Over the last few weeks, I have written a couple of SEO themed blogs which have targeted how any small Cheshire-based businesses can improve their presence in local search engine results. As a small Cheshire-based web design business ourselves, we always have to keep our fingers on the ever-changing pulse of Search Engine Optimisation so that we can best optimise the performance of our website by improving local search enquires.
Putting our SEO preaching into practice, I will be providing you with a free small Cheshire business SEO starter checklist that will hopefully get you on the way to boosting the web performance of your business website over the course of the next three months.
Research your local competitors
Before we dive straight into SEO, you will need to research who your local competition is and what they are doing. Searching for what keywords you want to be found for, find realistic targets that appear within the first or second page based on location, company size or the number of pages indexed on their website then save the URL’s.
E.G. Search “Web Agency Cheshire”
Once you have a list of competition you can use both free and paid SEO spyware where you can see what activity they are doing on their website and can monitor the following;
- Number of keywords your competition is targeting
- Search volume of each keyword targeted
- The number of hyperlinks that link to your competition’s website
- The authority of the links
Submit realistic target keywords
Now you have seen what your competition is doing, the next step is to do your homework on which keywords you want to be found for. Google provide a completely free keyword planning tool appropriately titled Google Keyword Planner.
The Google Keyword Planner will provide you with the following information;
- Search volume of each keyword
- Predicted clicks for each keyword
- Estimated traffic conversion rate of each keyword (Click To Customer)
Keyword Targeted Blogging
Over the course of the next 6 to 8 weeks, you will first need to create a page or pages where your content will be going. If you have a specific product or service, it’s best to create a page which will contain the URL of your chosen keyword. Otherwise, it’s perfect to create your content on a news or blog page so all your knowledge can be found in one convenient place.
Example – www.untitledtm.com/web-dimensions/design
Using our guide on how to construct the perfect SEO blog and our review on SEO content writing tips you should avoid, you should have no problems creating SEO friendly, keyword rich content that should be submitted on a weekly basis.
Tip – Make sure you include Meta Descriptions and Keyword when submitting content.
Google My Business
Whilst submitting keyword rich SEO blogs on a weekly basis, at the same time the next step will be to address your Google My Business listing. Google My Business is a completely free local SEO tool which allows small businesses the opportunity to submit their business, products and services on Google so they have a better chance of being found in local listings.
Google stores the information used on a local database, so when a user submits a local search enquiry, Google will use complicated algorithms to calculate and display local search results for your search enquiry. You can read our in-depth review and tutorial on Google My Business here.
Submit your products, services and location “Web Design Cheshire” along with information about your company including opening times, reviews and much more.
Submit your website on listing directories
Along with Google, other popular search engines such as Bing and Yahoo provide free local listing directory services that will significantly boost local web performance. Not only can local directories improve search engine results, it can provides more benefits
- Website Domain Authority
- Authoritative Backlinks to your website
- Instant Contact Information
- Customer Review
For a complete list of local directories that are completely free, check out our guide on 7 completely free local business directories. Remember, there may be more relevant to your industry, products or services so try searching for ‘Web Design Cheshire Directory’.
Manage social media effectively
So you have researched your keywords and competition, you are writing weekly blogs relevant to your keywords and you have registered on all major listing directories. The last step may be the easiest, but it still plays a vital role in the growth of local SEO. That last step is to promote and share your content on social media!
Search Engines will turn to social media platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and even Google+ to see how active your business is on a social media scale, something which again adds authority to your website. Social Media provides plenty of organic effects for the performance of your website and you can read them all inside our blog.
Conclusion
There are many free and premium SEO tools available to use out there. While some free tools will be more than cable to provide you with what you need, premium SEO tools will provide more in-depth services. Whilst we can’t condone particular brands, we can construct a tailor made SEO package which will be suited to your exact requirements.
If you would like to discuss how we can create a tailor made SEO package for your small business website or if you would like to have a chat on which SEO software we would recommend, why not pop in for a chat over a coffee? Contact untitled™ director JJ Wemyss on 01565 653616 to discuss the perfect small business SEO package.