Hi, I’m Hicham! I’m a
front-end web developer specializing in WordPress.& Seo Link Building..
Before I started freelancing, I worked as a full-time developer for a marketing
and web design company with hundreds of clients. This gave me experience
building and maintaining a wide variety of websites, ranging from personal
blogs to online stores to large corporate sites.
Affordable SEO Services for Your Small Business
On-page SEO
On-page SEO involves optimizing the content on a company webpage to gain a higher ranking and more traffic. We typically start with a comprehensive Site Audit to evaluate any problem areas on your website. Sometimes, these factors are the very things holding you back from ranking well.
Also, give it a title or a name, consisting of keywordHere are some of the factors involved in on-page SEO are discussed below:
URL Optimization
Make sure you optimize your webpage URL correctly. It allows the search engines to recognize your page; therefore, keep it concise and relevant.
Every page of the website must have a well-formatted URL. Also, the URL must contain at least one related keyword. And use complete words in the lower case.
Title Tags and Formatting
Take care of the formatting of your text on the web pages. It would be wrong to think that Google’s advanced algorithms can read unformatted text perfectly. Be sure to use relevant title tags for your website pages.
It is helpful for Google to identify the intent of the web pages and rank them better. Each page must consist of only one H1 tag, which will be the title of the post.
You may use H2-H7 title tags for creating subheadings throughout the post. If possible, include at least one keyword in all of your HTML tags. Good keyword research is essential to get the best results.
Also, use one keyword after every 150-300 words in the body text. However, make sure that the use of keywords appears as natural as possible. If the use of keywords looks forced, it might compromise the quality of your content.
The design and structure of your web pages should look appealing to visitors. The graphics of your website must keep your visitors engaged.
Images and Alt Tags
Inserting images on your web pages is beneficial for SEO. It engages readers more and may keep them on your website a little longer. The images you choose should be in JPEG or PNG format.s. Make sure the size of the image file is small and every image has an alt tag. An alt tag allows the browser to display the alt text if the image is not visible to the reader or while using a screen reader.
So, bear in mind these factors when optimizing images for your web pages.
Internal and External links
Including links to your website is a great way of getting ranked on google. Every web page on your website must include some external links and internal links that direct your users to external websites and your website’s other web pages.
Be sure to link your page to an authentic source, containing related content. For instance, it is better to link to a top ranked informational site instead of a casual blog.
Internal links from your top website pages are crucial for you to direct your readers to other relevant sources. You may want your users to read something else once they have completed reading your content. Internal linking also helps Google index content on your site. So, insert internal links to your website content and direct them to other pages.
Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO involves online marketing strategies that you implement on platforms other than your website. It helps you attract potential customers to your site and develops trust with them. Below are factors involved in off-page optimization:
Link Building
An effective link-building strategy holds great significance in getting you ranked higher on google. Here is what you should do for link building:
Analyze Your Competitor Backlinks
Analyzing your competitor’s strategies will help you keep ahead of the competition. Smart keyword research will help you understand what your competitors are doing that led them to rank higher on SERP. It will greatly help you to improvise your SEO strategies.
Some tools provide you information on what backlinks your counterparts use to rank higher.
In addition, the Unnatural Link detection tool assists you in filtering out bad links and picking the best ones. Such tools can also help you to compare your position with your competitors.
Blog Commenting
Businesses have been using this method for a long while now. If done right, blog commenting works in favor of your business.
To get it right, you must search blogs and websites that have content related to your product/service. Engage with them and talk about your brand to get potential customers on your webpage.
Try to develop connections with other webpages or bloggers in the same niche. As you build a connection with them, they may end up promoting your website in the long run. So, make sure you use the method of blog commenting correctly to grow your business.
Guest Posting
Blog commenting on relevant bogs may develop your trust with a blogger. It may lead you to approach them for a guest post.
Guest posting is a technique in which you produce content for another website. The post is published in your name and includes a link that directs back to your webpage.
However, make sure you use the method in moderation to save yourself from any kind of inconvenience.
