Who would have thought that three little letters could have such a big impact on the world of marketing. SEO (search engine optimisation) doesn’t need to sound like a foreign language and is something that any sole trader from any industry can get a grasp of.
Our guide talks you through the basics of SEO and how you can use it to your advantage when it comes to marketing your sole trader business.
Why do sole traders need to consider using SEO?
Having a strong online presence might be the difference between customers finding you online and driving traffic to not getting the clicks you need to keep your business going. SEO helps bring awareness to your brand, ultimately increasing its visibility when people are searching for your products and services.
People are busy, in a rush and they want to be able to find what they after quickly. This is where having the right SEO tools in place can help your business be one of the first businesses to appear on the results page. This gets you in front of your potential customers quickly, increasing the chance of them interacting with your business.
How does SEO work?
The world wide web is home to billions of websites, so when you search for something on Google, you want to see results that are relevant and match your search query. To help simplify this process, Google uses a technology of crawlers which search all these pages for things like keywords to match what you were searching for.
Websites which have used SEO wisely, will appear higher in the search results, something which businesses need to strive for when looking to boost their online rankings.
The importance of keywords
Take a moment to think about what your customers are searching for when they type in their queries into Google.
For example you might be a sole trader business based in Christchurch that specialises in decorative painting for residential properties.
Keywords are the things that help to identify your business like your location (Christchurch) what services you offer (decorative painting for residential homes). When writing content for your business webpage, these are the words you want to include. This is what the Google crawlers are looking for to index your page.
Research and planning
Spending a bit of time doing your research on what your potential customers are searching for can help your business with creating relevant and valuable content for your business site. How do you find what they are looking for you might be asking? Fortunately, there’s a tool to help with that, and it’s free!
The Google Keyword Planner allows you to go into greater detail and analyse the terms people are searching for. You can then use these key words and try and target your audience with increased accuracy and relevance.
High-grade content
This is another feature that Google crawlers will notice when searching pages. You want your website to have content that your audience is going to find useful and engaging. Avoid things like key-word stuffing ( using keywords out of context and relevance) and present your content in a way that is easy for your audience to understand and follow.
You want your audience to return to your website, and find it a source of help and information. Some of the ways that you can enrich the content on your site is to include a blog and social media channels. By creating avenues for your audience to interact, share and be involved with your brand, you are in turn creating extra attention and opportunities for your business to get out and get noticed.
The technical stuff
Knowing things like headers and search terms when putting content on your site is vital. Things like your title tag on your site are pivotal to letting Google know about what your business is all about and the keywords you want to be picked up for by search engines.
Hot tip: try and place the relevant keywords near the front of the title to assist with getting it to rank higher on SERPS (Search Engine Result Pages).
Getting your SEO sorted for your business doesn’t need to be confusing, neither does getting your business insurance arranged for your sole trader business*. BizCover offers business insurance solutions to help all kinds of sole trader businesses from Public Liability* to Tool Cover and protecting your bricks and mortar with Building and Contents insurance* too.
Visit bizcover.co.nz and get insurance for your sole trader business without drama so you can get on with your day. If you’d prefer to pick up the phone and chat you can find us at 0800 249 268.
*This information is general only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It should not be relied upon as advice. As with any insurance, cover will be subject to the terms, conditions and exclusions contained in the policy wording. © 2023 BizCover Limited.
