The Ideal SEO Strategy for Small Local Businesses: Focus On Content

“Isn’t my website too small for SEO?”

“I have very little traffic to my site to begin with, should I even spend time and money on SEO?”

Many local businesses with small websites have posed these questions to me through the years.

The short answer is: YES… especially if no one visits your site.

Why?

The whole point of SEO is to make your website more visible. And if your site isn’t optimized for search engines, your visibility isn’t increasing. It’s the difference between having two or three visitors to your site per month versus getting dozens of leads who contact your business every month.

Although it will take some time, committing to an ongoing SEO effort builds a foundation that lasts for years to come. I still get tons of leads from content I created 5-years ago.

Notice the word that was bolded in the previous sentence. This is the bigger part of the answer to the question of whether you should focus on SEO for a small website:

Focus on creating CONTENT. Valuable content at that.

Local Business Content Strategy

In today’s rapidly growing age of technology and information on-demand, creating content plays a vital role in the marketing plan for any business. It’s one of the first things I suggest to all Long Island small businesses that want to increase their visibility online.

And the best way to do that is to create a blog.

Why?

Because blogging is essential to SEO. When you slowly create blog pages, you add more links to your site, and your company’s main site will eventually acquire more links to it. And back-linking is still one of the most important overall SEO ranking factor.

So, as your blog’s search engine rankings increase, so do the rankings of your website.

Get clear on the purpose of your blog

Before you start creating blog posts for your business, you must understand what the purpose behind each and every blog post is.

A blog post can:

• Answer common questions from your customers
• Describe yours products or services.
• Give a “how to” on a specific process
• Show “behind the scenes” at your company
• Discuss an event at your business or in your community
• Entertain your customers and followers

Write with a purpose to provide value to your customer base while at the same time linking it to a business goal. With that being said, it is important to keep in mind the below points when creating blog content for your website.

Add Value

When crafting your content, just don’t write about your products and services. People want value.

• Write posts that help and benefit your reader in some way. Aim to become a trusted source in your local area.
• Your content should be about the problems and needs of your audience and not how great you and your business are.
• Avoid writing a bunch of sales pitches. No one wants to read that. Instead, be conversational and authentic. Add personality.

In other words, if you write something memorable, people will come back for more. Every time you write a new post, ask yourself: Am I providing value?

Tips for creating blog posts for local businesses:

• Your company blog should have a name and a face. People don’t connect with a faceless, nameless persona hidden behind a screen.
• Include the city, town, or neighborhood where your business is located wherever you can in your blog posts.
• Try including neighboring towns and cities and unofficial terms that locals may use when appropriate.
• Always include images, and if possible, add a video to your posts.
• Create posts on local events, news, and happenings.
• Team up with other local businesses in your area by creating content that will be useful to both of your customer bases.
• Always include a signup form to your email list at the end of each post.
• Post often—at least once a week. A blog that is rarely updated is next to useless.

Take small steps

Blogging for your business doesn’t have to be overwhelming, difficult, or take a long time. Like any other important task to grow your business, you must commit to doing it consistently.

Do you have a blog for your business? Do you want to start one?

Let me know in our Facebook group. And if you need some help or want to pick my brain on how to get started, let’s jump on a call, and I’ll map out a plan for your business.