5 Reasons SEO is Important for Small Businesses

Search Engine Optimization is not a flashy, exciting topic. It’s technical, detailed, and requires a lot of work before you will be able to see or measure true growth. Once you do start to improve your SEO, it is a continual work in progress to stay at the top of the game.

The truth is, a lot of small business owners and creative entrepreneurs do not prioritize SEO, and I can completely sympathize with that sentiment. For most people who have other areas of expertise, it may seem above their heads and not worth diving into when the short-term gains are usually minimal.

On the other hand, I have seen firsthand how powerful SEO can be for a small business. When I first started my photography business in an area that was new to me, I worked on this side of my website…and when the growth finally came, it took off in ways I never would have expected. If you’re on the fence and wondering why SEO is important for your small business, here are 5 compelling reasons I would invest in it all over again:

SEOMaria Grace PhotographyApril 23, 2024seo tips, seo, search engine optimization

Case Study: Google Ads Campaign for The Plush Flush

Back in 2022, the owner of The Plush Flush contacted me for marketing help. His company rents and delivers luxury, portable bathroom trailers for weddings, corporate events, and other private functions when bathrooms are not readily accessible or the available options are less than the high standards desired by his clients. At the time, his company was running some Google Ads with limited success, and he wanted to improve his ads results as well as the overall search engine visibility of the website.

Here is what I did, as well as the results and how I was able to help the business’ online presence.

What's New with Google in 2022

Every year things change, in the world and marketing, at a faster pace than we can often handle. This has always been true, but we have noticed these huge upheavals more after 2020 and the year the whole world turned on its head. Now it seems we are hyper-aware that there are countless factors beyond our control, and this is particularly the case in the online world.

Last year Google announced some upcoming changes, and took the unusual stance of giving no definite date for the changes, instead gently breaking us into the idea of how the online world would shift in regards to Search Engine Optimization. These announcements generally happen with changes imminent, so having time to prepare was a luxury in this case. Now the changes are here, so it’s important to take stock of where you and your business are as they take effect.

I pulled from Google’s own announcement and this detailed article from Moz to break down the new Google trends in 2022. They include:

3 Things to do Each Month for SEO

The #1 problem I encounter with business owners and their SEO is lack of understanding about what it is and how they can improve their search engine rankings. While I’ve written a lot of content geared towards those issues (click here to see more), I wanted to give a small list of things anybody can do once a month to help their SEO, even if they have no technical knowledge and limited time. Read on to find out exactly what you can do!

The #1 SEO Factor in 2021

While I sometimes wish that Search Engine Optimization was a static factor and never changed, the reality is that Google and other search engines are constantly updating their algorithms. As the world around us changes (think about the advent of mobile-friendly websites!) and customer behaviors shift, it is actually a benefit to your search experience that the factors affecting SEO adjust to match over time.

I wrote about the Google algorithm changes in an earlier blog post, and as this starts to roll out, it’s becoming more clear that there is one factor this search engine giant is paying attention to more than anything else:

How to Set Up Your Website SEO

As I continue to work with business owners to maximize their online impact, a lot of the same questions come up over and over. I plan to address all of these in the coming months - and if you have one, let me know! - but the first and most popular question for small business owners is: “How do I set up my website to show up on Google?”

Truthfully, there are a lot of things you can and should do to improve your Search Engine Optimization (you can read my blogs about the topic here), but there are a few core things to check before you hire someone to run your SEO, or start getting worried that you aren’t showing up in the rankings. Before you do anything else, don’t forget these key things:

SEOMaria Grace PhotographyMarch 25, 2021seo tips, seo, search engine optimization, google, google algorithm

How to Best Utilize Your Website Pictures for SEO

One huge missed opportunity that I often see in small business websites is optimizing images for SEO. You may not even know this is a possibility, but it’s one of the first ways I jumped to the top of Google search results, so it’s not one you want to skip over! There are a couple of adjustments to make before uploading any pictures to your website, but once it’s done, you’ll never have to re-do any of the steps.

