Affordable SEO Services
Affordable SEO Services for Small Businesses
Local SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is a process which when implemented can improve the visibility of a website on the search engines.
Is it essential? As an SEO professional with over 10 years of experience with an SEO Agency, I would not hesitate to say yes! Who wouldn’t want their search terms to be ranked on the top pages of Google…better rankings obviously means more traffic!
The question, we will try to answer in this article is are SEO services affordable for small businesses, and what services are included within small business SEO Packages.
Please feel free to read the entire article or jump to the area of most interest.
1. Why Should Small Businesses Invest in SEO?
SEO will certainly improve a website’s overall visibility and with this comes traffic but why are SEO services so important?
- Organic search is still the primary source of traffic for most businesses. It is said that the companies occupying the first 5 positions in Google receive 67.6% of all visitors for a given search term.
- A small business website with good SEO will provide a good user experience which means greater engagement and conversions.
- Good SEO provides Trust and credibility which is a Google ranking factor.
- SEO strategies are scalable and can be adapted to your budget and needs. Ask your SEO company for options.
2. What SEO Services Do Small Businesses Need?
This is difficult to answer, small business SEO or Local SEO will vary depending on the needs of the business, the time available to implement, if doing yourself, or the budget you have to invest with an SEO Agency.
Business websites come in different forms and compete in a variety of niches. The needs of a small local plumbing business will be different to that of blogging, e-commerce or affiliate sites.
3. Types of Affordable SEO Services for Small Businesses
Affordable SEO Services are generally tailored to the client’s needs and budgets. We would highly recommend that the starting point be a detailed on-page SEO audit to highlight and glaring deficiencies. If you are employing the services of an SEO Company then on-page optimization will be carried out in the first cycle of work but many of the tips below can be performed by the business owner.
The majority of SEO cost will be based around off-page services and here is where professional SEO specialists within established SEO agencies will have the edge.
A. On Page Technical SEO
SEO experts provide a plethora of advice on what technical SEO issues should be included. Below we list a few and make some recommendations on how to measure your on-page SEO efforts.
Set up Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools: Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools provide valuable insights into your site’s performance. These important tools allow you to view the search terms and keywords that users are finding your site on the SERPs.
- Set Up Google Analytics: Google Analytics allows you to monitor data relating to traffic and how the user behaves.
- Make Sure You are using HTTPS: There is no excuse for not using HTTPS encryption on your site. In 2014 Google announced that having a secure site is now part of their ranking factors. If you do not have a padlock you are not secure and could be losing traffic!
- Make sure your pages are indexed: You can use the Semrush site audit tool to ensure that your website can actually be crawled and indexed.
- On-Page SEO Plugins: If like most your site has been built using WordPress consider adding a plugin like Rank Math. This plugin has a number of components including the ability to link a sitemap and produce a Robot.txt file. Additional plugins to consider are those that assist with Image Compression & Caching.
- Check your site speed and responsiveness: GOOGLE’S CORE WEB VITALS UPDATE has now been added as a ranking factor. Slow sites with poor user experience will be adversely affected.
B. Off Page SEO - Build Backlinks & Authority
You have fixed all your On-Page technical SEO issues and have seen a small improvement in your rankings but your key web pages are still languishing in the depths of Google. You can certainly invest more time and effort in the next stage of your digital marketing strategy or should you seek out an affordable SEO service provider. What elements are included in most affordable SEO Services?
- Keyword Research: Without a detailed keyword research process, you are not going to rank for the right terms for your products or services. One of the quickest ways to get started with keyword research is to find the terms that are working for your competitors. There are many advantages of employing the services of SEO companies, experience and knowledge are obvious but they also have at their disposal access to premium keyword tools that can make them easier. These tools enable them to quickly identify those competitors who are competing in the same space as you are and how your visibility compares. Knowing what your main Money Key Words are, where they appear in search engine rankings, what the search volume is and how competitive they are will allow you to decide on your return on investment.
- Link Building: Link building is, without a doubt, the hardest thing to do for the layman and is a challenge for any SEO company. Everyone knows how to gain backlinks from social media platforms and directories but what link building strategy is best for you. Building white hat links while following Google’s Guidelines can be a pain. Get it wrong and you run the risk of getting penalised, not doing enough will hinder efforts to improve your website’s authority. Websites will gain backlinks naturally over time but what can you do if you need a boost.
It is important to note that not all links are equal.
