SEO DIY guide for small scale start ups

Today, everyone with a website wants to get their site’s SEO done to rank on top of search engine results. And rightly so, given the competition and the market, if you can make a niche of your own, there are enough takers that can make your business grow nice and fat. But what about an entrepreneur starting up a new business on a shoestring budget (for most, that’s the case anyway!)? You cannot really expect him to be left with enough money to pay bills, let alone his SEO company. So, does SEO necessarily involve rocket science beyond the reach of non-techies? As a professional company with an impressive portfolio as a successful SEO consultant, I can safely state that with little time and help, there are steps you could take which can immensely boost your web presence, even when you are yet to hire a professional. There are some simple steps you can take to lift your website up from the zillionth rank, until you are in a position to hire someone for a more in depth and strategic plan. Let’s discuss what needs done and how.

SEO strategies revolve around what major search engines value, and there is no absolutely no harm in acknowledging Google as the search engine Guru. So, it is important to first know what these search engines, precisely Google, want to be able to rate a website. In other words, what elements of a website imply a better rank and what components are necessary to improve a website quality from the SEO perspective.

You have a website, means in all likelihood; you have got it made by a professional. Ask for the image and hyperlinks on website to be optimized, and create search engine friendly URLs. To throw a little more light on the latter, there are internal URLs which quite often don’t mean a thing. Instead ask for the developer give proper names to the links that search engines may be able to read, including relevant keywords. Also, an HTML sitemap is very convenient for search engines to know exactly how your website is designed and the navigation in between pages. Also, check the load time for your web pages. A website that takes minutes to load is not just bad, your visitors are just not going to wait! These are basic on-page clean ups that forms the basis of your SEO strategy. These do not cost you extra money.

Now, in terms of a SEO plan, the most important point today is the focus on fresh and original content. So, in relation to your website, no matter what you deal with- be it cars, spare parts, blinds, cleaning service or fresh flowers, understanding that you have a fair amount of knowledge in your domain who single handedly manages the business, you will be the best person to introduce fresh text to your website from time to time. A relevant question could be, how often can one post fresh content?  Researches show that a content update once a week is a healthy practice. So there you go! Even if you cannot write them yourself, instead of hiring a team to do your website SEO, hire someone to write professional and original content for your site once a week. This single step can bring you results that will impress you a great deal.

When you next log in to your social networking community sites, remember to link your website and post regular comments and updates about how your new business is operating. Creating back-links to your website from Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn etc. will not only provide more visibility to your website and thereby your business, but also technically you will end up creating back-links from high ranking sites. Social networking sites have a pool of information that you can utilize to present your business to your target audience. Custom search on sites like Facebook to screen people with certain interests and hobbies, who you think fall into your audience category. You will spend very little but will playfully reach out to millions of people connected to these communities and at least get known.

While you may not be qualified to do half of what an SEO expert can do to your business technically, you can still do your bit which can bring about a marked difference. Sign up with Google webmaster (Google Analytics is not everyone’s cup of tea and despite video tutorials; one will need a fair knowledge to decipher how to make bets use of it). Learn to see how your site is behaving on Webmaster. It is a very handy tool for even laymen. You will know the keywords against which your website appears on search engines, as well as how it ranks against each keyword. You will also be able to view what progress you are making with your regular content updates and social networking updates.

These are just a few basic steps which can only help you provide a bit of visibility to your business, but in no way can arm you to fight your competitors. If you fall behind and remain unnoticed, your target audience will move on with companies who have made an attempt to reach out to them. So these steps cannot be a replacement to your SEO consultant’s services, as you will know what difference it can make only when you avail the service. However, till the time you are on your own, the steps above will ensure you still are visible on the World Wide Web.