Outreach
Direct outreach could also provide you guest posts or links. But you must first build a connection with them to succeed. Be open and honest in your conversation.
You may offer them something and ask nothing in return. After receiving a reply, you may send in your request but make sure you do not sound demanding.
Social Platforms
Social media marketing may not contribute directly to ranking on a search engine, but it plays a key role in off-page optimization. You can increase the number of visits from potential consumers with a well-planned social media online marketing strategy.
Furthermore, it is significant to focus on building a community on social media that supports your brand or product/service you are offering. You may consider creating your brand pages or posts that offer some kind of value to your followers.
Pinterest is a great social media platform to put your effort towards if you are an image-driven company, along with Instagram.
This will help build up a natural connection between you and customers. Your readers may lose interest if you only post links taking them to your webpages. Make efforts to develop a social media strategy that engages your audience the most.
Reviews and Ratings
Off-page SEO is a great way of gaining the trust of your potential customers. Reviews and ratings of your customers reinforce the authenticity of your business. People get a clear picture of how it would be like to do business with you.
Sometimes, product reviews and ratings would appear directly on SERPs. Also, third-party e-commerce websites, such as Amazon and your social media handles display reviews and ratings directly.
You must opt for reaching out to the users directly, asking them for reviews and ratings on their recent purchase. Consequently, it will allow more customers to trust your brand, increasing the chances of them making a purchase.
Influencers
Recently, businesses, especially small business owners, have approached social media influencers to improve their content engagement. People follow influencers to keep themselves updated with the current trends.
If you work with influencers, there is a good chance your brand will get more attention. Subsequently, you could gain potential customers with the right influencer marketing strategy.
Local SEO
Local SEO is important for small businesses to reach their local audience. Search engines like Google focus on providing the users the top local search results for their problems. Thus, you must optimize your website for local SEO to get a higher ranking.
How Customers Can Contact You
For example, Google has local search algorithms that present the consumers with webpages of local businesses nearest to their area. Your customers should be able to locate your business in real-time.
A good local SEO plan will be sure to include a page on the website that specifies your business location along with a physical address if you have any. It will give your business a better ranking in local search results and allow you to reach your target audience quicker. Make sure to include a ‘contact us’ form on your site.
Structured Location Data
Another key feature of local SEO is adding structured location data to your site, it provides Google all the required information about your company. For instance, if you are in New York and type any fast food restaurant name in Google, you will see detailed local information appear in front of you in search results.
Local search results normally include a picture of the restaurant, reviews and ratings, and other company-related data. Google gets all this information from structured data that marketing agency experts add to your site.
In case you do not have a web developer, Google offers free tools that assist you in including structured data to your website.
Additionally, finish off your Google Business profile and ‘contact us’ data to make sure your website ranks on local SERPs. The free tool allows your customers to find your company conveniently and also allows you access to analytics, displaying your local engagement metrics.
Mobile Accessibility
If someone wants to search for something on Google, they instantly take out their smartphone and start typing in Google. Make your website user-friendly enough to work well on a mobile phone.
Therefore, optimize your website for a smooth user experience on a mobile phone. You might lose a potential buyer if your website does not perform well on a smartphone.
E-Commerce SEO
E-commerce websites use different SEO strategies to improve their online visibility, especially their product pages on search engines.
Site Structure
The structure of your e-commerce website holds great significance for a better user experience. E-commerce websites generally have multiple product pages.
Make sure that your visitors can navigate through the website easily. Keep each page two or three clicks away from the homepage.
The Right Content for Your Target Audience
Keyword Research
Thorough keyword research is essential for optimizing the content on your e-commerce site. Research the relevant keywords before creating content.
The use of correct keywords will give you a better ranking on a search engine. Be sure to use at least one keyword in your title to get a better ranking on search engines.
Copywriting
A lot of people may neglect to copywrite for their website, not realizing its importance. Each product page on an e-commerce website is a landing page thus you require copywriting for each one.
It will help you in generating sales. So, make sure you create good copy for each product page.
