One of the most confusing areas of online marketing for small businesses is the three letter term SEO. If you own a brick and mortar retail location, you may be accustomed to folks visiting your store in order to sell you SEO services. So what is SEO exactly? More importantly, why is SEO important to the future of your business?
SEO is a three letter word that stands for Search Engine Optimization. Still confusing right? Put more simply, SEO means making sure that your website shows up when somebody searches for something related to your business.Example-Ā As an example, you may sell pet products. Therefore, your potential customer may be a person with a new puppy. Let’s say that a person in your area just brought home a new puppy from a breeder, lets call this person Sally. Sally, like many of today’s consumers, will most likely spend time onĀ her computer or smartphoneĀ researching information related to the care of her new puppy. SheĀ may be looking for grooming services, pet food, dog toys or even a specific brand of treat or toy for her new puppy. Statistically, it is most likely that Sally will choose to do this research on Google. The websites that come up when Sally searches for information on Google will be the websites of the businesses that are most likely to earn Sally’s business. SEO is the service of working to make sure that your website is the website that comes up for Sally when she is looking for pet related information and products, since, in this instance, you sell products for pets.
SpecificsĀ – A company that offers SEO services should be doing two basic types of work for your business. These two areas are technical and content. Let’s take a closer look-
- Technical– Basically, Google has to be built the right way. There are a number of factors that play into this but mainly, your website should not have broken links and it should be mobile friendly. It is important to provide yourself with a good base for your website by choosing a professional and experienced website developer to build your store’s website.
- Content-Ā Content means information. Your website needs to be a good source of information for consumers. Ideally, your website should have a product catalog and blog. These tend to be good indicators to Google that you carry products and that you’re also an expert in certain areas of information. The content piece of SEO should also be performed on a regular basis. This means updating your blog regularly with articles related to your business. It also means maintaining a quality and informational catalog.
For More Information read Moz’s articleĀ The Free Beginner’s Guide to SEO