seo

SEO should be a major focus for your business right from the start.

Before you launch your website, way back to when you’re  working on your business plan, keep SEO in mind.

Why?

Advertising and other paid promotions can work wonders for gaining some quick recognition. But, the bang for your buck is fleeting. 

With SEO, you build a long-term, sustainable advantage. The effort you put into SEO, if done properly, will only appreciate over time. 

So, how do you get started? Let’s take a look at five ways you can make SEO a focus from the start for your business. 

Hire an SEO expert

As a new business owner, you’ve got a lot of responsibilities. While it’s tempting to keep a lot on your plate, it’s critical that you pinpoint your areas of expertise and pass all the other things off to the folks who know what they’re doing. 

SEO is a specialty that takes a lot of time and effort to learn. And it takes a lot of practice, skill, strategic direction, and creativity to become good at it. 

To ensure your hands are free to focus on the bigger picture, you can outsource to an SEO agency

Until your business is rolling along and you’re able to build up your marketing budgeting, you likely won’t have the money to hire a niche expert like an SEO. 

Run a gap analysis against your competitors. You can uncover tons of excellent insights that can help you start to move up in the rankings, with the ultimate goal of overtaking the competition. Top Minneapolis SEO companies regularly engage in this activity, and the fact that they do so is one of the primary indicators that demonstrates how crucial it is to keep an eye on your competitors.

So, trust the experts from outside your business to drop in and save the day. 

Focus on Building Links

Link building is still a key component of SEO success today and a major ranking factor. A solid link profile is a major signal to Google that you have a high-quality website. 

Without a ton of SEO knowledge, it’s tempting to pay for a pile of cheap backlinks. That, however, would be a mistake. 

If you’re going to buy your backlinks, make sure you do it the right way. Vary your anchor texts, make sure your links are only placed on high-quality relevant sites, and space out the timing of your links and the sites they appear on. 

A better way to build links is through relationships. Build collaborations with other website owners, and help one another build links. Do it naturally, and your profile will rise quickly. 

You can also conduct email outlook campaigns, pitch to replace broken links with your link, create amazing content that people just can’t help linking to, and so much more. 

Whatever approach you take, be sure to make link building a focus for your business. 

User experience is gaining momentum

While the impact of Google’s Core Web Vitals is still up for debate, it’s clear that Google is placing a stronger emphasis on user experience.

As such, be sure to optimize your site to create an amazing experience for your visitors. 

Start with site speed. Get set up with a solid hosting company. Don’t go cheap here. Cheap, slow hosting can hurt your Core Web Vitals. Hosting isn’t a place you should look to cut costs.

It’s also important to provide an excellent experience on your site to keep visitors around longer. Google (and other search engines) notice your site’s performance. 

If people are bailing out and running for the hills, search engines will take that as a bad sign. So, create a solid experience that keeps people hanging around and your sites rising. 

Content is still king

Creating amazing content is still absolutely critical to your SEO success. High-quality content that answers questions and solves problems works naturally to boost your SEO. 

So, get your team together and build a focused content strategy

Make sure that each piece of content you create has an objective. Often, that objective can simply be to help your brand become a trusted resource by helping your audience solve problems. 

The credibility that you will earn by doing this will ultimately lead to trust and respect. And this will lead to new business growth. 

Do your keyword research

It’s super important that you understand the keywords your audience members are searching for. And you need to look at more than just the top-level keywords. 

There are tons of great keywords to target, but many of them are very hard to rank for, as your competitors may already have the keyword market cornered. 

So, use a tool like Semrush or Ahrefs to uncover new keyword opportunities, including long-tail keywords, to help you grab some search for real estate, even in the most crowded spaces. 

Run a gap analysis against your competitors. You can uncover tons of excellent insights that can help you start to move up in the rankings, with the ultimate goal of overtaking the competition. 

The final word on SEO for your new business

I know, SEO can be a bit intimidating. But it’s absolutely worth it. And if you can’t do it in-house, hire someone to help you. 

Make SEO a priority from the start. In fact, add a section on your approach to SEO within your business plan. 

Focus on things like link building. Google looks at over 200 ranking factors when determining where your site will appear in search results. Link building is near the top of that list. 

Produce amazing content. But only produce amazing content with your audience’s needs in mind. Ask yourself, before you create any content, “will this actually help my target audience in some way?” 

This article is just scratching the surface of the many SEO techniques and tactics available to you to help you put your business on the map. 

Get started with SEO today. Otherwise, you’ll miss out on tons of opportunities to create an advantage over your competitors.