You may have heard about SEO before… and you know it has something to do with ‘keywords’, maybe…
But what is it exactly? And why does it matter to you, as a small business owner?
Look no further than this article. I’m here to help you break down the benefits of SEO, understand why it matters, and help you decide if it’s a good investment for your small business.
Ready? Let’s go!
What is SEO?
SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimization’ but that doesn’t tell us much!
Essentially, SEO is a way to manipulate how you show up in search engines, like Google.
So, for example – if you’re a hairdresser in Atlanta, Georgia – you probably want your salon to be the first website that pops up whenever someone googles ‘hairstylists atlanta’. With poor SEO, you’ll likely be near the bottom of results. But with excellent SEO, your website will pop up near the top of all the results and achieve a high ‘ranking’. Customers can see your website first, and consequently, book you first.
SEO increases your visibility online by placing your website as a top result for search queries that are relevant to you.
At Magnify, SEO is one of our core services, but we want to help you understand how it works a little better.
How Does SEO Work?
If you work with us to achieve your SEO goals, you don’t have to worry about the nitty-gritty details – we’ll take care of all this. But, if you want to understand a little more about how SEO works, read on.
Here’s what matters when it comes to SEO:
- Page speed matters. Make sure your site speed is fast. You’ll rank low in SEO if things take too long to load.
- Keywords matter. This is probably the most important part of SEO. You’ll need to incorporate meaningful keywords throughout your site that your target audience searches for online. There’s a lot more to say when it comes to keywords, but we’ll just leave it at that for the time being. The words you choose for your website matter though, and they matter a LOT!
- Backlinks matter. Ideally, your site is linked on other websites – which makes your site appear more credible. For example, if your website is linked to another website – let’s say you did a podcast and you’re featured on the podcast website – that appears to Google that your website is a helpful website.
- Meta descriptions matter. Meta descriptions are the mini blurbs that show up whenever you search for something online; They essentially describe the website. These matter! Always edit meta descriptions to incorporate keywords.
- Images matter. Naming image files is a great opportunity to incorporate additional keywords…consequently improving your authority.
- Blog posts matter. Adding blog posts with SEO keywords makes a huge difference. We recommend posting consistent blogs, with keywords, every month.
As you can tell, implementing SEO requires some deep knowledge and a detail-oriented approach. At Magnify we focus on the details so you can focus on your business! We are on a mission to help you be seen in the search engine algorithms!
What are the Benefits of SEO?
SEO essentially sets your business up for success online. Why?
SEO optimizes your website to get noticed online. It basically increases your organic traffic, so you have more visitors to your site.
And when you have more visitors to your site, you have more opportunities to increase your revenue, leads, brand awareness, subscribers, and anything else you’re promoting on your site.
In other words more traffic = more opportunities = more revenue.
As you can see, SEO is deeply impactful.
Who Should Invest in SEO?
If you are a business that sells products or services – SEO is not just a good fit for you, but it’s necessary to sustain your business in this modern world.
Everything is online now, and it’s important to maintain a competitive edge and continue to stand out. SEO can ensure you do just that.
If you want more organic traffic and more opportunities, you should invest in SEO.
SEO Best Practices
It’s really important to understand that although SEO is an extremely valuable marketing tool – it shouldn’t be your entire marketing strategy.
Think of SEO as a tool within your toolbelt – it’s just one tool, yet a tool that is extremely powerful and even essential!
You ideally want to pair SEO with a larger marketing strategy, a strategy that’s thoughtful, comprehensive and has several different tactics that are integrated.
For example, an ideal marketing and sales strategy would include several marketing tactics such as SEO, email automation, engaging social media content, an easy-to-navigate website with a positive user experience, discovery calls, and more.
Ready to Implement SEO?
Let’s make it happen!!
If you work with Magnify Consulting, here is what you can expect to receive:
- SEO Audit. We review your website and set up analytics to view your current traffic and define key metrics for success.
- Industry Keyword Research. An in-depth analysis of current trends and keywords that matter most to your business.
- Competitor Analysis. We determine how you stack up and what changes would be most beneficial to leading you to the top.
- Implementation. On-page SEO is performed by updating content, descriptions, and metadata based on our findings.
- Ongoing Analytics. SEO isn’t something you do once. We’ll stay on top of your performance and recommend changes to help maintain your position.
If you’re feeling ready to take the next step, book a free 20-minute discovery call to get started. I’m here to help talk you through the process and answer any questions you might have. Book your call here!
Want to learn more about the benefits of SEO? Read an interview with our SEO Specialist, Lily Rancatore, here!
