Startups, small businesses and those with bootstrapped budgets often find themselves asking if they can be successful with SEO on a small budget. The answer is simple: yes. You’ll have to invest time into learning about SEO and the latest practices. You’ll also have to be the decision maker when it comes to where to invest your budget. But, it can be done.
I still recommend getting a few quotes from smaller SEO agencies that can help. This may end up being the more financially sensible choice when it comes to the time you’ll save. If it turns out you can’t afford to outsource at all, there are a number of tools (many free or low cost) that will get the job done. As your business grows, you can gradually outsource some of your SEO needs.
Below I share a few ways you can be successful with SEO, even on the smallest budget.
Give Your Website a Facelift
If your website isn’t new, it probably needs some attention. Your website should have fresh, relevant content that is optimized with the proper keywords. You should also have high resolution visuals that were taken by a professional photographer. Stock photography has its place, but I don’t recommend it on websites. Also, make sure that each page has optimized titles, URLs, headings and content.
Use the Right SEO Tools
There are a number of tools that you can use to keep track of your SEO goals. Some of the most popular tools include SEMRush, Moz or Ahrefs. These tools do give you a lot of data to analyze, so be prepared to make sense of this information. A few simpler tools that I recommend are Yoast SEO and HubSpot.
Set Up Your Social Media Pages
There is a strong correlation between rankings and social media activity. You don’t need to be on every social channel, but you should be on a few. Ideally, these should be the channels where your audience spends the most time. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn tend to be great choices.
Google treats social media pages like other webpages. Its bots crawl the pages and adds them to its index. When setting up your pages, optimize your profile, upload high quality visuals, encourage customer ratings and publish content regularly.
Claim Your Local Business Listings
Another thing you can do on your own is claim your business listings. Your business is listed under many directories, but if you don’t claim them, they won’t help you rank. The more places your business is listed, the more Google knows that your business exists and provides accurate information.
Encourage Customer Reviews
Customer reviews are a local ranking factor. When you complete a sale with a customer, ask them to kindly rate you on Google, Facebook, etc. You can even offer a small incentive for doing so. When I purchased my home, my real estate agent offered a cup of coffee in the form of a $5 Starbucks gift card for leaving a review.
Publish Content to Your Blog
You won’t succeed at SEO without content. Eventually, you may want to hire a content writer, but for now, you can contribute content on your own. Blog on topics that your audience cares about. Aim for a variety of content so you can appeal to a wide range of people. Infographics are great for statistics and facts, podcasts work well when interviewing people and well-researched articles show customers you are an expert.
SEO can be done on a small budget, and it can be done well. When it comes time to outsource, give Magna Technology a call. We have affordable SEO pricing for small businesses and startups.
