One of the biggest challenges for small business owners is determining how best to utilize their limited resources, care and time must be taken when making big decisions. In terms of marketing, we are in a pivotal time for many companies. The advancement in technology has lead to many traditional marketing mediums such as TV, radio and print losing their reach with other options such as digital marketing taking their place. Digital marketing, unlike its predecessors, has a lot fewer barriers in terms of usage by companies. Small companies can begin to challenge bigger companies for a share of the customers wallet through the use of a number of digital marketing strategies. However, this is no guarantee it is important that companies have a keen understanding of these strategies so that they can be utilised effectively.

Some of these strategies include social media marketing, email marketing and search engine optimization (SEO). Out of these three SEO should be a primary marketing choice no matter what industry or size of the company. But for small business, it is recommended that they focus more of their efforts on Local SEO to get the most value and best results.

What is SEO?

When you think about the fact there-there are more than one billion websites online and more than ten times that amount of web pages, you can appreciate that organizing these pages and bringing the most relevant ones to someone searching for a specific topic is a daunting job. Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo have developed algorithms and other tools to do this job. When someone searches for a topic or phrase on the internet, it is done through a search engine, and the specific words in the search bar form the basis for retrieving relevant web pages.

The order of the web pages presented is determined by the search engine. Because those searching tend to look at the first three pages of a web search, companies are eager to have their pages appear high on a web search.

SEO is a technique that utilizes tools and strategies to assist a company in having their web pages appear high on an internet search. Appearing high on a search can create lots of traffic to a company’s website that can often translate into sales and greater recognition for that company.

To gain the greatest benefit from SEO a company must understand keywords and how to consistently create high quality content that both engages and motivates those visiting engage with that website more.

Local SEO

For small businesses, their focus should be on Local SEO. Local SEO prioritizes location in a search. Someone searching for a particular service will typically be looking for that service in their location so a search engine will bring up local businesses first. Companies that understand how to use Local SEO will utilize strategies and tools to help their local business be one of the first on a search.

Local SEO can send more motivated customers to a business and make the business look more successful to those searching. It can also help a company to gain an edge on the local competition.

Local SEO is more complicated and fast moving then typical SEO and this means that it is more important for a small business to engage a skilled and reputable digital marketing firm to help them create effective SEO strategy. When done correctly, Local SEO can greatly increase the amount of customers to a small business and improve their bottom line.