can bring to your business. However, it is essential to note just because someone can build a website that does not mean they know how to drive SEO results. If you have any questions, we would be more than happy to answer them. We can even provide a complete website audit to take the guesswork out of the equation.
SEO Is a Small Business Necessity
Historically SEO (Search Engine Optimization) was a medium to large business tool but it has become just as critical for small business success as well. There are two different categories in SEO; on-page and off-page. On-page is work you do to improve your individual pages to improve your search engine results ranking. This covers everything from keywords to formatting, URLs, even load speed, blogging, and page design. Off-page covers practices like link building through social media, articles, and even business profiles.
SEO can be complex, but it is crucial you don’t dismiss it. The good news is a lot of SEO work won’t even hurt your budget while being more effective than more traditional marketing plans. Fun fact, inbound leads (gained from SEO) cost 61% less than outbound leads (think cold calling). Here are just a couple pieces you can focus on in your small business SEO efforts. Local SEO; as a small business you have a better relationship with your clientele and local audience than a big conglomerate. Your ability to focus keywords in your content to your local area will help you grab that coveted top spots in search engine results. Social media is a fantastic tool for small businesses. You can drive traffic to your website, blog, whatever you utilize. It’s also something you can do 100% yourself for free. Just remember, you really need to post regularly and interact with / respond to users in order to get everything out of your social media efforts. Link building is another great strategy for small business / local SEO. To be successful with link building you need to show your knowledge of the topic/subject by guest blogging or sending quality content to other quality directories to entice others to share.
We’ll cover more next week on the importance of SEO for small businesses. See you then!
SSL Certificates. What They Do AND Why You Need One
SSL Certificates, what are we even talking about? SSLs is the backbone of Internet security by protecting information as it travels the web. Often website owners balk at purchasing SSLs if their webpage isn’t set up for online shopping/money exchange. That is a mistake. SSL’s provide critical items like privacy, data integrity, and protection for your website and visitors to your page. SSLs digitally bind cryptographic keys to a website’s details. When Marlin installs an SSL on your server, it activates the padlock you see in your address bar and “https”. This creates secure connections between server and browser, protecting everyone.
Why do you need an SSL, especially if you are not running an e-commerce site? Data security between servers is increased. Your Google Ranking automatically increases when you provide your users with SSL protection. Trust is built and enhanced with your customer base when they know you’re doing your part to protect them. Should you have a form that visitors must fill out – whether it’s for an inquiry or something else to gathers information from the user, this type of data collection would prompt for the verification of your SSL. If you do not currently have an SSL on your website, then the user will be see the “unsecured content” message on their screen before they could proceed to the next page.
If a customer can trust that your site is safe and protected, then you will see your conversion rates increase!
Now you’re ready to jump into the SSL game, what next? SSL certificates must be issued from a trusted Certificate Authority. Marlin can help you through this entire process and can provide a list of trusted CA root certificates. Give Marlin a call and our experts will get you and your website ready to go!
Take a look at the different SSL certificates that we offer.