Link building strategies employed by SEO professionals start with an audit of their client’s websites, how many referring domains do you have, what is the authority of the sites linking to you and how much link juice are you receiving. Small business SEO services will include an analysis of your competitors’ links. More often, those competitors that are ranking well in your niche provide an insight into what you may need.
Link building options:
- Outreach: Guest posts or contextual links can be obtained by offering content or access to content on another website. If you have written a good quality article you may be able to convince a 3rd party webmaster to post it on their site or provide a link from one of their blogs back to your site. You may have success offering content for free but be warned outreach is very time consuming and more often than not 3rd parties will charge for the privilege.
- Create High-Quality Content or Infographics: Your aim is to create great content that other bloggers or experts may wish to link to.
- Find Broken Links to Build Backlinks: Broken links are links on 3rd party sites that no longer exist or work. They may be caused by the source website removing those links or the destination website may have closed or moved. Use tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to uncover these links then contact the webmaster to offer a similar article that you have posted on your site. If they decide to accept your offer you have a valuable backlink.
- Write Testimonials: By writing testimonials on other websites, you can get a backlink for your site?
- Take part in Interviews: Just like a guest post, you can also get backlinks by participating in interviews.
- Do Podcasts or Participate in Forums.
- Blog Commenting: Many SEO experts consider this to be spammy but provided you have something valuable to add then is highly likely that the webmaster will appreciate your opinion.
Author Note* – Remember not all backlinks are equal, remember quality rather than quantity. Links from high authority domain will provide more link juice but this costs. Affordable SEO services may require a greater number of lower quality links to have the desired effect.
C. Rank Tracking For SEO Keywords
Measuring your SEO strategy is an essential element of any SEO campaign. Whether you work with an SEO specialist or not, it’s a good idea to monitor the SEO Services results on your own.
There are a few options available to the small business owner to effectively track your search engine ranking and results:
- Google Search Engines: Just open Google and type your target keyword. I would suggest doing this using Incognito mode, to get rid of personalised search results.
- Google Search Console: The Google Search Console (webmaster tools) is a free tool provided by Google which will monitor where you are receiving your traffic from and what search terms were used by your visitor to find your site. In addition, you will be able to see your terms average positions.
- SEO Rank Tracker: If you’re looking for something a little bit more advanced, go for a dedicated rank tracking tool. Our preferred premium software is AgencyAnalytics an All-In-One Reporting platform that will not only track your rankings but has a number of additional integrations to monitor PPC, Social media marketing, Email and local search.
D. Content Marketing For SEO
Content and SEO go hand-in-hand and should be a strategy for small businesses starting up or National established companies. When Google crawls your pages their algorithms will build up a picture of what your site is about. Good quality content provides you with an opportunity to build up credibility and expert status in your field.
One of the most important characteristics of successful content writing is the ability to create emotional engagement. When a user lands on your page they need a reason to read on and they will only do this if you are identifying a need.
Choosing the Right Content To Write:
When considering what to write consider the needs of your target audience and preferences. Do your research, what questions are being asked, what are your competitors writing about. Here are some tips to help you find what content you should be writing about:
- Use Google For your research: Type one of your target keywords into the search bar and Google will provide you with a few suggestions, based on relevance and search history. Now click on the news tab to see what your competitors are writing about.
- Google Alerts & Trends: These great tools will let you see what’s trending and provide some great ideas based on your user’s search queries.
- Premium Tools: A digital marketing agency that provides SEO Services will have access to tools like BuzzSumo, Ahrefs, Semrush & Ubersuggest. These tools provide quick access to ideas for your new content.
Types of Content:
- Blog Posts & Landing Pages: Not only are these essential for effective SEO they can increase your authority and act as a lead generator for your business.
- Case Studies: People are more likely to buy from you if they can see that other small business owners have benefited from your services.
- Product Content & Guides: On-site guides and demos show prospects what you do, how you do it and help them to imagine using your products.
- Testimonials: These have become less popular due to the potential lack of verification. Links to Google Online Reviews or TrustPilot seem to be more favoured.
- FAQ’s and Awards: Creating a standalone page to answer questions and support your awards and qualifications.
- More….the list is far-reaching and only limited by your imagination.
