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Growing a small business is nothing short of exhausting work. But it can be rewarding, too. The challenge lies in identifying and pursuing the strategies that deliver a high return on value for your time, while offloading everything else so that you can focus your energy.
And when it comes to standing out and gaining visibility in both crowded niches and upstart industries, there’s nothing that moves the needle quite like a well developed and strategically implemented SEO plan. The only question is, do you know where to start?
Table of Contents
What is SEO?
Source: Backlinko
In the most basic sense, SEO – which stands for Search Engine Optimization – is the practice of making website pages more visible to search engines like Google in an effort to generate organic traffic (which is basically another word for free, passive traffic).
Google has a complex algorithm that it uses to rank websites, including hundreds of factors. Some of these factors are known – like keywords, site speed, and a variety of onsite technical elements – while others can only be speculated. Either way, SEO is about making Google happy.
And why does making Google happy matter?
Well, it’s all a numbers game. If you want to siphon visitors to your website, you need clicks. And if there’s a sure-fire way to get clicks, it’s to rise the SERP (search engine results page) rankings.
Consider the following findings from a technical study that analyzed click-through rate (CTR) data across 874k pages and 5.1 million search queries:
- The number one organic result for a Google search query has an average CTR of 31.7 percent.
- The number two, three, and four organic search results receive CTRs of 24.7 percent, 18.7 percent, and 13.6 percent, respectively.
- The number one result is 10-times more likely to receive a click compared to a link in the number 10 spot.
- On average, moving up a single spot in the search results increases CTR by 30.8 percent.
- Just 0.78 percent of Google users will click a link that appears on the second page.
In other words, SERP real estate is precious. And much like the real estate you can touch and feel, it’s all about location, location, location. Finding a way to get onto page one – and then climbing to the top of the page – is challenging but worthwhile. And proper SEO is the only way to do it.
Why Invest in SEO as a Small Business?
There are a variety of ways to drive traffic to your website. So you might be wondering, why do small businesses need to waste time and money on SEO? Can’t they just generate traffic in other ways?
The answer to that latter question is yes, but you probably don’t want to stop there. While it’s possible to get clicks and website visitors via paid search (like PPC ads), social media, email marketing, and other reputable sources and mediums, each of these methods takes work. And if you aren’t actively working on them, your traffic dries up.
To acquire website visitors via paid search, you have to pay per click and constantly optimize to ensure you’re paying a competitive rate. With social media, you need to post several times per week (if not per day) and engage with your audience – like, commenting, and sharing their posts. With email, you must constantly build your list and then nurture those subscribers with the right mix of content. (Too many emails and you make people feel like they’re being spammed. Too few emails and you don’t get any traffic.)
There’s nothing wrong with paid search, social, or email – we recommend including all three in your marketing mix – but they don’t hold a candle to SEO. Here’s why:
- SEO is more efficient. When compared to other options, SEO doesn’t require the constant hand-holding that typical marketing investments do. The work on the front end can be significant, but once you start to see results, they cascade it. And unlike paid search, which dries up the moment you stop footing the bill, SEO continues to deliver value.
- SEO is more effective. At the end of the day, when people want to find information on something, they aren’t opening up their email inbox or tapping the Facebook icon on their smartphones. They’re going to Google. Thus an investment in SEO is far more effective. You’re going where the people are and, when done properly, you’ll be rewarded for the hard work.
- SEO is more sustainable. As mentioned, paid search ceases to provide value after you stop paying. With social media, you’re always dependent on the latest trends and fads. (Notice how quickly popularity is transferred from one platform to another.) And with email, people can always opt out. With SEO, you enjoy a purely organic link placement that can help you generate traffic for years.
Now if you really want to amplify your results, you need to combine SEO with aforementioned tactics like paid search, social, and email marketing. In doing so, you’re able to implement a comprehensive strategy that leverages the right mix of organic and paid exposure. Over time, this will lead your business in a better direction.
