People are often quite confused as to what SEO is.  SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation.  SEO is the act of optimising a website so as to make it better found on search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. Of these search engines the most regularly used, by a long way, is Google.

Google has become a verb that we are all very familiar with. Google now processes over 40,000 search queries every second on average which translates to over 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide. There are a lot of businesses, particularly small businesses, that don’t take advantage of Google as a tool despite it being one of the most effective tools for most businesses.

As a business owner, questions you should ask yourself are:

• When was the last time you Googled your business?
• Did you come up when you Googled your business name?
• What about when you Googled your business category or keywords?

It is important to regularly check where you are ranking for your business name, your keywords, services or the products that you offer. If you aren’t ranking at all then you ought to do something about it. One of the best things about SEO is that you can easily monitor the effects. Companies who provide SEO services invariably incorporate monthly reports.

1. YOU MUST ACTUALLY HAVE A WEBSITE.

I know this sounds obvious but since starting my business, I have come across more than 10 businesses who are paying for SEO and do not even have a website. What do you think you are optimising? It blew my mind. They didn’t have anything to optimise so what did they think they were paying for. If you are paying for SEO or Adwords (Pay per click) then you MUST have a website. It’s comparable to paying rates without owning a house. It just doesn’t make sense.

Make sure that your website is functional and professional!

2. HAVE A GOAL IN MIND.

Before starting any kind of marketing campaign, whether it be a website, SEO, print-based advertising, radio advertising, anything in marketing must be created with an end goal in mind. What are you trying to achieve? What are you trying to promote and why? What service or product do you want people to know about? Pick 5 -10 key phrases that you want to push. USE THOSE keywords and phrases.

DO YOUR research and find out which ones are the most Googled and then consider which ones have the highest return, monetarily and in satisfaction. We all know that there are things that we love doing and then there are things that bring in high monetary return. There is nothing stopping you from marketing both.

3. USE YOUR WEBSITE

I can’t reiterate this enough. Once you have created your website, if you are not regularly updating it then you can not expect it to rank. This is really important. Creating a website is just the start of your online adventure. Regularly updating your website and creating new content relating specifically to your industry makes you more relevant as far as your customers and Google is concerned. If you don’t have the time to write content then pay a professional to do it. Share this content on whatever forms of social media you use and in email campaigns. ALWAYS link everything you do outside of your website back to your website.

Tweak your website regularly. Making slight changes to your website regularly shows Google that you are on there and making changes to be better found. DON’T hide keywords on your page. This technique is outdated. Keywords must be in titles, throughout your pages in sentences and in context. If you want to start an online income stream that can work for you 24 hours a day 7 days a week, working on your website is the best way to start.

To finish off I would like to explain why SEO is so important for Small Businesses.

SEO is really important for businesses of all sizes but particularly businesses who want to see growth. It increases the chances of being found online “organically.” It is a long term plan for businesses to create an online stream of income. Monitoring how many people have looked at your website each month via SEO reporting is one of the best ways to monitor, optimise and improve your website’s search rankings. 

One really important thing to note about SEO is that the algorithms and methods of optimisation change regularly. Google tries very hard to regulate rankings by appropriateness to consumers searches. It’s effectiveness and value as a search engine directly correlates to the appropriateness of the search results. Google wants to help its customers find what they are looking for. That is its purpose and is why Google is the most used search engine worldwide. The reality is if your business isn’t ranking on Google then getting found and gaining recognition will be much more difficult.

Thank you for taking the time. I hope this has helped you understand SEO basics.

At Seranda K. Designs, we offer a range of marketing services specialising in Web Design and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). We are an Australian owned and managed business based on the Central Coast of NSW and regularly travel between Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle. We offer face to face service which is generally what sets us apart from most web design, SEO and marketing businesses. If you are in need of our services please feel free to contact us.