SEO is imperative for all businesses in today's digital age, but it plays a vital role in helping startup businesses be found. Here's why you must keep SEO and content marketing at the top of your priority list and budget accordingly.
You may have paid a web developer to design the most beautiful, user-friendly website on the planet. But if nobody ever sees it, that money was wasted. Many web developers don't understand on-page SEO and don't include it as part of their website development packages.
Hiring an SEO expert to audit your website is the best move you can make on your journey to getting your company in front of those searching for what you do/sell on the internet. This expert will perform keyword research based on your industry and edit the headlines/text/URLs, metadata, alt text, and more to align with the keywords that potential customers are typing into web browsers.
Once the SEO expert has implemented this on-page SEO strategy on your website, your website will get crawled by Google and other search engines and will slowly start to work its way toward the front of organic search engine results. This effort comes with a cost, so include a website SEO audit in your SEO budget.
As a startup, you need to be found to get new customers.
Having a website optimized for SEO within your industry gives your company higher credibility than those companies lacking an internet presence.
If your company is easily found for terms relevant to your industry and is listed in multiples ways (for example, your website comes up in search, you have a Google My Business Profile, and your Facebook page appears in search), potential customers may see your company as more legit. They will have confidence that you know what you're doing and can help them achieve the goals they need to meet.
If a potential customer can't find any evidence of you online, they may think twice about hiring your company.
There are free SEO tools available at your fingertips. Take Google Analytics, for example. Be sure you install Google Analytics 4 on the back end of your website as soon as possible. It will start tracking activity to your website and activity on your website. Review these stats regularly; they will give you free SEO information you can use to better target your marketing efforts.
Google Analytics will tell you what keywords people used to reach your website and what pages are getting the most traffic. It will tell you what content is being well-received by potential customers and what is not. The keywords you get from Google Analytics can be used to better optimize future content on your website and can also be used to help set up advertising.
A large part of showing who you are as a company is showing how you solve your customers' pain points. But don't just focus strictly on discussing your products and services. Consider sharing customer testimonials, insider info, tips and tricks, informational blogs, and industry news.
A content marketing budget is essential to startups since great content assists with improving SEO, showcasing your industry expertise, and setting up authority and trust with potential customers. Budget for writers to create quality content and for an SEO professional to optimize that content.
By investing in helpful, shareable content that relates to your industry and what you do as a company to solve problems for your customers, you are creating engaging content that will keep people coming back for more.
Your content strategy can also help you build a following and an online community. By creating shareable-worthy, SEO-optimized content that showcases your industry expertise and helps solve customers' problems, you will build a following of those who truly value your content and will share it with others.
They will turn to you regularly as a thought leader and for assistance with issues they are having. You will build a community of people who can become champions for your business and brand. You will build customer loyalty through content marketing. This is why dedicating a significant amount to a content marketing budget is important.
Sharing your content will also help with your search engine rankings, as the more traffic your website gets, the better your website rankings. If others start placing links to your content in their blogs or on their website, these "backlinks" will also help increase your search engine rankings.
Marketing supports sales. SEO can help you get more leads/sales. As a startup, your initial sales usually come from referrals, which will only take you so far.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), as well as your ongoing content creation, is so important for setting up visibility and getting sales/leads from those searching online for the products or services you offer.
Ever heard the saying, "You have to spend money to make money"? That's what it comes down to with marketing. Without marketing, people won't know about your company and won't see the value you bring. And with startups, your SEO budget is where to begin!