Setting up an Editorial Calendar
Planning your content ideas ahead of time will lead to establishing an effective content marketing strategy. To gain maximum audience engagement, you must carefully plan your content ideas.
Good content marketing strategies lead to improved search engine ranking, increased traffic, and more conversions. Creating an editorial calendar will allow you to strategize your content marketing.
It saves your time and helps you increase sales for your business. Your content marketing plan should be based on your marketing goals.
Search content ideas that will engage your target audience and implement them. Make sure to monitor the long-term results and improve your strategy.
Product Listings
Most online buyers lookup for products on Google or Amazon. These are the two main sites where a potential buyer would go shopping for a product.
Your product must appear on at least one of these sites or you could lose a large chunk of potential customers. You could improve your website’s visibility using proper product SEO.
Keep in mind the following product SEO tips:
- Use clear, high-quality product images
- Write product descriptions in bulleted form
- Ensure use of relevant keywords in the product names and descriptions
Technical SEO
Technical SEO services should be an integral part of your web design. They could prevent your website from experiencing any kind of technical issues. It can address the issues of indexability with your website. Technical optimization allows your website pages to load faster.
Canonical URL
Search engines may penalize websites that feature pages having identical content to other webpages. However, a canonical tag could prevent this from happening.
It means if you have pages with similar content, you could pick one that seems more important than the canonical form. You may include a canonical tag in the other page’s section with a link directing to the canonical page.
404 Pages
Despite the effective structure of your website, it may face some issues causing your visitors to get lost on the site. Develop a plan to redirect visitors to your webpage.
Having a 404 page would help lost users to get what they want. You may include links directing to your sitemap, homepage, or site’s search bar.
Google Search Console
A website requires improvement from time to time. You must have a tool to monitor your website’s performance and whether you need to improve its accessibility and speed.
Google Search Console lets you have complete reports that show the progress of your webpages. It highlights the red flags or errors that any of your pages may have. All you have to do is register with Google Search Console to make the most of it.
Video SEO
Video SEO helps you grow your company significantly. People prefer video content over written content. Some SEO strategies that you can use to optimize your video content are as follows:
Tags and Descriptions
Video SEO practices are still in their elementary stage. However, an effective way of making your video recognized is by adding keywords to video titles and descriptions.
You could include some extra information as well in your descriptions like links to sources. Make sure you have searched relevant keywords before adding them to your descriptions.
Thumbnail Images
The thumbnail plays a key role in attracting users to click on your video. You will have your thumbnail displayed along with many others, thus make sure to make it as attractive as possible.
Use bold text and bright colors to make them appear unique. The text should be easily readable and concise, having two to three words. A long text might make users lose interest.
YouTube Channel
Customizing your YouTube channel is a good tactic to gain more traffic to your website. Create engaging content on your YouTube channel that could connect with your target audience well.
Be mindful of aligning your content strategy on YouTube with the appearance of other pages and your overall company brand. Stay consistent with the design and theme of your content for a better user experience. So, optimizing your video content on YouTube could really bring in profits for your business.
How to Create a Realistic (And Affordable) Budget for SEO
It is time for you to take the next step once you have the knowledge of affordable SEO services for small businesses and how you can fully utilize them. Get your team to work on preparing a practical budget for using SEO best practices.
Create a Monthly Budget
Setting up a budget is a crucial step whether you are partnering with an SEO agency or dealing with it in-house.
First and foremost, identify how much your company can spend on SEO services. If you have just started your business, it would be feasible for you to develop SEO strategies in-house.
Your budget should lie somewhere around a hundred dollars. This budget might not lead you to an efficient SEO agency. Therefore, you could implement SEO services internally in a much better way with this amount.
Moreover, if you are planning on expanding your business that is already in a growing stage, then you could go for a budget of a thousand dollars. You could even go beyond this amount if you are running a big business. You could consider partnering with an SEO agency with a bigger budget.
