How to Use SEO to Grow a Business (The Best Nashville Business Guide)
If you are a business owner in Nashville, Tennessee, then it’s time to start paying attention to your SEO strategy. Search engine optimization (or SEO) has been around for awhile, but only until recently has it become an essential part of every business’s online strategy. And, with more and more businesses using smart SEO to propel their business, it means that if you’re not actively improving your online visibility, then you are falling behind.
Occasionally, great SEO results just happen - call it beginner’s luck. But, almost always, SEO requires conscious planning and formalized systems. It’s just not as simple as it used to be!
So, if you’re a business or brand in Nashville wanting to improve your search rankings, increase your online visibility, and drive more traffic to your website, then re-thinking your SEO strategy is critical.
How Can Search Engine Optimization Help You and Your Business?
While there are other search engines out there, Google, not surprisingly, makes up the bulk of the searches. According to a 2017 report, Google searches made up 79% of all desktop search traffic. (The next runner up? Bing at a barely-there 7.27%.) And, of these nearly 80% of all searches worldwide, the majority of people (over half) only click on the first three results they see, not even bothering to scroll down to the bottom of the first page. But, if you do make it on the first page, there’s still hope. While more than half of people won’t scroll down, a whopping 95% of people will never (ever) get to page two.
Still not sure if SEO is worth the investment?
Here are a few (big) reasons why it’s essential for growing your company or brand…
1. 93% of all online experiences begin on search engines. That means that if you’re not ranking, it’s unlikely that people will ever even know you and your business exist. (Or, at the very least, you’ll miss out on loads of potential clients and sales, hindering your ability to grow or scale as fast as your competition.)
2. If you manage to get in the top position on page one, your website will receive 1/3 of all search traffic (compared to the 7th listing on page one which only gets 3.5% of traffic).
3. Google is constantly changing its algorithms, which means that even if you had a great SEO strategy in place last year (or even just a few months ago) there’s a good chance it’s already outdated.
4. Half of all Google searches are four words or longer, which, in SEO lingo, are considered “long-tail keywords.” The beauty of these types of keywords is that they are much easier to rank for. If you are a local Nashville business, then using this to your advantage can quickly give you an edge over your competition
5. SEO works. It is measurable. Unlike other types of advertising that eat away at even the biggest marketing budgets, growing your SEO will actually get you results. 82% of all marketers report that SEO is becoming even more effective than it was just a few years ago.
6. The investment is minimal when compared to traditional advertising. Choosing to focus on SEO is so effective these days that many successful companies are actually replacing all of their marketing with SEO tools.
How Does SEO Work?
Effective SEO strategies are a combination of several elements. Depending on how Google and other search engines perceive or understand your website, they will rank them from the ones they believe to be most relevant and valuable to the ones that seem to be the least important. The algorithms search engines use to rank the websites they crawl are constantly changing, which is why staying current with SEO trends is so important for businesses. By understanding the current algorithms being used, businesses can make adjustments to their websites so that they move up (or hold their position) in the rankings.
According to the most recent studies, the following are the most successful SEO strategies being used today:
Content Creation. Continually ranked the most effective SEO strategy, creating valuable content is key to moving up pages on search engines. Using keywords and ensuring that your content is actually answering questions is critical. The quantity of content is never as important as the quality. And, if you’re wondering how long your content should be, recent reports suggest that the “average first page result contains 1,890 words.” Having your content get shared is another way to drive your SEO results; numerous studies say that longer content (over 1,000 words) “consistently receives more shares and links” than shorter form content.
Keyword Research. Knowing what your ideal customers are searching for and then making sure you rank for those keywords has long been a pillar of formal SEO strategies - and that’s not changing anytime soon.
Social Media. Integrating social media accounts will boost your SEO, but you can’t just put up a profile and call it a day. Being active on social media (whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) helps your website become more relevant, which is something all search engines, especially Google, love.
Linking. Both external and internal linking are important factors in SEO. But, be warned, there are right ways to do this and ways that are more than just frowned upon. One of the simplest ways to effectively use linking to boost your SEO is to make sure you are linking keywords and keyword phrases, not just random words like, “Click Here!” Getting backlinks from other online sources is also essential, which means that you need to interact within communities, seeing how you can help other businesses so that they are likely to return the favor.
Yes, there are plenty of ways to trick search engines. But, as you can imagine, those type of results don’t last. While you might get an awesome result for a week or two, you’ll quickly get knocked off by websites and businesses that are actually doing great SEO - not just pretending. Search engines can smell value and authenticity. The best SEO always comes from businesses that are doing the work, walking the walk not just talking the talk, so to speak.
SEO That Works for Regular People
Given the popularity of SEO, there are plenty of companies to work with that promise to deliver “real results”. The problem with a lot of these marketing companies is that they never take the extra time to actually get to know their clients or their businesses. Instead, they get to work throwing spaghetti noodle after spaghetti noodle to the wall to see what sticks. Meanwhile, you’re standing in the kitchen just wanting someone to talk to about what’s actually going on with your business.
If you’re a Nashville business looking to improve your SEO, think twice before signing on with a large marketing firm. Working one-on-one with a smaller agency is a smarter, more effective way to get the results your business needs.
Want to get started?
Here’s what Tim Stodz Enterprises offers to our clients:
Monthly reports (in simple English)
Personal phone calls
Regular emails to keep you in the loop
Open communication
Full transparency
We get to know you and your business so that our SEO strategies align with your goals and vision.
Get in touch with us today to learn how we can help your Nashville-based business boom!