So how can you make the most of your website images to enhance Search Engine Optimization? Here are the two key changes to make…

SEOMaria Grace PhotographyFebruary 25, 2021seo, seo tips, search engine optimization

The Best Online Marketing Resources

One of my goals when I train and coach other business owners in the area of Search Engine Optimization and online marketing is to make sure they have continued resources to rely on past the time we spend together. While I am always willing to answer questions, the marketing world is constantly changing and updating as time goes on. It has not been nor will it ever be something static that can be studied once and forgotten!

For this reason I have several sources of knowledge that I love to recommend for other business owners to watch as algorithms change and the knowledge base shifts. If you are looking for blogs and websites to follow that will help enhance your SEO and online marketing efforts, look no further!

Can I Reach Page 1 of Google?

If there’s one question relating to SEO that gets asked frequently and consistently, it’s this: how can I reach page 1 of Google - and is it even possible? There’s good reason for business owners to ask it. Depending on the source, a good 90% (at minimum) of traffic comes from page one, and few people even make it to page 2, let alone continue to look through pages of search results.

Google, which is prioritizing user experience even more this year, wants you to find the answers to your questions and the solutions to your problem without navigating to another page, or even sometimes without scrolling down! So, as a marketer, it’s good to wonder if you can reach the almighty first page of Google so you can attract the most customers possible.

Reaching page 1 of Google is part of my success story.

The Best Marketing Advice for 2021

It’s the new year (finally) and, like many people, you probably have a list of goals, new habits, and lifestyle changes you want to incorporate for the new year. Even if you’re not a ‘new years resolution’ kind of person, there’s something about a calendar rolling over that makes everything feel fresh, like we have the chance to make some real changes and dream a little bigger. I know 2021 isn’t (yet) the huge relief we are all looking for, but there’s hope on the horizon…maybe, just maybe, things will be different this year.

Regardless of what happens in the area of health and government this year, it’s more important than ever to market your business effectively and efficiently, using your resources in the best possible way to amplify your message. As I think towards what this year will bring, my best marketing advice for 2021 is this:

The Most Important Data in Google Analytics

Almost all of us have installed Google Analytics on our website, or have a built-in analytics tool that we can use to look at website stats and track trends from month to month and year to year. The problem, however, is that almost none of us know exactly what to do with the information - or even what to look at in the first place. So which information is the most important in Google Analytics? Here are a few considerations…

Why You Should Pay Attention to Your 404 Page

Lest I make any assumptions, I realize that there is a strong possibility you don’t even know what a 404 page is - let alone why you should pay attention to it! Every website has a 404 page. It’s the landing page for any broken links or misspellings in the URL. For instance, if you visit www.nike.com/1234, the page doesn’t actually exists…and you are quickly redirected to this page instead.

You’ve definitely seen a similar page before on multiple websites, letting you know that you’ve gone somewhere that doesn’t really exist. For most people, this is a standard page that says something like ‘Page not found.’ But what if you could actually use this page to market and brand your business? I’m here to argue that no web page should go to waste - even one that doesn’t technically exist!

Which Website Platform has the Best SEO?

When it comes to building a website, there are countless great options. Wordpress is the default for most business owners, but Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace are all starting to make a rise in the small business space. ShowIt is used by a lot of creatives and photographers, and I’m sure there are countless others I haven’t even mentioned! I get asked a lot about which platform is the best for Search Engine Optimization, so I’m here to give a very definitive answer:

None of them are. And all of them are.

I could finish my blog with that, but let me explain a little bit further! There are a few considerations when choosing a website platform in the first place before we even dive into the question of SEO…

SEOMaria Grace PhotographyOctober 12, 2020seo, seo tips, search engine optimization, weebly, wix, squarespace, wordpress, showit

Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Expensive?

Business owners are always on a budget, and good business owners think hard about how they choose to spend their money. I completely understand, because I’m right there in the trenches with you! When it comes to thinking about one more thing to pay for in regards to marketing, it is understandable to recoil a little bit at the thought. So, does Search Engine Optimization have to be expensive? And is it really worth it?

The short answer: SEO does not have to be expensive to be effective.

