How serious is your commitment?
More often than not, most small business owners know very little about small business seo. Many believe the process can be accomplished in a few weeks. This is a misconception that is perpetuated by numerous “low rent” SEO service providers who are out to take any dollar they can get their hands on. Unfortunately, ranking for any search result for any significant period of time will take more than a few weeks worth of work.
For the local small business website, local SEO will take a minimum of 3 to 4 months of concentrated service as a good starting point. In very competitive industries, 6 to 12 months of service will be required. The time it takes depends on your competition and the number of search phrases you want to rank for. The websites that come up on Google’s first page for any search result are not there by accident. Those sites have optimized for that search and you can be assured that most will know your site should you make it to that first page. You should anticipate to need some continuous SEO maintenance to keep your page one listings.
What Is Required?
SEO for any of the major search engines today is a process of link building. On page SEO is a ingredient but a very small factor. It is the inbound links pointing to your website and the link text of those links that tell search engines what your website is about and what it should rank for.
We have all seen links that say “Click Here”. Although click here may be one of the best call to action phrases on a web page, it does not say anything about the page you will visit when you do click. A better link text might be “Chicago Plumber”. This link provides the visitor chance to visit the website and also tells the search engines that the site linked to is about a plumber in Chicago. Point enough of those links toward your website and soon search engines will begin to show your site in a search for “Chicago Plumber”.
Obviously the more competitive a search phrase is, the more links it will take. Also, needing to rank for more than one search phrase will add to the time and expense necessary but in the long run, the gains will greatly outweigh the time and cost.
What Are The Benefits?
The most evident benefit is the increased website traffic. Ranking for search phrases that your customers use to find goods and services they need means they are more likely to find your business and do business with you. People search online twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, so being listed in a search engine provides the opportunity to do business or advertise your business regardless of your real business hours.
More and more businesses are turning to search traffic for their main source of revenue and business growth. Telephone directory use is declining with many small local businesses due to the cost and the fact that a growing number of people now use search engines like they once did the old phone book. Local business SEO is a very affordable and very effective way to not only get new business but to also provide a way for your customers to find you in the future.
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009, 6:25 pm | 
General Interest | 
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