December 10th 2020
SEO News

Small Business SEO: Q&A

little girl puzzling about something with serious face

Want honest answers to your SEO questions? Our experts are here to help – whether you’re investing or planning to DIY.

Q: Is SEO worth it for a small business?

A: How much do you want to grow? Even if you’re amassing followers on Instagram or Facebook, is it worth optimising your website to prepare your business for the future?

Thoughtful, consistent SEO will ensure that your site appears in search results.

Bad news for the impatient: it can be a painfully slow process, taking 3-6 months to show any results. But an optimised, growing website can keep its top spot for years.

Are you currently paying for ads? The eventual return on investment in SEO can be a lot greater than for Google Ads.

Q: How much does SEO cost for a small business?

A: The big question. For business owners – and especially small business owners – every outgoing is scrutinised for Return on Investment (ROI).

But let’s be frank: a non-optimised website is a waste of your money. When your website is bringing in business every single day, it becomes one of your most valuable assets. The returns can be amazing.

At Leapfrog Internet Marketing, a standard SEO package starts at £400 per month, but there is a vast range of prices available from SEO specialists like Leapfrog.

Q: Can I do my own SEO?

A: If you work on your own website, you can do most of your own SEO. Registering with Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, researching keywords, adding them to your tags and headers and creating keyword-rich content – all jobs that you will be able to do.

Link generation and site organisation are more difficult but not impossible.

And if you don’t see results, you can always ask us for an SEO audit to identify what else you need to focus on first.

Q: Is SEO hard?

A: It depends how comfortable you are with the technology.

But there’s a tonne of reading material online. Google’s guidelines for optimising your website indicate the tasks involved in basic SEO.

If you hired someone to produce your website, it makes sense to hire an SEO expert for an audit and possibly implementation. An SEO specialist will be able to optimise your site effectively and report on the results.

But if you’re the one operating your website, and you’re familiar with adding tags and headers, then you will be able to accomplish a lot of solid SEO by yourself.

Q: How do I choose keywords for SEO?

A: Keyword research shouldn’t be rushed, because it’s the main component of successful SEO.

It’s also a very interesting journey into the minds of your customers and competitors – what exactly do my potential customers search for?

Alone or with your team, brainstorm keywords that your customers could be using to search for your service or product. Then select the most appropriate using an online keyword reporter. Start a spreadsheet to save your favourites.

Try using Google’s Keyword Planner and, for long-tailed keywords, keywordtool.io . The ideal keywords to pick are those with low competition and reasonably high frequency. (It’s difficult to find perfect keywords – aim for the best you can get.)

The more specific (or “long-tailed”) your keywords, the better the odds of gaining a good ranking. Aim for a mix of popular, generalist keywords and specific ones describing your items. Long-tailed keywords can be great for blog posts.

Any more questions about SEO? Please ask us here and we’d be delighted to help.

About
Latest Posts

Geoff Roy

SEO Director at Leapfrog Internet Marketing

Geoff lives and breathes SEO, and enjoys the challenges of getting client websites on Google page 1. Because the digital marketing world changes so quickly, Geoff enjoys researching and posting about how the latest changes can be leveraged to improve leads and sales.

Latest posts by Geoff Roy (see all)

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Small Business SEO: Q&A - December 10th 2020

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"As part of the service, the team at Leapfrog reviewed one of my websites for SEO and presented their findings in video format. I’ve never seen anything like this before and I could see the results of the tests and clear recommendations for action. I can thoroughly recommend this part of Leapfrog's service!!"

Peter Clarke, PPG Proofreading
"One area in which Leapfrog has excelled is communication. Any queries are always promptly dealt with and we also receive excellent monthly reporting, with videos that clearly explain our progress. This is great as it gives us a clear picture of what’s going on."

Leigh Emmerson, Voice Fairy
“Leapfrog provides fantastic video reports, to help explain the topline results. As SEO is a hidden science, this has made the whole process a lot clearer.”

Rebecca Couture, Rebecca Couture Millinery
"When it comes to organic SEO, Leapfrog's your company. Thanks for everything you've done for my business."

Paul Deach, Deachy Social Media
"Over a 6-month period, we’ve improved from a position of no ranking at all, to achieving page 1 rankings for our key search term. In a highly competitive market, this is really impressive and has already increased our organic traffic by more than 400% over a 6-month period. We can definitely recommend Leapfrog to other businesses struggling to get seen by Google."

Leigh Emmerson, Voice Fairy
"Leapfrog Internet Marketing has been key in supporting my clients, providing SEO services to allow them to achieve increased and more qualified traffic to their sites. I've worked with Geoff and the team on several different sized projects and am very pleased with the results achieved. I highly recommend Leapfrog Internet Marketing for your online SEO needs."

Oliver Schlieben, Digital Marketing Strategist
“The company is really helpful and approachable and you’re never made to feel embarrassed when asking questions.”

Rebecca Couture, Rebecca Couture Millinery
"Leapfrog Internet Marketing has been a key resource in providing insights and strategies within the SEO arena. Their work is always of a very high standard and always delivered on time. I would have no hesitation in recommending Leapfrog to any business."

Drew Griffiths, Mosaic
"I've been benefitting from Leapfrog’s expertise and experience for several months now and really value the way in which they make knowledge so accessible. We've worked on improving website authority and content, list building and social media optimisation. A great company to work with and very good value."

Chris Farrance, Frontier Digital Business Consultants
"Month-on-month we’ve seen fantastic improvements. Over the first 6-month period, search traffic has increased by over 550%. We've achieved page 1 rankings for at least 85 keywords relating to our key products, the site is now found on Google nearly 5000 times per month and an additional 800+ users visit the site monthly."

Rebecca Couture, Rebecca Couture Millinery
"The team at Leapfrog has been able to keep an eye on our site, using their specialised knowledge to not only spot any invisible problems that will affect SEO and site speed, but also identify any coding errors. This kind of value-added benefit is a great asset and makes a real difference for our company."

Leigh Emmerson, Voice Fairy
"Leapfrog Internet Marketing have been working on our website for 6+ months now and we have certainly seen the benefits of professional SEO. Organic leads have significantly increased in line with our Google position and ranking. I’d highly recommend Geoff and the team at Leapfrog Internet Marketing."

Mark Dalton, The Tech Lounge
“We’re really happy with Leapfrog Internet Marketing. We feel every step has been clearly explained, the communication is excellent and we’ve seen month-on-month improvements that have converted to enquiries and those all-important sales. We’ve definitely received the return on investment we were looking for.”

Rebecca Couture, Rebecca Couture Millinery