The world’s market is becoming more and more digital these days, and if you don’t have your own rest top on the information superhighway, you’re missing out. But it’s not as easy as just throwing up a website and suddenly having visitors appear — you need to nudge people in the direction of your digital presence. That’s where the ancient and venerable (read: at least a few years old) art of small business SEO comes in.
Until just recently, small business SEO was a pretty simple thing: you build some backlinks to your website, research some good keywords that you can easily attach the name of your business’ neighborhood onto, and put those keywords all over your website. In the last several months, however, the game has changed a bit — the search engines have started paying close attention to where your backlinks come from, and it turns out that they really like backlinks from social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.
That’s the modern small business SEO is all about the social media — one link that comes from a positive review on Facebook or even a “Digg” or other social bookmarking reference means significantly more than the same link from a blog comment or a forum post somewhere.
But it’s easy for a business to fake a link or two from the social media sites — the search engines have a tolerance for 1 or 2 ‘planted’ links. They certainly can’t argue with a dozen or more backlinks to your site from a pile of different social media accounts. That’s why your business should give your employees every chance to say what they think about you on Twitter, on Facebook, on Pinterest — wherever they want to, really.
The best part about the social media world is the power of one positive opinion. All it takes is one person who likes your product or service enough to say so on his Friendfeed, and that can realistically turn into a dozen new customers. Encourage your clients to use social media in addition to whatever your SEO company is doing — just be sure you’ve some kind of incentive to offer them, and you’re golden.
43 thoughts on “Small Business SEO And The Power of A Positive Opinion”
Expand2web has been a prominent store providing solutions to start a small business and provides good service for SEO and word press and has been growing very rapidly.
I have a small business and a website now i want to market it through Internet. I have read little about SEO and PPC. I spoke to a few companies but they are charging beyond my capacity. Also i am not sure of their service. Can anyone suggest some good SEO consultant or affordable internet marketing company in India ( preferaly kolkata) ?
I have a small business. I have a website for that, i have spent good amount of money and time on that expecting some business leads from that, but i haven’t got any business leadsfrom my website. Can any one suggest what should i do to get some business leads from my website?
Hi all. I’m having my website rebuilt and my new web guy wants my Yahoo! Small Business login so he can edit the listing to coincide with his SEO work.
I want to give him my login and I made a new Yahoo! email account just for this, so he wont have access to my entire current Yahoo! account … if that makes sense. I don’t see where i can switch my Small Business account over to this new email address. Any ideas?
Thanks for any help! 🙂
I would like an open .com domain name, and the name easy to spell. I cannot for the life of me think of a good name. I was thinking eVision Design, or ReWired Design, but both are taken.
I have a business idea to set up an online marketing/SEO company in Melbourne. I wanted to get some feedback more along the technical side of things.
The idea is for me to do the business development and then outsource or contract the actual SEO to someone else. I’m trying to work out if the idea would work.
I know it differs between industries, but lets say I had $200-$300 AUD per month for a freelancer or contractor to look after the SEO for clients, what kind of measurable results could they expect to see?
Hi everyone,
I run a small advertising based internet business and we have had some great successes in the last year. However at this stage I’m beginning to worry that the business we have achieved is not sustainable and without increased efforts towards attracting repeat customers, the business will lose its footing.
What I am asking is what creative strategies would you suggest to encourage customers to return.
Thanks,
Ray
I have had my ebay store for the past 2 years. I managed to do all I could and still feel like I am seriously lacking huge traffic unlike most of my competitors. They can get hits of 125 the first day, while I am so ar behind.
I belong to various sites
Chictopia
myspace
Blogger
twitter
facebook
even goodle ads which actually does nothing for me.
I even tried expanding keywords.
Can someone let me know what I MIGHT not be doing or doing wrong?
