With all the competition for search results, getting your website to appear at the top of the search engines for common keywords is beyond the budgets of most small businesses. So how can you be found on the web? By targeting local search results and directories that provide services in your area.

In years past, everybody went to the Yellow Pages to find local businesses. Now, they often turn to one of the many web directories that provide a similar service on the web. Yelp has become very popular in recent years.Foursquare also exploded providing a level of local interactivity not seen before. Superpages, Yahoo Local and many more are also often used to find local businesses.

Many times your business is already listed on these sites. If not, to be listed usually costs nothing, or for a fee more information can be included. What value do you get from claiming the listing? There are variations in the services provided but here are some features:

1. Display accurate address, phone number email address and other contact information.
2. A link to your website. This is very helpful from an SEO standpoint as well.
3. Post images to make the listing more appealing to viewers.
4. A map view of your location
5. A review section where your customers can rate their experience with your business.
6. Ability to offer coupons and mention special offers.
7. List upcoming special events.

As an added bonus, these sites often perform very well with the search engines. So in addition to your website being listed in the search results, your listing from the directory site will also be displayed. So instead of one link to your small business in the search results, many will appear which makes it more likely the searcher will find good information about your business.

…instead of one link to your small business in the search results, many will come up making it more likely the searcher will find good information about your business.

The downside is that it can take a lot of time to set up and administer all these listings. If you want to change hours, or mention a special offer, you have to visit each one individually. At least that is, until now. We are piloting a program to allow updating your listing on many of these sites at once. If you would like to participate in this program at a reduced rate, please contact us today.

Picking a platform to build your small business website is like choosing a floor plan for a new house. A simple search turns up an overwhelming number of options, and whittling them down to one that meets your needs at an affordable price point is time consuming.

I hope this post will make that decision process a little easier. While there are other worthy platforms and methods, I have decided to specialize in WordPress because I feel it is the best option for most small business needs. There are many reasons, but here are 5 key ones that really stand out.

1) Huge support base

In the past month, the latest WordPress version has been downloaded over 5 million times. No other platform runs so many sites right now. While there are other worthy platforms available, the sheer volume of sites means there are lots of support resources. You will never have a problem finding someone who can help with a WordPress website, which is a great security blanket for non-technical small business owners.

2) Selection of themes and plugins

WordPress is certainly not just for blogging anymore. That changed a while ago and the number of new business themes and plugins being created demonstrate how well WordPress works for small business websites. The choices can be overwhelming though, and many may look nice, but be coded poorly. This can cause performance issues or expose security risks. I recommend Studiopress for that reason, but there are many other good options as well.

3) Great SEO support

Setting up a website with SEO can be a tedious process. The way WordPress is structured makes the job less stressful. There are still many things to consider, but often WordPress automatically does things that the search engines love. Once in the hands of an expert, the power is formidable.

4) Easy to update

Most small business owners simply want to make updates without involving others, which is one of the principles that WordPress is founded on. I have spent less than an hour with most clients and they have felt comfortable enough to take the controls from there.

Most small business owners simply want to make updates without involving others, which is one of the principles that WordPress is founded on.

5) Room to grow

Small businesses find it difficult to estimate how their web presence will progress. WordPress handles websites from small to quite large with aplomb. As your website needs grow you don’t want to worry if the platform you are using can handle it. This is not to say WordPress does not have limitations, but most small business websites will never run into them.

There are many other solid reasons and I would like to hear from others as to why WordPress has been good for them. If you are a small business owner looking a new website, or a redesign of an old one, why not contact us for a free quote and we can get you up and running sooner than you think.

Most small businesses now realize the value of ranking high in the search engines to drive traffic to their website. And there are many SEO companies out there capitalizing on that. They can promise, and deliver, a good ranking. However, are they really providing value?

The issue comes down to what keywords are being targeted. If you ask to be ranked for ‘underwater basket weaving in Muck City Alabama’, any SEO specialist will make that happen easily. The words may match your industry and location, so ranking for those terms seems like a good idea. Unfortunately, the return on this investment is usually next to nothing.

What must be remembered is that there is no value in ranking just for ranking’s sake. The purpose of a high search engine ranking is to drive potential customers to your website. This means we must determine what terms your potential customers are using to find your services, and then work at ranking well for them.

We do not have to guess how people are searching. Google in particular has tools available to help determine what terms people use to search and how often they do so. Even with these tools, however, it still takes some time and creativity to find the best combinations. This keyword discovery phase is critical though to any successful SEO endeavor.

Once armed with some good keyword combinations, then the SEO specialist can help your small business get traffic from people that are actually looking for your services. If you work with our small business SEO program, the first step we take is performing that keyword research so that a solid strategy is in place. Whether you use our services or not though, make sure whoever is helping with your SEO can tell you how often the terms they are targeting are searched.

The world of SEO has become a cluttered mess in recent years. Navigating these treacherous waters takes a strong will and, at times, a strong stomach. However, for your small business website to have a measure of success, a good SEO strategy is necessary. Here are a few key elements that any small business SEO services plan needs to include.

Keywords

Selecting good keywords is critical to any small business SEO plan. Thinking of how people search for your business is one thing, finding out how they actually do so is another. Once a good set of keywords is created, then the competition must be analyzed to see what efforts are needed to attain the desired results.

Set targets

Since SEO has a trial and error element to it, targets must be set and measured against to determine what is truly working. There are many tools out there to help see how much traffic your website is getting and how those visitors are finding you. As trends develop, react to them and build on the techniques that really are working.

Local focus

With so many websites, it can be difficult for a small business to stand out in the crowd. SEO costs to rank for common keywords is simply not attainable for most small business budgets. However, by focusing on local search SEO methods, often good results can be achieved without breaking the bank.

By focusing on local search SEO methods, often good results can be achieved without breaking the bank.

Links, links, and more links

They say content is king, which is true to a degree, but the web still runs on links. Links form the very foundation of the internet and without them, your small business will not get the traffic it needs. There are good and bad ways to get links, but all of them take time and effort. Whether you do it yourself, or get help with a campaign, high quality links are worth the investment.

SEO conscious

Like a healthy diet needs to be a way of life to be effective, SEO has to be part of everything your small business does on the web. Every social media connection, blog visited and article read has potential to improve your ranking and traffic. It becomes second nature after a while.

This list is not meant to be comprehensive, but does include key parts of SEO for small business. Here at WebPromotion.com, we partner with you to make your SEO efforts as effective as possible. Why not contact us today and let us help your small business be found on the web.