SEOMaria Grace PhotographySeptember 22, 2020search engine optimization, seo tips, seo, online marketing, online business

Should I Write Guest Blogs? [SEO Tips]

Since the very beginning of my business, I’ve gotten consistent requests to write guest blogs for other websites - and if you have any kind of online presence, I’m sure you’ve gotten the same ‘offers.’ When the first email came across I’ll admit I was fairly flattered, but by the time dozens of requests had landed in my inbox, I realized that most of the time, it was a ploy to boost the presence of the requestor, and wouldn’t help my business at all. I started deleting every email I got, ignoring every request, and put the idea aside in my head.

The more I learned about Search Engine Optimization, though, the more I realized that there might be some benefit to some of these requests. While I still say no to a large majority of the emails I receive, I have a much more thorough way of reviewing the potential benefits and downside of writing guest blogs. I know the benefits that backlinks can have for SEO (more on that here!), and I want to take advantage of every opportunity I can get.

So…should you guest blog? The answer is a big maybe, and it depends on a few factors…

SEOMaria Grace PhotographySeptember 10, 2020guest blogging, seo tips, seo, search engine optimization

Why Website Speed is Important for SEO

There are countless factors that go into good website search engine optimization (SEO), and my goal is to not only introduce you to a few of them, but also to explain exactly why they matter and what to do about it. In this blog, I’m covering why website loading speed matters for SEO and what you can do to both evaluate and improve your own website.

Why does it matter?
When I talk about SEO, I think it sometimes comes across that Google (or Bing or any other search engine) is the ‘bad guy’ waiting to penalize you for an unknown reason and choosing to reward other websites arbitrarily. That couldn’t be further from the truth!

An Easy Way to Get Backlinks [SEO Tips]

Backlinks used to be the BIG key to good website SEO…until they got used and abused and were filled with spammers creating links in strange and unsafe places online just to improve search engine optimization. So, a few years ago, Google made some big adjustments to the importance of backlinks, among other things.

While they are no longer as essential as they used to be, quality backlinks are incredibly useful for your online presence for two reasons:

SEOMaria Grace PhotographyJuly 29, 2020haro, help a reporter out, seo tips, seo, search engine optimization

Five SEO Secrets You Need to Know

If you’re here, it may just be because you know that it’s incredibly important to prioritize your Google rankings and search engine optimization, but you’re not exactly sure how you can do that. There’s a lot that goes into SEO, and while some of it is complicated, there are other little changes you can make to dramatically improve your website without hiring outside of your company.

If you’re new to the world of SEO or just want to improve your rankings even a little bit in the days and weeks ahead, here are five SEO tips for any online business that are sure to help you improve!

1) A little update can go a long way…

Changes to the Google Algorithm in 2021

If there’s anything constant about the internet, it’s that there will always be changes, and a battle for business owners is staying on top of what’s happening in the online world. The other constant of the internet is its importance, from search engine optimization to social media, and how marketing efforts today can drive sales for months and years to come.

Google just made a big announcement about some algorithm changes coming down the pipe in 2021 (read their official statement here). Before you get worried about how this will affect your website, one of the biggest notations they made is that there is no definite ‘launch date’ yet for this change - and when a date is set, it will be announced at least six months in advance.

So while you don’t need to take drastic steps today towards satisfying their new requirements, it’s important to keep the upcoming changes in mind as you think about the future of your online presence, especially if you’re thinking about investing in a new website or a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) overhaul. Here are the big highlights and takeaways from Google’s 2021 announcement…

Five Minute Marketing: How to Use Google Analytics

Google Analytics. It’s the thing every business owners knows they should be using, and probably has installed on their website, but when it comes to actually figuring out what in the world to look at in the crazy confusion of the dashboard, many of us stall out and close the window. Maybe it feels good to have Analytics installed, but if you don’t know how to use it, it’s not going to help you in the long run!

I can’t possibly cover every aspect of the Google Analytics dashboard in one blog post, but here is a five-minute tutorial on how you can start using it to better your business today.

Maria Grace, LLC
Online Marketing Solutions for Small Businesses
Hours of Operation: Monday-Friday; 8am-5pm

Copyright 2023 Maria Grace, LLC

Maria Grace, LLCOnline Marketing Solutions for Small BusinessesHours of Operation: Monday-Friday; 8am-5pm

Maria Grace, LLC
Online Marketing Solutions for Small Businesses
Hours of Operation: Monday-Friday; 8am-5pm