Here is my website
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Chictree-Vintage__W0QQ_armrsZ1
here is my comps links if anyone cares to look
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/FUNKIN-JUNKIE__W0QQ_armrsZ1
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/MakiMaki-Vintage__W0QQ_armrsZ1
Hi there, I am setting up a new online business and need some advice on how to do the SEO. I used to look after a website with my old job and the agency I used charged us £1000 p/month for adwords but being a small business I won’t have that kind of budget. Thanks
Hi… I have recently started a small business website, where i provide answers to students assignments and homework help for low price. I’ve got google adwords $100 credit that i can use for advertizing and nothing else to spend on advertizing.. Is there any way i can get advertize it in better way for free for sometime.. if i get even 2-3 orders in start I know i can get more work as I really have best people working for me, but how do i start… say i wana target my service to US, should i start joining school college communites of those places or some better alternative is there. I really am confused and I cant afford SEO people or anything like that…please help, i already spent lot here and I just want a start.
I have a small business in Orange County and don’t have budget for both.
Please suggest me how can I choose affordable SEO Packages?
Would love to hear from companies that have used SEO’s and not the SEO’s themselves. My organic listings are pretty good… looking for someone to manage CPC marketing effort on multiple sites.
Need to claify… SEM
I run a service business in a given area. I want to add tags or some form of web reference that is less intrusive on the viewer side of my webpage but that will bring it up in the rankings for my small neighborhood outside a metropolis… example somewhere i dont live— xyz corp in Burbank or Glendale wants to improve his listings without competing with every corp in Los Angeles…
So is there a way to embed tags about the small town i want customers to find me from in the page?
I’m sooo not a web-guy, thanks in advance.
I’m trying to understand what term or search a small business owner would use to describe the benefits or their needs for SEO. Given that my don’t know to use the term SEO would they enter “get more leads” into a search engine?
Hi All,
Just looking for advice when it comes to a small business and how to advertise it. It’s computer and tutoring services.
Well I need to make a website about my dad. He is in the construction business and he needs to be advertised. So how do I make a website for him and how do I make it pop up on yahoo or google when someone searches for construction workers?
If you were able to attend an online seminar (webinar) to learn something new that would be beneficial to you and you business, what would the topic be?
Hi everyone, this is going to b a bit lenghthy so I request u al to kindly read with patience as I need a genuine advise. I live in Sydney now but moving to Hyderabad in 4 months. I have done BTech in IT n diploma in business management but i don like computers or their programming stuff anymore. Want to start some small business in india with a capital of 10-15 lakhs. As I wud be a “so-called” foreign return among the big family I have, I want to do something decent enough and also ongoing which I can take to a higher level if Its going fine.
Kindly suggest me few ideas.
Thank you
Please help me advertise on the web without spending all my profit
I’m a housewife and have no work experience. I want to start some business in South Delhi. Can u suggest what can i do?
I got 92% in MCA and everyone used to consider me as their biggest competitor. But my parents used to say that I shouldn’t do job out of my hometown. So that’s why I didn’t sit in my placements. Many companies came but I never gave any interview. Now everyone has got placed. I’m left alone. I got a job after 8 months with little salary. That too I had to leave because that company decided to close its department. Now I’m jobless again. I am sending my resume/cv to companies here but no one is responding. Every company requires an experienced person to work for them. Some companies are so small that I don’t want to work for them. Please guide me. Everyone is pressurizing me to do a job… but how should I do????? I’m 26 years old now. I have 5 months experience in SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and I made some dummy projects in ASP.NET
________________________
Help me, please, I need some guidance.
In other words, what can get my local small business to appear on page 1 of google when customers search “Contractors in Algonquin IL” or similar?
I was thinking to put $1-200 a month on googles ad program. Will that help a lot?
Any ideas on how to find quality seo companies for small businesses ? So on the lower budget end for seo -1-2,000 a month, etc. with ability to get natural results online.
Thanks
I have a very small start up home based business. I am looking for ways to market it online. I DO NOT WANT ANY SCAM IDEAS! I just want honest people who have their own business and are marketing it online. I am also looking for a free or just about free way to have a website that would be the name of my company (.com) any help out there. Legit answers only please
i need an idea to start a small business. I am not from a business family and not smart enough to come out a good idea, but i have to do a small business. I don’t might to start a small business. what i want is a business got an opportunity to grow and have reward after put in effort and hard work. Any idea? TQ.
I have a small business for which i want to design website pages for that so that i can do my business online also and also want to earn from google . I also want to know what is google adsense and SEO services ? can anybody tell me any good comapny whic can give me this service ?