Author Note* – Content writing is not for everyone, SEO Companies offering affordable SEO services will provide the option to have your content written professionally
E. Local SEO
If you are looking for low-cost SEO Services you may assume that a local SEO marketing strategy would be much easier than one based on a more generic term. You would be right, it is far easier to rank for “Plumber Bedford” than for the single term “plumber” but remember the first page of Google generally provides 10 positions. If the town you are in has more than 10 companies in a particular niche the competition for the top places may still be high.
A small business wishing to avoid the expense of investing in extensive backlinks may look at the option to rank in the Local SEO Map Pack.
The Google “local pack” refers to the top 3 results in a local search. In a nutshell, Google Maps SEO Marketing is the process of using Google Maps’ functionality to make your business easier to find. Local SEO is often the main requirement for small businesses looking for affordable SEO Services. If you are a plumber you a likely to work in a defined geographical area so having your company visible locally may be all you need. Google Local Search Engine Optimization uses three metrics; Relevance, Proximity and Prominence
How can you improve your Local SEO Google Rankings?
- Claim your Google MyBusiness Profile: Setting up a GMB listing is easy and often can be done during the process of creating your other webmaster tools. Just make sure you use your keywords in the name and description to improve your local SEO. Try to gain 5* reviews they not only help conversions but show Google that you are respected.
- Social Media Accounts: Facebook pages can rank well if the content is of a high standard. Posting regularly can provide a welcome boost to your local SEO traffic.
- Citations: Citations are mentions of your business online, they provide backlinks and confirm your business NAP (name, address, phone). Good citations are certainly worth the investment, consider enrolling for your local Chamber of Commerce.
F. Video SEO
Video SEO is not the same as regular SEO and is certainly undergoing constant change. YouTube, as we all know, is owned by Google so it does provide factors that will improve your site’s authority. Here are our top tips to improve the visibility of your videos.
- Insert a Video Transcript: Having a transcript will make your video more able to scrape by search bots and provides an opportunity to include your keywords.
- Ensure your Thumbnail is Engaging: Your thumbnail is what the searcher will see first, therefore it plays a significant role in whether people click.
- Make Sure Your Title & Description is optimised: Again a good hook will improve your click-through rate.
- Where are you placing your video: If you choose to embed it within a page on your site make sure the page is relevant to the video content. Aim to place your videos at the top of pages, Google typically only indexes one video per page. Don’t embed the same video on multiple pages as you will be competing against yourself.
- Promote Your Video: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram provide options to upload videos, try to take advantage of all.
G. Ecommerce SEO
An Ecommerce Business looking for affordable SEO services can take advantage of ranking product pages that may fall into the long tail group. Ranking for “new shoes” will clearly be a challenge but if your products are listed less generically “new shoes with black laces” this may provide an opportunity. A few tips:
- Optimise Your Meta Titles, Descriptions, and H1’s: Most eCommerce sites use a templated approach to their meta tags, which usually follow a pattern. Rewrite by adding your primary keywords & Longtail. Try adding some action words like “buy”, “Click, “learn”.
- Optimise Your URLs: You want your URL slugs (permalinks) to be as clear and readable as possible.
- Write Unique Product & Category Descriptions: Avoid copying descriptions from your suppliers’ catalogues. Search engines hate duplicate content and will at best ignore your efforts if you are not unique.
- Add Schema Markup
- Fix Any Duplicate Content Issues: As above duplicate content is a killer so while writing different content for variations is undoubtedly a pain it will be worth it.
- Build Internal and External links To Your Product Pages: Your pages will benefit from internal links from similar product pages and external links will provide the authority juice.
Most people get Ecommerce SEO wrong. They focus on ranking for highly competitive high-volume terms. Go Long Tail as part of your SEO strategies and get the advantage and start by concentrating on your best seller pages.
4. How to Pick The Right SEO Company to Work With
Nettonic Ltd - A Trusted Affordable SEO Company
Nettonic is a Bedford based Website Design and Integrated Digital Marketing Company with over 10 years of experience. We have worked hard to build a reputation supporting local businesses looking to find Affordable SEO Services
We’ve positioned ourselves close to London, but not too far from any point in the UK where we can’t easily travel. We love meeting our clients and potential clients face-to-face and offer a firm handshake.
Nettonic is not just website builders, we are a marketing agency, specialising in digital marketing, by offering services for small business (s). Our aim is to forge a long-term relationship assisting in promoting your brand.
If you would like to talk to us about any of our affordable SEO Services Packages please do not hesitate to call for a Free Consultation 01234 261385