Different Options for Getting Started With SEO
Source: Moz
As we mentioned all the way back at the beginning of this article, the challenge for small businesses lies in determining where to start with SEO. There are a variety of paths you can go, but not all of them are as cost-effective or rewarding as they should be.
With all of that being said, let’s explore the different options most small businesses have:
- DIY SEO. The first method is the DIY approach. With this strategy, you roll up your sleeves, learn the ins and outs of SEO, and tackle it yourself. The benefit of this approach is that you’re able to learn how SEO works from the ground up and you don’t have to pay someone else to do it for you. The obvious negative is that it sucks up so much of your valuable time.
- Freelance SEO. The second option is to hire a freelance SEO specialist. You can find them on freelance job marketplaces, LinkedIn, or anywhere else freelancers congregate and look for work. The benefit is that you get expertise on demand. The potential negative is that you have to weed through a bunch of options and take a risk handing your SEO off to someone who isn’t heavily vetted.
- Hired SEO. Want someone who is dedicated to your business? You can always hire an in-house SEO who will work on your business in a full time capacity. This is obviously a much more expensive option, but it provides a higher degree of accountability.
- SEO agency. The fourth option is to hire an SEO agency. This is definitely more costly than the first two options, but is generally considered a superior choice to hiring an in-house SEO. It offers many of the same benefits, but without the wasted costs and fairly limited resources that a full-time employee often brings.
All four of these options have their place. But when it comes to the average small business, there’s one choice that stands head and shoulders above the rest.
The Benefits of Working With an SEO Agency
An SEO agency is basically a company that offers specialized SEO services. The goal of an SEO agency is to help businesses, like yours, improve their online visibility so that they generate more traffic and grow the bottom line.
Benefits of working with an SEO agency include:
- Improves your website. An investment in comprehensive SEO will dramatically improve your website. From website copy and navigation to page loading speed and design, a good SEO agency will ensure everything is cohesive.
- Access to expertise. When you’re doing SEO on your own or working with a single SEO “specialist,” you have a limited knowledge base to pull from. With an agency, you have a team of experts who can combine their unique experiences and shared knowledge to produce cutting edge strategies that position your business in the best light.
- Provides strategy. It’s one thing to make a couple of tweaks to the backend of your website or start incorporating a few keywords into your blog posts, but if you want to reach and maintain high search rankings, you need a big-picture strategy. An SEO agency can provide that for you.
- Advanced analytics. If you’ve ever spent time in your Google Analytics account, you’ve probably found yourself overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data. You know there are gold nuggets in there, you just don’t know how to find them. A good SEO agency will take a deep dive into your data and pull out robust reports that analyze metrics like bounce rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and other key performance indicators.
- Saves time. Outsourcing SEO to an agency lets you focus on the tasks that you do best. It enables you to home in on your core competencies and offload the SEO portion of your marketing strategy to professionals that spend all of their time specializing in search.
You can see why so many small businesses turn to SEO agencies to get off the ground and running. When approached from the right perspective, it can yield a long list of benefits.
Potential Challenges of Working With an SEO Agency
Working with an SEO agency isn’t right for every small business. You have to approach the decision with the right context, otherwise you could end up doing your business more harm than good.
Here’s a look at some of the potential challenges and/or risks associated with hiring an SEO agency:
- Budgetary concerns. SEO agencies range in cost from very cheap to very expensive, but the cheaper you go, the more likely you are to run into quality problems—which could actually drop your rank instead of building it up. While not all small businesses have a problem with access to capital, it is a common plight, especially for startups. Marketing is important, but spending thousands of dollars a month on an SEO program isn’t exactly efficient when you don’t yet have a reliable revenue stream.
- Too early. There’s nothing wrong with building an SEO campaign from scratch—thousands of new startups do it every year. But if your business is so small that you don’t have any web presence to speak of, it may be too early to start working with an agency. It’s often better to get started on your own, gaining a bit of momentum, then enlisting the help of an agency for a little extra juice. When you’re new you may find yourselves in an uphill battle for several years. Some have referred to this as the Google sandbox, but it’s really a vesting and trust component of the algorithm.
