Many small businesses want to invest in SEO but can’t afford to hire a full-service marketing firm. But how do you find an affordable option that still delivers high-quality results? There are some general suggestions to keep in mind when selecting any agency, such as ensuring they understand your business’s goals, looking at their past results, and getting references that can vouch for their reputation. If you take the time to do your research, you should be able to find a reputable company that can help you achieve your desired results.
Let’s explore some reasons to consider investing in SEO, along with some tips on what to look for when choosing an SEO agency.
1. SEO Works Wonders for Local Businesses
A smaller, local SEO agency may be more familiar with the market than a larger national one. Local businesses have a lot to gain from SEO, as it can help them reach new customers who are searching for their products or services online. Local SEO strategies are typically more focused on targeting a smaller, more specific geographic area than national SEO strategies. This can involve optimizing your website and content for local keywords, building citations and backlinks from local directories and websites, and creating targeted campaigns specifically for the city, region, or state that you’re targeting. For example, a local coffee shop could use SEO to rank for keywords like “best coffee in town” or “coffee shops near me.”
2. SEO Can Help Businesses Expand into New Markets
Not every company has a local target market. In fact, some businesses serve customers all over the country! If this is your case, SEO can still be enormously beneficial for you. A smaller SEO firm might be able to focus more narrowly on a particular niche. This is important for a national SEO campaign given the heightened competition for the same keywords, thereby gaining faster ranking in keyword searches.
One company that experienced this firsthand is an Atlanta-based app and website developer. This company was already doing well in the U.S., but their main source of customers came from word-of-mouth referrals. They partnered with a Nashville TN SEO agency, newData LLC, to help them expand their reach and attract new customers outside of their existing network. After working with newData, they attracted the right target audience with local and national keywords appearing on page one of Google’s Search Results Page (SERP).
3. SEO Helps Businesses Attract More Qualified Leads
Generating leads is one of the main goals of SEO, as it can help you attract new customers who are interested in your products or services. But not all leads are created equal—some leads may be more qualified than others. A boutique SEO agency can help you target specific keywords that are more likely to convert into sales, rather than just attracting a high volume of traffic to your website.
For example, if you run an accounting firm, you may be more interested in attracting leads who are searching for “process-control accountants ” rather than general keywords like “accounting firms.” The more specific keyword phrase is more likely to generate qualified leads because the searcher is specifically looking for accountants in your city.
4. SEO Can Help Businesses Get More Reviews and Testimonials
Reviews and testimonials are valuable social proof that can help you attract new customers and build trust with your target audience. And while it’s always a good idea to encourage your customers to leave reviews, SEO can also help you get even more reviews by making it easier for customers to find your business on review sites like Google My Business and Yelp.
A boutique SEO agency will likely be more effective than a larger one in optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) listing with keywords, given the former’s focus on relationship building. The smaller firm can also help identify relevant review sites for claiming and optimizing your listings.
5. SEO Can Help Businesses Increase the Quality of Organic Traffic
One of the main goals of SEO is to increase your website’s traffic, and there are a number of ways to accomplish this. For example, you can optimize your website for specific keywords that your target audience is searching for, or you can create informative blog content that will attract new visitors to your site. The smaller SEO agency is more likely to be concerned with the quality of the organic traffic.
The new startup’s financial services app partnered with a Nashville TN SEO agency in order to not just increase web traffic, but the quality of this traffic. The client noticed a steady uptick in engagement metrics (e.g., downloads, time spent on site, number of pages visited, bookmarked pages etc.) which then led to higher conversion rates ( booked meetings).
6. SEO Can Refine Your Overall Business Strategy
If you’re not sure where to start with your marketing efforts, working with a boutique SEO agency can help you focus your overall business strategy. The smaller agency will take the time to get to know your business inside and out and can provide valuable insights into what marketing strategies will work best for you. In addition, the agency can also help you identify your target audience and the keywords they are using to find businesses like yours. This information can be invaluable in helping you create more targeted marketing campaigns. It will also provide insights on how to make your messaging more relevant to your target customers.
7. SEO Can Help Businesses Save Money
The goal of SEO is to increase a business’s organic traffic and visibility in the search engine results pages (SERP). In most cases, this can be accomplished without having to pay for advertising.
For example, let’s say you run a small business that sells handmade jewelry. You could choose to pay for ads on Google or Facebook, but if you rank high in the SERP for relevant keywords, you could get organic traffic to your website without having to pay for ads. In this scenario, SEO would help you save money on advertising costs. For example, once you rank on the first page of Google for a high-traffic keyword, you’ll get free organic traffic from people who are searching for that keyword. If you are convinced that SEO is consistent with your long-term strategy, consider that a boutique SEO company that offers transparent pricing may be less expensive and a better value than the larger agencies.
Ready to get started?
If you want to expand your business’s online presence and draw in more customers, teaming up with a proven boutique SEO agency may be the right answer. These smaller agencies are more agile than their larger counterparts, giving them the ability to tailor their services around your company’s specific goals while adjusting their strategies quickly to respond to changes in the market. Cookie-cutter approaches don’t work well because every business is unique; what one company wants (e.g., generating leads) might be different from another’s focus (e.g., increasing website traffic or sales). A boutique SEO agency may have a better understanding of your business goals because they are not trying to cater to the needs of hundreds of other clients. They also tend to be more nimble and responsive to changes in the market, which means they can adjust their strategies quickly to help you achieve your desired results. Finally, these agencies are typically more affordable than their larger counterparts, giving you the opportunity to get quality services without breaking the bank.
