With the increasing amount of competition and the saturation of advertising in the United States, it’s getting more and more difficult for small businesses to make a splash. Oftentimes, this is because these companies don’t quite get how they can stand out against their closest competitors. Where TV, radio, and even yellow page ads may have dominated in the past, today it’s all about inbound marketing and online searches, meaning that search engine optimization, or SEO, is vital for these businesses.
What should businesses look for when choosing SEO consultants? Here are three must-haves that should be on every business’s list of quality SEO services for small business.
- Reporting on Rankings: One of the hallmarks of search engine optimization is the importance placed on keyword search rankings on search engines. This is especially important in terms of rankings on Google, which has about 65 to 70% of the market share in search engines. For example, a pizza parlor will want to rank high for a search query on pizza, along with the name of their town or city. However, SEO consultants don’t just stop at creating search engine optimization strategies that will get a business to page one of a search. An SEO company should also provide quality SEO reporting tools, so businesses are able to monitor their rankings easily without having to do any of the work themselves.
- Content and Email Marketing: SEO is no longer about simply placing links all over the internet. Content is king, so they say, and a solid SEO campaign can help boost a small business’s rankings. Quality SEO consultants are enthusiastic about creating an SEO branding strategy for clients of all sizes, so those businesses can make the most of their marketing budgets and see real results. This can include anything from writing blog posts and making infographics to designing comprehensive white papers, apps, and other information designed to draw in a business’s target demographic. SEO companies might also employ strategies like email marketing in order to provide maximum reach and engagement with customers.
- Website Design and Mobile Optimization: It’s not enough these days to simply design a website for use on a desktop or laptop computer. Today, more than half of all local searches take place on mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets. Companies that want to get to page one in search results, which 75% of search users never look past, need to make sure that they cater to mobile users, as well. Well-optimized mobile websites should have pertinent contact information as well as easy to use dropdown menus and clickable text, and they shouldn’t force users to pinch, squeeze, and zoom in order to read the content.
Which three SEO services does your company look for? Tell us what your business needs in the comments.
