Top 5 SEO Mistakes Small Business Owners Make
Dominating your local search result as a small business owner is quite easy — but if you don’t know the right steps to take, you’d probably get stuck for a long time.
Here’s the thing, SEO is not magic, and there are no secret recipes. If you want your business to rank high on search results, you’ve got to understand how SEO works.
By merely paying close attention to what’s working and what’s not, you’d quickly get the hang of it and customize your website in such a way that it would rank higher.
With high search ranking comes more business visibility, more traffic, and better conversion. Enough said. Here are the top five SEO mistakes you’re making as a small business owner.
1. Starting after the website is launched
If you begin considering SEO after the site is launched, then you’re going to lose in the SEO game.
Most times, business owners start planning their SEO after they’ve launched their website. And the aftermath of the strategy is always dreadful.
Here’s is why that strategy is a failed one…
First, SEO should be an integral part of your web design process. Therefore, if you focus on it after launching your site, then you’re probably going to revamp your entire website.
It’s a failed process where you’d end up decreasing the existing ranking of your newly designed site. When the ranking is gone, site traffic follows — and a decrease in the site traffic is not suitable for your business.
Even professional web developers would find it pretty challenging to align the SEO dots after the website is launched.
Most times, web developers do not consider all SEO factors as they build a new website. And if the site is launched, you won’t be able to retain the already existing SEO ranking.
To curb this issue, site owners should include SEO as an integral part of the web development strategy.
SEO should be considered right at the beginning.
Whether you’re redesigning or relaunching your website, you’ve got to put SEO right at the forefront.
The contents, site layouts, page content, information architecture, URL changes, and all other elements can have a massive impact on the SEO performance of your site after it’s launched.
If a professional SEO expert is not involved in the redesigning and development of your website, then you’d probably be in a big mess after the launch of your site.
2. Using SEO as a Short-term Business Strategy
Small business owners usually consider SEO as a short-term business strategy.
Typically, they would pump cash to develop their SEO strategy, and probably gain some good ranking during their website launch.
Over time, the ranking would decrease as they stop paying attention to their SEO.
Here’ the thing; SEO is a long-term marketing strategy.
It’s much different from paid marketing channels like Pay Per Click (PPC), radio, print media, and TV.
In SEO, you’re dealing with a much different bunch of rules. Google and other search engine platforms design the rules. And a professional SEO expert would offer specialized services to help you navigate through the changing search engine landscape.
For instance, I provide reliable SEO strategies for my clients. This way, I would be able to boost their search ranking, drive more traffic to the client’s website, and increase conversion.
By identifying that SEO is a long-term business strategy, you’d be able to generate much higher ROI over a long period.
However, if you want to make quick gains, then SEO is probably not the right marketing strategy for your business.
3. Neglecting Your Web contents
Content marketing is king. If you neglect your contents, then you’re shooting yourself on the foot. Also, churning out low-quality contents won’t get you far in the SEO universe.
To improve your search ranking, your web contents have to be of great value.
Why?
Because if you churn out poor contents, your visitors will bounce back from your site. And a high bounce rate is detrimental to your SEO strategy — it diminishes the trustworthiness of your website.
Therefore, to boost your SEO and establish your site as an authority site in your industry, you’ve got focus on quality contents that provides value to your visitors.
4. Allowing Your Web developers Handle Your SEO
Business owners tend to mix things up — they usually see web developers and SEO professionals as one entity.
Yes, a good web developer knows some SEO basics. But they’re much more different from professional SEO experts.
Web development and SEO are separate specialties. There are lots of variable in SEO that a web developer can’t handle.
Some web developers may be good at SEO, but they usually lack the tools, skills, and experience to handle a thorough SEO campaign.
If you want the best for your business, you should hire both a web developer (for web development projects) and SEO experts. The SEO expert would primarily help you launch a comprehensive SEO campaign which will, in turn, help you maintain a juicy spot in search ranking.
That’s not all…
Web developers may be useful, but if you want to take your SEO to a whole new level, then hiring a professional SEO expert would be your best shot.
A professional SEO expert would help you handle complicated things like SEO management and more bunch of things that a regular web developer can’t handle.
5. Not Tracking the SEO Performance
Good organic traffic, excellent web visibility, and conversions are great ways of knowing that your SEO techniques are working.
However, you can take a step further by tracking your SEO performance with the right tools.
A great place to start is by using Google Analytics. It’s one of the most underused marketing software for businesses.
Google Analytics is free digital software that lets you gain in-depth details on your web visitors. You get to monitor campaigns in real-time, and also compare the data with previous launches. This way, you’d be enabled to make informed business and marketing decisions. If you desire to boost your marketing campaigns, then Google analytics software is the right tool for you.
Another excellent tool for business owners is SEMrush. SEMrush helps you to track your overall visibility and web ranking.
By following the basic guideline of SEO, you should see significant improvement in your search ranking, web visibility, and overall conversion.
Conclusion — Grow Your Business With a Professional SEO Expert
By working with an SEO expert, you’d be instructed on ways of avoiding these dreaded SEO mistakes.
Here’s what you’d get by working with me…
You’d be offered professional SEO services that would help you launch a user-friendly and SEO-focused website. This way, your website would not just drive in massive traffic, but you’d be able to convert these visitors into loyal customers.
What’s more, you can outsource your SEO management to the right hands. By outsourcing your SEO to me, you’d be helped to launch a long-term SEO strategy, track your performance, and also improve your campaigns.
Contact me today, and let me grow your business the right way.
Akash Srivastava
I'm Akash Srivastava, an AI-powered Freelance SEO Expert & Website Designer. I help businesses and agencies with complete SEO & Web Design services. I regularly write about SEO & Web Design. I have been in this since 2011. I read books in my spare time. You can hire me for complete SEO & Web Design services. Contact me today!
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