SEO is the foundation of most online companies’ marketing and online presence. It is what sets you apart from the competition, makes you more discoverable and ensures a pleasant and efficient browsing experience for your visitors.
With that in mind, below are 5 SEO tips that all startups would do well to pay attention to.
1. Consider Outsourcing.
This is not always feasible for startup businesses, but if you have the cash flow to justify outsourcing your SEO, it might not be a bad idea. The great thing about outsourcing your SEO is that you aren’t limited to any one geographical area. If you’re located in the U.S. and would rather work with an Australian firm, for instance, a quick Google search of something like “SEO Brisbane” will bring up reputable firms with proven track records that can take the reins while you focus on the bigger picture.
2. Define What You Want Out of SEO.
You need to set reasonable and attainable SEO goals based on your experience and budget. Most companies are either misguided or so preoccupied with meeting all of their many business goals or avoiding the pitfalls that they overlook this essential phase. Know what you want and go after it.
You should make it unequivocally clear in your mind and on paper what you’re aiming for over the course of a quarter and even throughout the entire year. Is it search traffic for specific keywords, average time spent on your website, bounce rate, brand recognition, a specific number of conversions, or something else? Start nailing down your goals after you have answered those questions.
For example, you can’t get more search traffic’ unless you first define ‘more.’ ‘More’ is deceptive, imprecise, and unattainable until it is used in conjunction with a definite figure.
3. Set Up a Strong Foundation.
SEO should never be an afterthought. It should be a primary consideration while you build out and finish your website. By thinking about and planning around SEO during the development stage, you can speed the growth of your website by months. If you don’t, you may suffer the repercussions and a poorly optimized site that those critical initial clients and visitors don’t like using.
Startups, in particular, should be wary of poorly built and optimized websites. A lot of startups find themselves a website created by an inexperienced company founder. The website is not search engine optimized, may have weak eCommerce capabilities, or just has a slew of technical faults on the backend. You can self-educate to a large extent when it comes to website optimization, as well as take advantage of a number of great free tools. One particularly important tool to help startups on their SEO journey is Google Analytics.
4. Ensure a Mobile-Friendly Site.
Mobile-friendly refers to a site’s ability to display well across a variety of screen sizes and browser types, namely mobile ones. Most of today’s traffic is mobile, so having a responsive, mobile-friendly site is non-negotiable. If visitors come to your site and your pages don’t display well on their phones, and they are too tedious to navigate, people will simply leave, and they will leave fast.
5. Don’t Neglect Competitor Research.
Doing your industry/competitor research is crucial because you have to decide when to disrupt and when to comply with industry norms. You need to know what your competitors are doing well and what they are doing wrong so that you can take advantage of the opportunities and avoid the pitfalls, respectively.
Spend time identifying competitors in your niche and scrape their SEO. Find the language and strategies that already work for them and put it to use on your own site, saving time by getting rid of the need to guess and double-check.”
It is also wise to see what keywords your competitors are ranking for and what questions they’re answering. This will provide you with a good idea of which keywords to employ in your content strategy.
Conclusion.
Getting your SEO right as a startup is so crucial because it is the foundation of your digital presence and organic traffic. If you want people to discover your website and, more importantly, enjoy using and purchasing from it, then you need to dedicate time to SEO. If you are not well-versed in SEO and/or don’t have the time to dedicate to it, you can always outsource. If you would like to or need to undertake it on your own, then the above considerations should not be overlooked.