- No in-house representative. Small businesses have limited personnel, so most aren’t able to hire or keep a dedicated SEO expert. Some aren’t even able to hire a dedicated marketing representative. This isn’t necessarily a pain point for hiring an agency—I’ve worked with several small businesses with no dedicated marketing representative who were able to use an SEO agency with great success. However, having a dedicated point of contact at the company who can help brainstorm, guide, and give feedback ensures a better overall experience.
These issues aren’t necessarily prevalent for every small business, but they are something to be aware of. The more you have them on your radar, the less likely it is that you’ll fall into a situation that’s detrimental to your larger business objectives.
5 Tips to Help You Choose the Right SEO Agency for Your Small Business
In most cases, hiring an SEO agency is the right move for a small business that wants to enjoy benefits like more visibility, better traffic numbers, and a more cohesive marketing strategy.
If you choose to go this route, you’ll need to be intentional with how you narrow down your options and select the right SEO agency. Here are some suggestions:
1. Know What You Don’t Want
The quickest way to narrow down a list of potential suitors is to get clear on what you don’t want. This means identifying the warning signs of bad SEO agencies and giving them the stiff arm.
As a general rule of thumb, be wary of SEO agencies that make promises and guarantees (other than money-back guarantees). If a company is promising to have you ranking number one on Google in 90 days or less, they’re full of it. Nobody can promise a number one ranking under any circumstances.
Source: Clutch
It’s also wise to think about your budget and cross off agencies that far exceed the price you’re able to pay. (There’s a case to be made for stretching your budget slightly to get the right fit, but if you’re having to 2X or 3X your budget, you’re searching the wrong aisles.)
2. Define Your Goals
An SEO agency can help you refine your objectives, but it’s wise to begin with a list that you’ve developed independently from them. This will help you filter out agencies that don’t align with your direction. It’ll also give you more information to use when vetting and interviewing potential fits.
3. Get References
It’s easy to get swept up in different online marketing and advertising campaigns. And unless you’re using some sort of private browser or tool to mask your online activity, you’re going to get hammered with Facebook and YouTube advertisements from hundreds of agencies. The only problem is that 75-80 percent of these agencies are full of it.
The best way to avoid entering into the wrong relationship is to start your search with a list of references from people you trust. In other words, don’t Google, “Who is the best SEO agency?” Instead, ask your network that question. You’ll get a variety of responses and you can then continue the vetting process with greater peace of mind.
4. Ask for Case Studies
Any SEO agency can make promises. You want to work with companies that already have results. While past results aren’t always indicative of future success, they certainly provide a strong starting point.
When interviewing agencies and whittling down your list, ask for case studies. A detailed case study with data, analytics, and supporting evidence will help you see if the agency is actually capable of getting the results they advertise.
5. Pay Attention to Communication
Finally, how is the agency’s communication? Do they respond to your emails right away? Do they pick up the phone? Are they transparent in how they answer questions?
An SEO agency’s communication will tell you how well they respect their clients and pay attention to the details. If there’s any friction here, it’s a sign of future troubles.
Partner With SEO.co
If you’re the owner or a marketer in a mid-sized business and you aren’t already using an agency to help you get the most out of your SEO link building program, consider enlisting the help of one. Working together, you can create a plan that works for your budget as well as your goals.
At SEO.co, we specialize in providing our clients with full-service small business SEO and enterprise SEO solutions that are laser-focused on driving organic visitors and growing revenue. We do this through comprehensive strategies that are centered around keyword-driven, long-form content, custom graphics and video, and SEO-friendly link building.
Want more information on how we can help you enhance your brand visibility and grow your business? Contact us today and we’d be happy to cast some vision for you.
Over the years he's written for publications like Entrepreneur, Marketing Land, Search Engine Journal, MarketingProfs and other highly respected online publications. Connect with Tim on Linkedin & Twitter.
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