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SEO or Search Engine Optimisation came as a boon to the people across the globe. Have you ever wondered why some search results are on the first page of Google and the rest appear on the following pages? It is because of the ranking of their websites. SEO aims to improve this ranking in the Google database and user interaction, so that your website comes up at the top.
Some people think that SEO is the combination of a complex algorithm and rocket science – if you have no clue whatsoever, then it may feel like that. But rest assured, SEO is as easy as beating an egg, nothing more. What’s more is that SEO has helped many businesses become successful and outrun their competitors in the process.
Let’s look at an example:
Platter was established in the year 2017 and in the beginning, it was quite challenging for the company to develop its Augmented Reality-based applications. Once it over came this challenge, another issue emerged, which was to build a digital presence for the business, where tough competition already existed. With proper management and a deployment of SEO tools, Platter was able to make its way through the competition. Founder of the company, Rupert Deans, saw the opportunity and took necessary steps to ensure the business’s success.
Do you think that simply cutting the price of the product in half is going to get you the audience you desire? Possibly, but you need SEO to help your business thrive and grow further. Here are some useful SEO techniques that every small business needs to take onboard.
Create Websites That Are User-Friendly
User-friendly websites are those websites that look clean and inviting, where users have no trouble navigating the site and don’t have to invest too much of their time browsing or searching for anything. To have a user-friendly website, you must make sure that the maximum load speed is 2-3 seconds. There also needs to be a proper call to action in various sections of your website, try to include them in places where you think the conversion rate will be optimal.
The content on your website should be relevant and engaging enough for your audience that keep them coming back. Image optimisation is another important step in making a website more user-friendly. Always try to add alt text in every image that’s present on your website.
Increase Your Followers
Every person who starts their own enterprise wants more and more people to come to their website. For a start-up that is nowhere to be seen until the 3rd or 4th page of Google results, this dream is quite distant.
With proper SEO, these startups can now come closer to attracting a larger following than before. A website that is optimised for the customers will obviously attract more visitors than your competition. When the client influx increases, your business grows without a hitch. This can be done if your business is highly active on the various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Moreover, if you also develop video content, then YouTube will be a great option for you to increase your business’s online presence and follower count. This will allow your followers to like and share your posts, which increases the organic reach of your business to more potential followers. Thus, online interaction with your followers is extremely important and beneficial for SEO.
With the help of proper SEO, you will only attract the people who are looking for what you are offering. For example, if you are selling motorcycle accessories, you wouldn’t want people looking for car products lurking around your website, would you? This will only increase the bounce rate and bring your website ranking down.
Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Word-of-mouth marketing is the primary source of small business and start-up growth. When your website has relevant information that is crafted especially for each person visiting your website, they are likely to stick around and are more likely to refer your website to a friend. Imagine this creating a chain reaction and before you know it, you will have cultivated a client base of thousands. This works especially well on social media. When people who have sampled your services and are fully satisfied with your work, they will most likely follow your page, like your posts, share, and even comment on them. This immensely increases your visibility to more potential customers or clients. When people see extremely positive reviews of a product or service, they are more likely to read more about it. Word-of-mouth is, thus, a way to increase your potential to quickly connect to as many as people as you can.
People have established a network of millions of clients with the use of referral marketing. Do you remember the name of every single company you are told about? You don’t, obviously. Hence, people search for the company with the help of the services they are offering. If you do your SEO properly, your website will be listed on the first page of the search results, potential customers will see and remember your business’s name, and you’ll be well on your way to securing new clients.
Build Brand Reputation
When you are a start-up, you cannot afford to wait 20 years to let your business sink into the market, hoping to separate yourself from the competition. It is not the 1990s – you need the support of SEO. You need people to be aware that you exist. That happens when your business gets listed on the first page of popular search engines like Google, Yahoo & Bing.
One way to do this is by influencing the reviews that a customer writes after trying out your services. You can ask them to contribute towards the reviews section by saying “Hi, we were glad to help you. We would be happy if you left us a review. It will take only 5 minutes!”.
The more people that visit your website, the more clients get converted and benefit from the services you are offering. When this happens, people automatically start trusting your service after seeing the positive reviews of hundreds of customers. This creates brand awareness and brand reputation.
Over the years, a greater accessibility to the internet has allowed businesses to take full advantage of SEO. By also utilising the power of an optimised website, SEO has quickly become the backbone of any successful start-up in the 21st century.
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