Setting up a clear budget and implementing strategies the right way will ensure a higher ROI for your business. You will gain organic traffic to your website, which will potentially turn into sales in the future if you have effective SEO strategies in place.
Thus, you would get a huge return if you spend a considerable amount on SEO. However, do not expect to see your business in the top SERPs overnight. It takes time for SEO to work and start generating profits for your business.
Create a Plan
Without a plan, you don’t know where you’re going. After a monthly budget is determined, we recommend creating an SEO and Content Plan.
Done properly, a Content Plan will do the following:
- Analyze all of your competitors for what they are doing right
- Find new competitors and surface where they are having success
- Research all keyword opportunities to target
Your website will not start appearing on SERPs overnight unless you deploy pay-per-click tactics, and that is very expensive these days. It takes a few months for pages to rank high on search engines. Thus, make sure your business plans a six-month SEO campaign to allow time to get the best results.
Affordable SEO Services: Frequently Asked Questions
1. What Are Outbound Links and How Do They Impact Your Site’s Rankings?
Outbound links are links from your website that direct your user to an external site. They are also called external links since they send traffic to an external source.
These links are added to give a reference for statistics, studies, or facts that you mention on your website. They could also be included to refer to the information or data that you might have taken from an external source.
Adding relevant outbound links to authentic and high-quality sources could help you add value. Links to a quality source will assure your users of the authenticity of your content and keep them engaged.
Also, linking to quality content may help you with getting backlinks. Thus, to increase your website’s credibility you need to include outbound links.
However, avoid linking out to a spammy website. It may adversely impact your site’s reputation. So, be sure whatever link you are adding to your content takes your readers to a reputable site.
2. What Is SEO or Search Engine Optimization Anyway?
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a practice to improve the quality of your website to increase its visibility on online searches. It gives your website a better ranking on search engine results pages, offering relevant results to a user. As a result, it drives more traffic to your website allowing your business to grow in a shorter time.
There are different types of SEO services that companies offer to make an effective SEO strategy. They include on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO.
On-page SEO for companies emphasizes optimizing the content on your webpage, whereas off-page SEO involves the actions you take outside of your website. And technical SEO makes sure that your website works well and addresses any indexing issues it might have.
An effective SEO campaign will include all these three aspects to ensure more traffic and a higher conversion rate.
3. Is SEO Affordable for Businesses Today?
Yes, SEO is affordable for businesses today. There a few factors to consider before you develop a budget to fulfill your requirements. If you are a small business owner, make sure you do not spend a huge amount of money on SEO.
You may find affordable SEO services that could benefit your business in the long-run. The best part about SEO is that if your business does not have a high budget, you could go for an in-house SEO strategy.
Some business owners get impatient and expect results after a few days of implementing an SEO strategy. This is not how SEO works.
SEO does not produce results overnight but it takes a few months before you witness results. Therefore, create a six-month budget plan for your business.
4. What Do Businesses Pay for Professional SEO Services?
The custom campaign factors affect the pricing of the professional SEO services for your business. An SEO expert might want to know about the requirements and needs of your business.
People have different goals for their business. They need to specify what objectives they want SEO experts to achieve through search engine optimization. According to the requirements of a business, an SEO expert will create a package of SEO services.
Further, in the US small and medium businesses invest $1000 to $2000 each month on SEO services. However, there are low-cost SEO plans as well. Small businesses that have just started, usually consider the low-cost SEO service since they have a limited budget.
5. What Is the Difference Between Cheap and Affordable SEO Services?
After researching SEO agencies, you will gather that there is a distinct difference between affordable and cheap SEO services. An affordable SEO service offers your business reliable service at a reasonable price.
The results produced are measurable and you can evaluate the performance. For an enterprise, affordable service may vary from $5000 to $8000 monthly. On the other hand, an SMB may find an agency affordable offering services at $800 to $1500 per month.
Regardless of the price point, the services offered are reliable and performance-oriented.
On the contrary, agencies offering cheap SEO services are low-cost and do not ensure high performance. Your business might find it quite affordable but it would not give you the desired return on investment (ROI).
