If you're here, you likely are a small business owner who understands that Search Engine Optimization strategy is no longer an "optional" part of business operations. Let's talk about some activities that create an easy SEO strategy for small business owners.
"Just Google It" has become as reliable as a word-of-mouth recommendation (especially when you have a strong Customer Review section). In this day-and-age, you need a strong SEO strategy or else you are just paying to a have website that doesn't actually help you grow your business.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it is the process of optimizing your website's written content to be easily understood by search engine's and humans alike. There are on-page SEO activities and off-page SEO activities. Essentially, a good SEO strategy will put your website on the first page of Google results when someone types in a search that is relevant to your websites.
Can I do my own SEO?
Yes. With a little bit of strategizing, preparation and planning, you can do your own SEO. Is it going to be as effective as an agency managing your SEO for you? That will depend on how much time you can commit to your SEO work, it also will depend on how well you understand what you're doing and the implementation of your strategy!
But don't let that deter you. Whether you wind up implementing your SEO-strategy independently or hiring an agency, it's a great idea as a business owner to have a basic understanding of each SEO activity included on your DIY-SEO-Strategy from Fjord.
Easy SEO Strategy Steps for Small Business Owners
Every DIY-SEO-Strategy from Fjord is as unique as the business it was built for, but there are some overarching activities that can be completed by small business owners to help improve their SEO right away, this is something we call "low-hanging fruit" within the SEO industry.
The key to implementing this Simple SEO-Strategy for Small Business Owners is this: choose one page to focus on at a time. Our Simple SEO-Strategy for Small Business focuses exclusively on "on-page" SEO (plus two bonus actions at the very end!). Focusing on one page at a time seems like an easy-enough thing to do, but we've seen loads of people get overwhelmed by all of the pages of their website when they get into the backend and then give up or make a mess!
Focus on one page and use a notebook.
Strategy Idea 1: Keyword Research
Yes. This is seriously important step. And no, ChatGPT cannot tell you what keywords to focus on (it can help ideate, but that's another story). For the DIY-SEO Business Owner, we recommend Google Keyword Planner, it's free, it's easy-to-use, it's a great place to begin.
For the sake of this article, we're going to say that these two indicators are what you should pay attention to:
VOLUME (V)
KEYWORD DIFFICULTY (KD)
When you purchase a DIY-SEO-Strategy package from Fjord you'll receive your Keyword Research overview page that will identify your best opportunities and supporting keywords.
Anyone who has not purchased, you'll want to ensure that you are tracking the highest volume with the most accessible (lowest) keyword difficulty. But save all of the ones that are relevant to your list, build a list with supporting keywords and priority keywords alike.
Strategy Idea 2: Hero Section Optimization
First off, be sure to understand what the hero section of your website actually is, you can read up on that here.
The anatomy of an optimized hero-section is a bit predictable, there are exceptions, but lets assume that everyone here is not reinventing the wheel or doing any advanced design and SEO work.
We want people to immediately understand the WHO, WHAT and WHERE of what is going on within this website. We get approximately 3-seconds of someone's attention when they arrive on a website and then they make a decision. They either stay, scroll/click or bounce.
When we optimize this section we want to bring our understanding of our keywords into play.
Let's start with creating a main Title:
What is my target keyword for this page?
Does my target keyword for this page describe my service? (If no, maybe reconsider your target keyword)
How can I include this keyword into a Title for this page? (see photos for examples)
Pull out your notebook and write a few lines, draft different versions of the same thing until you find the one that works for you.
Now onto the subheading:
What are some supporting keywords that have high volume?
Am I targeting a specific location?
How can I create a statement that includes keywords (and location if necessary) out of those supportive keywords?
I am asking you, once again, to pull out your notebook and draft unique expressions of the same concept until you find one that you love / that fully represents your business.
Last, but certainly not least, creating a CTA:
Your CTA (call-to-action) in your hero section is the point of this all. This is what we're building, its all to create an environment where your user is inspired to click the CTA button. If you skip the button for aesthetic; well like you're totally entitled to do that, but I just don't agree with you and I think it's a bad idea.
Place a button or two, three is pushing it, four is too many.
A CTA is an art form. The color, the size, the hover interaction, the WORDS. It all is dancing together to create an inspiring moment for your user!
Ask yourself:
What is the action that I want people to do when they are on my website?
Once you know exactly WHAT you want them to do, then you know WHERE you are directing them with the button. Make it easy for people to navigate your site.
Strategy Idea 3: Meta Title Optimization
Okay, Strategy Idea 2 was kind of a doozy. But your Meta Title Optimization is super simple, now.
Remember the target keyword you chose in Strategy Idea 2? This is our priority keyword for the Meta Title Optimization process. You'll get to use your own discernment and judgement here, but ultimately, what we will want is something like this:
Meta Title Structure Examples:
Target Keyword | Business Name | Location
Target Keyword, Service/Industry, Business Name, Location
Target Keyword | Location | Business Name
Strategy Idea 4: Heading Optimization
This is the more technical part of the on-page SEO work that we are doing. The important part here is understanding which chunk of text is you H1, which one is your H2 and then H3, H4 and so on.
An H1 is your primary keyword focus. An H1 should be easy to identify in your hero section. For example, if you are a plumbing company, you'll want to understand what the highest volume keywords are for your focus (see section 1 of this article). There should be only ONE H1 on a page.
No exceptions. Just don't do it.
Your H2 is supporting keywords and even a location (city, region etc.). Try to have your H2 high in the page, within the hero section, and write it to include high volume keywords, as well!
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