I have an offer of some website designer for search engine optimization work on our small corporate website. Thing is i have not too much knowledge of seo websites. And he wants $950 for a site analysis i think that is too expensive Is there a inexpensive tool or seo software for small businesses you recommend, advice thanks heaps, any Tip much appreciated.
Garrett
@ Jenny
looks promising, thanks for your help
I worked on a website for a little while last year and got some great insights into SEO, search engine optimisation. I know a few tricks now and would love to learn more about this business. Please give me some tips on how to get started with a web business (a small one)
I have been sent a proposal by a company called National Positions. Their site is http://www.nationalpositions.com/index.html. Anyone have any feed back on this company or ideas on a better one? My site is an adult site http://store.lotionspotionsvibes.com.
I’m trying to rack my head around how a small local business like say a hairdresser or dentist will have SEO in the post Penguin environment. I mean, how relevant will content marketing going to be for your local dentist? I keep on hearing that after Penguin you have to have killer content that everyone what’s to share with everyone else to rank in SERPs. But I mean, what’s “killer content” for a local dentist and who goes around sharing their local dentist’s content anyway? How much social media engagement for a local dentist should you actually expect? Let’s say I’m going to get a root-canal, the last thing I can imagine myself doing is going on the dentists blog and liking or sharing their content.
It just doesn’t seem realistic for small local businesses or am I missing something?
I need SEO services for my small business. I was approached by Castlewave.com, anyone know if they are any good?
With a monthly budget of around £250 ($500). What would be best way to advertise business.
Any hints, tips
I’m going to be needing a small business website and i’ve heard it’s better to let Yahoo or Google host it to get better and quicker optimization and seen better. Also, I will be using a photo gallery (i’m a fishing guide) and what photo gallery is good to embed that picks up easily in the search engines. Right now I use Photobucket and it doesn’t optimize worth anything.
I have a small dress making business and few shops in different cities.
Recently I have developed my own webpage and blog to introduce my business to public.
But I have receiving very low traffic.
One of my friend suggest me for SEO.
But I have no idea about it.
What is SEO and how could I use it to promote my business, please help.
best answer will be rewarded.
Now days, many business owner or companies are using SMS software to do SMS marketing.
Will it help me to improve my business. If Yes, then which SMS Software is best to use.
Thanks.
I’m a sales manager for a local retail (clothing) store. I need to find ways to get my name out in the community.
What is a good way to sell SEO for small businesses like how would you indentify the best targets?
I have a small grooming shop in Moorpark, need it to come up when local residents search by zip code
My friends and are are doing a business like yardwork/painting/dog care/ Garage clean up/ Care washes + anything else anyone can think of. Right now we use Kijiji and I have posted a few flyers and we haven’t made much money yet maybe around $1000 altogether. How can I promote it?
EXTRA: I’ve been told by a business owner that I don’t need any licenses unless I make over $30,000 per year.
I am looking for the best SEO company for small business. I don’t want one of the major SEO companies that charge $100 dollars an hour or more. I’m looking for more of a small business like company that has already been in business but isn’t charging huge prices. Please don’t reply with “just google search it” or “heres a top ten list”. I’m looking for someone that has purchased services from the company they suggest and knows that they do good work.
A friend and I came up with an idea to start a small shop, online and if it did well maybe move it into a local shop. We’re 16 and have our parents full support and we’re both pretty responsible. I was wondering how much it would cost to start an online shop, it would sell clothing mostly and few other things. Also, what website builders would best suit this and any other hints and tips.
I have already started my own personal transportation company, however I want to go big.
My company is still very small. I have a few regular clients and receive a few calls each week for my services.
I got my company up off the ground but I am at a loss of where to go from here….
I want my company to grow as quickly as possible, and i would like to be able to grow my fleet of vehicles.
I know I need to promote my new business, and advertise as much as possible but I’m out of ideas.
Does anyone know any tips for business owners on how to expand quickly? Generate more cash flow? Places to promote for a personal transportation service?
BTW: Personal Transportation Service = Rides, chauffeur service, driver for hire, similar to taxi.