As a small business owner, understanding and utilizing search engine optimization in 2016 is probably going to be one of the most important things you do. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, if you plan on having any type of legitimate web presence, it’s going to start with the concept of accurate search potential.
And to get that potential moving in your favor, five tips for you include learning what SEO means specifically in 2016, understanding your primary audience, using social media wisely, learning why hashtags are important, and experimenting new social tech carefully.
Learn What SEO Means In 2016
The idea of search engine optimization is dynamic, flexible, and constantly changing. The techniques that may have been used in the past are not necessarily valuable anymore, which means that if you plan on being competitive in the present, you have to search for the techniques that will work in the present. Brush up on Google’s algorithms and keyword functions as a basis for your research, and then move on to more specific action items as you understand more.
Understand Your Audience
Audience is at the center of your business’s web presence success. And essentially, correct SEO is going to drive your specific audience to your specific site. If you don’t know who your audience is offhand, or if it’s too large (i.e. “everyone”) then you’re really going to struggle with how keywords, phrasing, advertising, and social metrics all work together in order to develop your brand.
Use Social Media Wisely
Especially for small businesses, social media presence is going to have a drastic effect on how well your brand does. And SEO for social media has a specific function as well. The right headlines, links, keywords, and even timing of posts is going to make a huge difference in how people react to you, search for your, find you, and then share you. Without a logical plan of attack, you’ll never get the social traction that you need.
Learn Why Hashtags Are Important
Hashtags initially came from Twitter, but since then they’ve been incorporate all across various social media platforms, and good use of trending topics, popular topics, and independently created topics can really move realtime traffic in the direction of your business if utilized properly.
Experiment With New Social Tech Carefully
New social technology is coming out all the time, from new platform to new apps and everything in between. As you’re working on your small business SEO, feel free to experiment with these new options, but exercise some caution. You don’t want to turn people off by testing things in a way that is either to amateurish or aggressive, so listen to feedback like that very closely.
