Top SEO Tips for Small Businesses.

Perhaps you are a sole proprietor or a small business owner that have a simple website presence. It’s possible to do your own SEO at little or no cost and it can make a big difference to your online organic traffic.

There are plenty of free website services available, the most popular being Wix, Weebly and Google where you can create a website quickly for no cost. These are great when you are starting out and will give you an immediate online presence. But how do you generate leads and get ranked on search engines without paying someone to do it for you? 
 
If you are prepared to invest a little time and effort yourself there are some basic steps you can take to maximise your organic search and that means relevant traffic to your website without spending money on advertising. 
 
Use your own URL.  
Getting a URL for your site is a service that many companies offer, some at greatly inflated prices or they suffix their own domain with your business name. Choose a name that reflects your business, if you are a locksmith in London for example try something like www.locksmithsoflondon.com. Use a .com and get the URL to describe what you offer and where. This example is a little long so ideally come up with something shorter. Try www.godaddy.com to purchase your domain name, it’s inexpensive and they have easy to use guides that walk you through anything remotely technical. 
 
Backlinks. 
Create quality backlinks to your site. An SEO agency will often create many backlinks for your site and charge you for the pleasure. However, it’s not as simple as that, backlinks to your site should be of a high quality from a reputable source website. If your business is listed in Yelp for example you can link the recommendations and testimonials back to your site and the search engine recognises this as a link from a reputable site. 
 
Google My Business.         
Get your business listed on Google My Business, it’s free and just takes just a few minutes to set up. You will have to verify your business address and once completed your business starts to show up on Google Maps and in Google Search straightaway.  
 
Social Media Channels.  
Create accounts for your business in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pintrest. This give you the opportunity to link your business across all channels. These are great for updating your customers new and old with news about your products and services along with any special offers and promotions. If you have a physical product then using Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok can be great for showcasing pictures and videos too. 
 
Technical Issues. 
It is not common but it does happen that your website provider has not picked up on technical errors on your site. There may be issues with incorrect header tags and descriptions or JavaScript errors in the site code. These are easily remedied and your website providers should be able to guide you through this. Also check that your site SSL encryption is up to date, this is the ‘s’ in the https:// that indicate to the site visitor that your site is secure.     
 
Content. 
If you have time try and create and post content as frequently as you can, daily is great but everyone is busy so try and do at least one piece a week. Understand your relevant keywords and use appropriately in all your content. Post your content on your website (it should be straightforward to create a blog page within your menu and is certainly possible with Wix and Weebly) and add to all your social media channels too. For extra coverage you can create an account on Reddit and post your content in relevant forums.  
 
Benchmark and monitor  
Of course, it’s crucial to understand the impact of all your work on your organic search over a period of time. Its easy to scan and understand the current status of your website by using a tool like Diib and you can then monitor over time to check you are making progress.  

If you are not sure how to go about implementing any of the tips above or just don’t have the time to do this yourself it’s easy to reach out to RDM (Robertson Digital Marketing) in London and they can get you started straightaway.