Using Small Business Attributes to Increase Online Traffic

Starting a business either online or within a physical location feels daunting. Where will the first customer come from? How do you tell people outside of your friends on Facebook about a product and service? And of course, how on earth do you take your slice of the 1.2 trillion searches made through Google every year – particularly when around 16 to 20% of searches made on a daily basis have never been asked before.

Although it can seem like a daunting task, a few clear steps using free tools at your disposal, and you’ll soon be well on your way to competing online.

Building On Google Offerings

Google has a range of free tools for new businesses to use, and plenty of SEO agencies or consultants will be able to guide you through setting them up if JavaScript isn’t your thing!

Google Analytics and Google Search Console are the staple of any website and can be set up with a click of a few buttons, these will allow for knowledge and data on your website to be accessed by yourself at any point.

In particular, Google Search Console can help you audit mobile friendliness, indexing and visibility of a website. So over time you can see any changes in rankings and traffic taking effect.

With the two mentioned above, the biggest attraction is Google Business Pages – these are the listings which either show up under maps, to tell searchers services in their area for a particular search term.

This page includes open times, review systems, updates, location tracking and website integration and can immediately put your business at the top of search engine results in pages for relevant searches.

All Google Products, bar advertising budget on Adwords, are free to use – so definitely take advantage.

Ranking in Search

Outside of Google products, you’ll want to be ranking in search results for any given term – knowing what these terms are can also be free, but takes some research.

Use programmes such as Google Keyword Planner, Keyword Keg and Uber Suggest to begin to outline the types of words you want to rank for in relation to your business.

Identifying initial keywords can be done through building a strong keyword matrix.

Within a keyword matrix, on a spreadsheet, outline:

For example, this would create keywords such as:

Discount b2b software London

Affordable b2b software London

Discount b2b software

Affordable b2b software

B2b software subscription

Using a keyword matrix to build up a core keyword set is stage 1. Stage 2 would be to use the tools mentioned above to test for search volume and average cost per click in PPC.

Search volume gives you an idea of market demand, the average cost per click gives an idea of competition. New businesses need to find the balance between the two to rank effectively and see the online business grow.

Build an Effective Strategy

With the above research, it’s time to build an effective SEO strategy based on local exposure and market demand. Split campaigns based on keyword groups and how each will impact your business.

Use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to measure your presence and Google Business pages to increase exposure to new customers.  

For more information visit www.polarisagency.co.uk