Your small business could be getting quality leads! SEO is not dead but alive and well, more so now than ever. With search engines on the lookout for quality content and meeting the needs of the users your business has a BIG chance to be found. Today there are many options for online marketing and many “get rich quick” schemes still attempting to grab your marketing budget. They are short term, high-risk options!
- Stop paying $500/month for social media marketing when you have less than 200 followers and low engagement
- Stop paying for CHEAP monthly SEO that does not provide monthly reporting and is not transparent with their tactics
- Stop paying for Facebook Ads that have no viable leads and just thousands of “engagements”
- Stop paying thousands for a website when you have no marketing plan to drive traffic there (check out our FREE WEBSITE offer)
- Stop paying for click funnels that get you thousands of clicks but no viable return on the investment
SEO is a long term play for long term, long lasting results. Ranking on page 1 in the service industry you provide is a secure and low-risk option for your small business. And because SEO has changed and the way search engines rank has changed, the black hat, basement link dweller has been stripped of his power. The power is now in the hands of the user where it should have been all along.
Today we want to share why we believe in SEO and what the main changes and tactics are that are allowing small business to rank on page 1 over the larger players. If you feel you are pouring your marketing budget down a drain and never getting the returns you need this article is for you! “With over 50% of traffic coming from search engines your missing half or even more than half of the traffic your website should be getting.”
5 SEO Tactics to Rank on Page 1
- Mobile Friendly Website – this is a MUST if you are wanting to compete and rank for the users. On March 26th, 2018, Google officially announced that they would be using mobile first indexing. This means that they are going to be indexing websites based on their mobile version- not their desktop version (as was done in the past). If you were ranking on page 1 but your website was not mobile friendly or responsive your ranking would have decreased up to 50%!
- Google Reviews – in order to support your beautiful website and ranking placement Google is now looking for the user to back up this page 1 ranking. Google Reviews solidify that your page 1 ranking is actually worthy of the spot. Google uses rankings as 10% when calculating the ranking position. Not only does it affect your SEO but google rankings will be your best salesperson when users are deciding whether to make contact or not.
- Local SEO – one of the best and fastest ways to rank is to ensure your GMB (google my business) local listing is complete and up to date. It is not just about claiming it and leaving it. It’s important to complete all the information that is requested in the listing once you have claimed it as yours. When someone is searching for your business in your area your listing will appear – which could be side by side with the big guys! Google Maps and Google My Business are key players when it comes to ranking for your small business. Take the time to ensure these are claimed, up to date and have images to showcase your business.
- Content – as a small business you have a niche and you can become the authority on the topic. Creating content that is centered around your small business expertise and is updated 2-4x a month will be another key contributor. Google is looking for quality content that is gaged towards the user, not the search engine. Unique and engaging content that stands out will prove to be highly acceptable to the search engines and the user which is the goal of the website. It is no longer traffic focused – it is quality content focused.
- Social Sharing – although this is not a direct impact on rankings it is a way to drive quality traffic to your website through engaging posts, video and images. The traffic coming to your site will show that your site deserves to have a high ranking because the users are responding and engaging with the social content posted. Creating the content is one thing – having users engage with it is another. That is where social platforms can come in very handy.
Costs for SEO can range from the basement SEO Kijiji guy for about $150-$250 a month all the way to large agencies for thousands a month. For a small business looking for long term results, you should budget between $500-$1000/month for SEO services. You should expect monthly reporting including Google Analytics, map uses, phone calls and top keywords you are ranking for on page 1. For a niche market you can expect to rank on page one within 3 months and for a competitive market, it could take 6 months or longer. SEO is now an integral part of small business and an investment that will work FOR you and brings with it long-term results.
It is not impossible for small businesses to rank online today! Actually, it’s the opposite as Google and other search engines shut down the black SEO market and ensure the user is successful in finding EXACTLY what they are looking for. Follow the 5 Tactics and see success in ranking and being found! If you need assistance to be sure to contact us on Facebook Messanger a for fast response. We would LOVE to help your small business like we have helped many other successfully rank on page 1 for their services.
