What’s Stopping Your Small Business From Getting Started with SEO?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the one digital marketing strategy that owners and marketers seem most keen to avoid. So many small businesses put off getting started with SEO, but at the same time, want to get their website found via search engines. Unfortunately, you simply can’t have one without the other. If you want to get your small business website found in the SERPs (search engine results pages) but customers looking for what you sell, then you do need to implement SEO.

When talking to small business owners, there are usually three main reasons they are putting off getting started with an SEO strategy:

1. They simply don’t know what they should be doing and haven’t had time to get clued up about it. Let’s face it, digital marketing strategies like social media, are much easier to get your head around. If I’ve just described you, please read What is SEO and How Do you Do It? Knowing what’s involved can help to demystify the process and help business owners to understand exactly what tasks need to be done and why.
2. They know that they should be doing some SEO, but have heard horror stories about businesses being fleeced by unscrupulous agencies that don’t deliver results. There’s no shortage of bad SEO agencies out there and they can be hard to spot if you don’t know what they should be doing. To help you feel safer, look for an SEO consultant with a track record and great client testimonials. Ask them exactly what they will do for your business and how they will report back on work completed/progress made. If they have nothing to hide, they will be completely transparent about what they are doing and why.
3. They’ve heard SEO is expensive and can’t spare £1000 a month (or more!) on a regular basis. Particularly if you’re worried about being cheated by one of the unscrupulous agencies mentioned above. And if your cash flow is up and down, you may need the flexibility to stop and start services as needed to avoid financial troubles.

Address your worries and make a start!  

If any of these scenarios sound familiar, then you might be nervous about wasting time and money on a strategy that doesn’t seem to have guaranteed results. But SEO is a long-term strategy that takes a while to work so you do have to be a little patient. And the results are totally worth it if you go from zero leads and sales from your website to it being your main sales channel within a year. As can (and does) happen with my clients! I’ve worked with people who are very hesitant at first, but once they start to get those online leads on a regular basis, they soon changed their mind 😉

A trustworthy SEO specialist will look at your business holistically and then be 100% transparent about what they are doing on your website and why. For example, I am 100% clear with my customers on the strategy, the tasks I plan to do, and why I’m doing them. This involves keeping customers updated with regular reports on tasks completed each month. This also helps small business owners to build their own understanding of what SEO involves and what their website needs to succeed in the search results.

And the £1000 a month thing?!  I know that finding that kind of money each month can be a real struggle – especially if you’re just starting out in business, or are still building your sales and customer base.  So I’ve created different services with various price points to suit all budgets. So, stop putting it off and finally get started with SEO for your small business with these affordable SEO services specially created with your business in mind.

How I work with Small Businesses to Get them Started with SEO

As a freelance SEO consultant, I often work with businesses with the same worries and problems mentioned above. There are several ways to get started with SEO and the approach will depend on their budget, the size of their website, and their overall goals.

1. SEO Starter Package

The SEO Starter Package gets the basics sorted and lays the foundations for further SEO work. If you have a small website with just a few pages, the starter package might be all you need. Here’s what’s included:

• Keyword research for your main product/service offering
• Optimize your 3 main website pages correctly using the targeted keywords that your customers are using.
• We’ll also set up the main Google tools (Google My Business, Google Search Console and Google Analytics) that your business needs to tell Google all about your website, then track results and find errors.
• Comes with a Trello project board so that you can see all work completed and links to all relevant files and work. The board also contains links to DIY resources so that you can continue improving SEO in-house once the starter pack is complete.

Starter Package Cost

It costs £499 which is paid 50% upfront, and 50% on delivery. Delivery lead time is around 4 weeks. See the SEO Starter Package Service Page for full details. If you have more website pages that need work or want to start adding more content once you’ve got the basics sorted, you can then continue with SEO in-house, or choose one of my affordable monthly retainer packages.

2. Free SEO Audit & Power Hour

I offer a free Snapshot SEO Audit which will give you a better idea of the health of your website. Team it with a Power Hour Session where I can get you totally clued up on what you need to do to improve and optimize your website. I’ll spend the hour talking about your website and letting you know exactly what work is involved to make it SEO-friendly.

Knowledge is power so once you have the information, you can start thinking about the best way to tackle the tasks for your small business. Whether you keep it in-house, DIY, or outsource the work, you can’t do anything until you know what you need to do. The snapshot audit + Power Hour is an economical introduction to SEO for any small business.

The Power Hour costs £99 but you can nab a bargain price of £59 if you act quickly after requesting your Snapshot audit. Book your power hour within 7 days of requesting your free SEO audit to get this great offer.

3. Affordable Monthly SEO Retainer Packages

Monthly SEO packages are the perfect solution for businesses that want to dip their toes in the SEO waters. These packages are totally flexible and I can work with you for as long as you want or need. Whether it’s a one-off job or long-term help needed, I can help!  Before we begin, I’ll take a look at the health of your website and make suggestions for a period of work over 3 months/6 months/ a year, or ongoing. So you’ll know exactly what I plan to do over that time period and again, it will all be noted on a Trello board with all your links, files and more!

There are 3 monthly packages to choose from to suit your budget and business needs: 

SEO Sussed – £175 per month: the package for business owners with a small budget and/or a small website with less than 10 pages. You want to make slow and steady improvements based on your business goals.

SEO Optimized – £350 per month:  Suited for those that want to kickstart SEO success a little faster. Recommended for larger websites of 15 pages plus that have more content to work through

SEO Supercharged – £700 per month:  Perfect for big websites with lots of blog content that needs to be optimized. Get the basics sorted in a super quick time and then get to work on making those blogs work for your business!

If you’d like to discuss the best option for your business, contact me for a Discovery Call. Or request your free Snapshot SEO Audit now, then get in touch within 7 days to book a discounted Power Hour!