You may find the low-cost SEO agencies offering services at $100 monthly. These agencies exclude the key aspects of SEO best practices when creating a strategy. As a result, it does not deliver good results when the SEO campaign is implemented.
6. Looking for Affordable SEO Services for Your SMB?
When looking for affordable SEO services for your SMB, be mindful of the success rate of the company you select. It is imperative to know about the efficiency of the SEO company you choose for your business.
Your business success is largely dependent on the quality of SEO service they will provide. Consider the client retention rate of the agency and whether their specialists are result-oriented to help your business grow rapidly.
Study the figures indicating the revenue their clients have earned over the years. Thus, when looking for an affordable SEO service make sure you choose experienced professionals who ensure superior performance.
7. Do You Know How to Spot Inexperienced Workers in an SEO Agency?
Some signs indicate whether there are experienced or inexperienced internet marketing people in an SEO agency. First, you must check their client’s reviews. These will show how a team’s expertise and skills impacted the businesses they worked with.
You could check the chosen SEO agency’s website and see how they have implemented different small business SEO factors to rank their website. It shows the expertise of the team they have and how well they know their work.
Also, ask about any recent challenges the specialist may have experienced that enhanced his/her knowledge.
Most importantly, the content created for different websites can help you understand how experienced their workers are. You may look at their past projects or even ask the agency to produce a sample or two.
With a writing sample, you could easily figure out if they have a team of experts who could get you more traffic.
8. What Do Affordable SEO Packages Look Like?
Affordable SEO packages will include all the essential SEO tasks, making an effective SEO strategy. Many times people confuse a cheap SEO service with an affordable one.
Bear in mind that companies offering cheap SEO will not include all the tasks that make for a performance-driven SEO service. Make sure you are well aware of the different types of SEO services so that you can differentiate between cheap and affordable services. An affordable SEO package will always be performance-oriented focused on bringing success to your business.
9. How Much Should You Pay for Quality SEO Services?
There is no standard price for a top-quality SEO service for small businesses. It greatly depends on what your business goals are. An SEO expert will always ask you about your site, requirements and prepare an SEO campaign according to it. The strategy should be time-specific.
It includes several tasks that make it possible for a strategy to work in favor of your business. Set your budget and identify your needs first.
This way you can select top-quality SEO services for small businesses. Each SEO package includes different tasks focused on reaching certain goals.
How to Choose The Right Affordable Small Business SEO Company
Before you select any SEO company, make sure you make time to do an in-depth analysis of the following factors:
Credibility
You will find plenty of companies claiming how effectively they can help your small business grow faster and rank for your preferred keywords. But make sure that you opt for those having a proven track record in small business SEO, and your niche. You may ask the agency to provide you a case-study related to your niche. Check whether they are aware of the SEO best practices and how to implement them.
Blog
Most SEO companies have a blog for their clients where they update on new developments in SEO methods. The purpose of the blog is to engage more with the current clients and attract potential customers.
Go through their blog and evaluate the expertise of their team based on how articulate they are in talking about the different types of SEO and digital marketing. Do they seem focused on small business SEO strategies or large corporations?
Reviews
Checking online reviews is an ideal way to assess the capability of SEO companies. It is normal to find some negative reviews on a site.
It indicates the authenticity of the published reviews. So, analyze the reviews thoroughly and see whether clients experienced holdups while working with the company.
Content Quality
Be sure to ask them for writing samples since it is one of the most crucial parts of SEO. You could also take a look at their previously developed content for websites. It will greatly help you to evaluate their expertise and whether they can deliver quality content focused on clients’ keywords.
Talk to Them
It is important to talk to any small business SEO agency before signing up. Ask them to take a look at your site and your competitor’s site and do an in-depth keyword and SEO analysis.
Any agency offering small business SEO services must understand your business before they could start promoting it. They must also understand your overall digital marketing strategy. Talking to a specialist in SEO services for small business beforehand will give you a better understanding of how well they can strategize your campaign and produce the best results for your small business.
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