There are many things to manage when it comes to running your small business, and having a strong online presence is one of the most important factors in attracting target customers. A well-designed website that provides an easy-to-navigate user experience and keyword-based educational content will be rewarded by search engines like Google with positive page rankings that help customers find your company. The key to ensuring that your website and its content are found by your target audience is search engine optimization (SEO). The right SEO techniques will increase your website’s visibility in search results for words and phrases relevant to your business. The end result: quality website traffic that attracts and nurtures leads through a buyers journey of getting to know 1) how your products and services can help solve their problems, 2) why your company is a credible provider of these solutions, and 3) how to connect with a company representative to help one acquire your services.
There are many aspects to SEO, from the keywords used in your content to building quality links, but you don’t have to be overwhelmed. Here’s what you need to know to help boost your SEO and keep your small business ahead of the competition:
Keep it fresh.
A great website is one of the best ways to get customers interested in your products and services, but a website that hasn’t been updated in a few years may not put yours at the top of the search results. Updating your website is one of the best ways to get preferential treatment with search engines so that your website appears before the competition.
Be responsive.
Many people search for products on-the-go and a responsive website design (RWD) that reformats pages on any device including a desktop, tablet or smartphone has been established as the best way to create a positive mobile experience. Google favors this experience for mobile, especially for local searches.
Take advantage of free SEO tools
If you don’t know HTML coding, platforms such as WordPress make creating search engine optimized websites relatively easy. For a WordPress site, you can take advantage of free or premium Yoast SEO plugins that help you optimize your pages’ content, images titles, meta descriptions and more.
Research keywords
Tools like
Google AdWords will show you which keywords relative to your products and services are searched and how competitive (high search volume) they are. It’s important to create the majority of relevant educational content for your site that includes lower competitive key words, with a sprinkling of content surrounding higher competitive terms. In other words, you want to look for keywords that help your customers find you by competing on keywords where there are gaps in answers and solutions provided online.
Be strategic with keywords
Place your keywords throughout your website. Include one keyword in headlines or titles of articles and between one and four keywords in every 100 words of content. Strategically placing keywords will improve your placement in search engine results as this shows that your content is relevant. Also, as you develop your website’s content, be sure that your text provides correct information and is written in a natural and engaging way.
Leverage social media and local media
Mentions on social media platforms will help to drive traffic to your website, as well as improve your search rankings. Be sure posts link and tag to your website, and your contact information is consistent in all directories. For example, if your address is 123 Any Street, make sure it is included in all directories with the exact same description. Substituting Street for St., ST, or Drive will hurt your ranking. Also, reaching out to local press for inclusion in features and other articles will also help to drive customers to your website.
Lakeland Bank offers a full range of
business banking services including online services, business checking, savings and money market accounts, certificates of deposit, business loans, and cash management solutions. Our Customer Service Team can be reached at
866-224-1379.