What Is SEO and Why Does it Matter to Small Business? The age of social media is taking over, and successful small business owners are getting younger. We used to be in our forties and fifties, but now the twenty-something’s whose computer use is a reflex instead of an exercise are leaving us behind. How do 40-something old-timers like me keep up, and keep our small businesses relevant and competitive in this digital world? It’s Time to Jump In The Internet is an unlimited source of free advertising. Knowing how to navigate the digital tide can take your business to the front page. Not of the newspaper, but of the page that pops up when someone types a question into a search bar. Anyone can learn to master the Internet. An advanced degree is not required, although it sometimes feels that way. Learning relatively simple writing tricks can save you thousands in web-based advertising. One of the things small business owners need to understand is SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. Huh? Let’s go though it a bit at a time. Search Engines The most-recognized search engine is Google. You’ve also heard of Bing. These are the places you go when you want to learn something on the web. When you type in, “Who wrote most of the Beatles’ songs?” into that little bar, the search engine goes to work. The trick to successful web marketing is having your business pop up when someone writes in a search engine bar. If you own Isla’s Ceviche, and your restaurant pops up when someone types in “Mexican food,” you’ve mastered the Internet. It is possible to pay for placement, as many of you know. When you search for something, there is usually a highlighted area at the top of the search page. Those businesses pay really big bucks for that spot. Most small businesses don’t have advertising budgets big enough to buy Internet real estate. But, you can get to the front page without paying a dime, by properly using Search Engine Optimization. Optimizing Search Engine Responses To optimize the impact your advertising has on search engines, you need to understand what the search engines are looking for. How do you do that? What, other than the name of your business, do you type into your search engine bar when looking for the services you provide? For me, that might be “Content writer,” or “web writer,” or “writer for internet San Diego”. The word “writer” comes up a lot in that list. So “writer” is a word I want to use several times when I’m writing something. Keywords are Vital The words customers consistently type into search bars when looking for your business are very important. Using these words repeatedly in your writing allows search engines to recognize your writing as relevant to the search. For example, I’ve used the word “writer” in this article 12 times. When someone types in “writer,” the search engine isn’t going to read every article available. It will pick articles based on how many times they use the same word, because those articles are likely to be about the subject the searcher is looking for. You need to have more than one keyword in every article to attract attention. A location is very helpful. If I type in “florist San Diego,” the search engine will look for articles matching all three of those words. If your floral design business is located near me, in San Diego, and you use the words San Diego in your articles, or Southern California, the search engine is more likely to consider us a match, because we have more than one thing in common. (Do you see what I did there?) Patience and Perseverance SEO takes time. You have to keep contributing to the mass of information that sits in the proverbial Cloud. You may not see results for several months. But keep at it, and you will see your business rise up the list, without paying a penny for placement. Who knew advertising could be free?
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 20:51:03 +0000
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