Profitable SEO Tips for Small Business Bloggers

Small businesses wanting to make any real waves in the business world have to take their enterprises online in today’s society. There’s no way around it—with the web playing such a prominent role in our everyday lives, any and all businesses need to be represented online in some way or another. For some this may mean, merely having a business Facebook page or Twitter account, but for those looking to become truly successful it means taking things further. Building a blog to support and represent your small business is one of the smartest moves small business owners can make. When it comes to making a larger profit (the end goal of most business practices), finding a larger customer base is key.

Of course, simply slapping together a wordpress page with your company name and motives on it isn’t going to cut it. You have to put some educated effort into your business blog in order for it to be a smart move financially. SEO has long been the name of the game in profit-hunting web efforts. As a small business owner new to the world of webmastering, consider these essential SEO tips for your small business blog.

Content—Always
In order to create a website that new customers and consumers will actually find, you have to create content that makes it interesting and ranks it well with search engine queries. The old (and apt) saying in blogging is “content is king”—and this is true. You have to think about the content you put on your website. If you want to rank strongly on Google, you need to create content that provides something useful to your customers, pertains to your business, and is completely original. Find a way to create content that is original and useful. You want articles and information on topics that relate to your business and will interest your audience/customer base. Don’t fill your webpage with worthless information that doesn’t necessarily relate to your overarching service. This may seem fairly obvious, but with the influx of SEO, many websites have lost their focus. Try to find new and unique ways to provide your readers and customers with information that can help them.

Be Real
The best way to go about basic SEO is writing your content first and then optimizing later. Don’t write with specific keywords or phrases in mind. For the most part, if you are writing the write kind of content, the keywords and key phrases should already be used in your content. That being said, you should try to optimize articles and content some after you write them. Think about the length of your articles, the length of your paragraphs, and the titles and headings you use. Think about pictures and images that can make your article more readable. Once that is done, make sure that your article is real. A big problem with profit-seeking blogs is that they can sound robotic and fake. Readers—your customers or potential customers—want to believe that you are a real person, so you should be sure you sound like one. Show some personality in your posts. Speaking casually, but remaining friendly and professional is the best bet. The goal is to convince readers that you are an expert on your topic and a reliable and likeable person to work with or buy from.

Think Social Media
Now, while maintaining a small business blog is essential, that doesn’t mean you should forget about social media altogether. Social media is very important to the success of your blog as well. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are some of the best ways to reach a wider audience with your marketing efforts. Tweet and post your latest blog entries so that more people have a chance of seeing it throughout the web. As a small business owner, you want to be sure to connect with your customer base directly—that’s one of the advantages of small businesses over large companies. Use social media to connect more directly with your customers and to round in more potential customers. It is through your online reputation and visibility that you will gain many of your customers and supporters in today’s society. The key to really gaining in profit and becoming a more successful company both business-wise and financially is gaining a wider audience.

Eliza Morgan is a full time freelance writer and blogger in the Houston area. She specializes in writing about credit related topics and offers advice for taking out a business credit card to her readers. When not writing, Eliza fanaticizes about living abroad and traveling the world. You can contact her with questions or comments at elizamorgan856@gmail.com.