The initial few weeks and months of a start-up business can be an exciting time for you and your new colleagues. It might be a collaboration between you and friends who have come up with a great idea, or you’re joining a team of like-minded individuals who all have the same goal.
There will be lots to think about in the first few days of operation – but is search engine optimization (SEO) on your to-do list? If not, then add it now, because it could be a great way to get business coming to your all-new brand. Here are four ways in which you can use SEO to help your start-up business.
1. Get to know your customer base
You will need to understand who your potential customers are. If you’re just starting out, though, you won’t have a lot of data about who they are, so any opportunity you have to increase your knowledge of them should be embraced.
When developing an SEO strategy, you will need to do research on keywords. Researching the search terms that your customers use will help you to build a profile of your average client.
2. More traffic will be directed to your website
Nearly everyone uses search engines, so you can be almost certain that your customers will be using certain search terms to look for your business. When you improve your site’s ranking in search engine results, then you’ll significantly increase the chances of getting more traffic.
Getting people to click on your site’s pages won’t necessarily mean that they will become your customers. However, once they’re on your website, you have the opportunity to convert them.
Tracking sales and customer enquiries – along with helping you to implement a great SEO strategy – can be set up with brands such as YEAH! Local. They will work with you to make sure you’re getting the most out of your site’s SEO, and suggest improvements to improve your search rankings further.
3. Build a blog for your content
One of the best ways of building SEO momentum is to have a blog for your company. This will be a long-term strategy that won’t immediately lead to customers coming to your website, however, having a thoughtful company blog will slowly build that momentum; something that’ll be beneficial to your start-up in its early years.
When setting up your blog, make sure you consider the following:
- Stay consistent with your content
- Make sure your content covers each topic thoroughly, and keeps your customers in mind, as well as your SEO goals
- Use some relevant keywords in each post
- Link to other pages on your site – especially product pages – as well as quality external sources
- Create compelling infographics that can be shared
4. Network to interact with others
You should make the time to interact with other users online, so that you can connect with them, and even cross-promote. For instance, you could set up social media profiles on sites that are relevant to your business. You can even write guest posts for other sites, which will include well-placed links to your own site. You may also connect with reporters and influencers with whom you can work.