First of all, why should you listen to us?
With 10 years of SEO experience, we have helped businesses in different industries rank on the first page.
Is SEO worth it?
We work with small businesses across the UK – we understand exactly your concerns when it comes to promoting your business online and investing in digital marketing.
We know first hand that small businesses don’t invest in SEO services, simply because the are unaware of how valuable it can be for their profits.
In this post, we’ll help you understand:
- what is SEO and how you can benefit from it
- SEO services costs for small businesses
- hiring an SEO agency to help your brand be visible online
- SEO marketing benefits
- FAQs about SEO for small businesses
We are not a digital marketing agency promising to help you across all marketing channels – we focus on one thing we do really well and that’s getting businesses like yours on Google.
We know SEO is worth it and we’re here to tell you how you can benefit from it as well.
Why is SEO worth it for a small business?
Branded Search
Effective SEO can boost your website’s visibility in search results, increasing the likelihood of users finding your brand when searching for specific keywords related to your products or services.
Local Marketing
If you have a physical store serving customers in a specific location, SEO can help your business appear in local search results, allowing it to reach potential customers in your vicinity.
This can help you get more foot traffic to your physical store and more quality leads on your website as well.
Local SEO is achieved mainly by implementing GMB, having local citations and dedicated landing pages targeting your area.
Cost-Effective Marketing
Compared to traditional advertising and marketing activities, SEO services can provide a high ROI since it targets customers actively searching for relevant products and services related to your business.
Unlike social ads, you don’t need to rely on continuous spending to have a viable client base.
Targeted Traffic
SEO is worth it for small businesses simply because it gives you the incredible opportunity to target specific keywords or terms relevant to your brand, ensuring that the traffic driven to your website is more likely to convert into leads or potential customers.
Increased business credibility online
Small businesses that appear higher in search engine results (SERPs) are often seen as more trustworthy and credible by users, leading to an increased CTR (click-through-rate) and higher conversions.
Specifically, users are more likely to click on those first page results because they perceive it as a credible source of information.
Competitive Advantage
70% of small business owners don’t have an SEO strategy in place.
Take advantage of this market gap and invest in SEO services that will make your products and services more visible online to outperform your competition.
Long-term Brand Building
SEO is a long-term strategy that can help your small business build brand awareness and equity over time, as your website gains Domain Authority with link-building efforts that include guest posting and local citations.
If SEO is worth it, why don’t small businesses invest more in it?
Because many small business owners underestimate the potential of SEO – and let’s be honest, most of them have never heard of it.
So if you are still reading if SEO is worth it for a small business, then you are already ahead of your competition.
Use this market gap and invest in SEO services that will help your business have long-term success and get the online recognition it serves.
We work with inspring local brands that put so much effort into their products and services. This effort needs to be seen with your target audience.
Don’t spend your budget – we know marketing budget for small business has its limitations – on social media ads or just PPC.
During our partnership with small businesses, we’ve noticed that their goals tend to be more short-term, focusing on marketing activities that will get them immediate revenue, such as paid advertising.
Small Business Example: Recruitment Agency
Let’s take as an example a small recruitment agency specialising in placing professionals in a specific niche. The agency deals with high competitive businesses and struggles to attract enough clients to sustain growth.
In an effort to quickly generate more traffic and have more clients, the agency chooses to invest heavily marketing budget in online ads, leaving no room for SEO or other forms of marketing.
While paid ads will give the small business immediate results and visibility, they need constant budget so the agency has to spend more and more to keep the client base.
However, if a small business like this recruitment agency invests in SEO services, in a few months they manage to establish a local presence and with strategic keyword placements, they start growing steadily without the need of constant additional payments.
SEO is worth it for small businesses – but how much do they cost?
SEO costs for UK small businesses very depending on the size of your business, the industry competitiveness and your marketing goals – are you interested in local SEO, content marketing, off-page SEO (link-building) or comprehensive SEO packages that include everything?
Look for an SEO agency that is prepared to provide services that match your needs, goals and budget.
SEO is really worth it for small businesses only when you partner with an agency that offers white hat marketing that won’t penalise your website, has extensive expertise and is prepared to adapt to industry trends.
Don’t go for marketing agencies that are big but specialise in corporate or entreprise SEO.
If you are looking for the cheapest SEO agency, then chances are you are not focusing on what’s important: getting real, sustainable results.
Many SEO Consultants and agencies can offer affordable packages that might seem too good to be true. Do your research before choosing and go with the trustworthy agency that uses white hat SEO and can work as an extensive team member of your small business.
Small businesses face their own unique challenges and need marketing specialists that know how to approach SEO research.
Let’s look at the most popular pricing models for SEO packages. This will give you an idea of what you might hear when you are speaking with an SEO Consultant.
🔵 SEO retainers: they are worth it if you are interested in on-going services, which we recommend in most cases. You’ll be paying for keyword research, website audit, content creation and optimisation and performance tracking. Monthly SEO retainers for small businesses can range anywhere between £500 to £3000, depending on the level of service and the size of your business.
🔵 Project-Based SEO packages: these are worth it if you are looking to boost specific aspects of your small business website – do you want just a technical audit with SEO recommendations? A keyword research analysis? Competitor insights? Prices for project-based SEO services can very widely depending on the complexity and the scope of the project, but may range from £100 to £1000.
🔵 Hourly Rates: Some SEO Consultants, especially freelancers in this case, will charge you by the hour for their services – they can range from £50 to £200 depending on their expertise and the complexity of your website.
SEO is worth it – here’s how to make the most out of it for your small business
SEO for small businesses starts with a website audit and keyword research. After this is completed, we dive into the most important SEO pillars:
Content & Backlinks.
SEO is totally worth it if you are only doing it properly. Here’s what your SEO strategy needs to include to see results.
Content Strategy
Invest in content marketing that include page optimisation, new landing pages and equally important, blogs.
60% of marketers say that inbound (SEO, blog content, etc.) is their highest quality source of leads.
This is your sign to start taking SEO seriously for your small business success and create search engine friendly pages and posts.
Keyword research will provide all the terms you need to add into your SEO content marketing plan.
Pay attention to the search intent of every keyword – if they are commercial, create dedicated landing pages for conversion, if they are informational, add them to your blog plan.
They will be usually long-tail keywords that start with ‘how to’ and can be great comprehensive guides you can write for your target audience.
For example, if you are a skincare brand then you might consider creating blogs like ‘how to use retinol‘ or ‘how to use vitamin c’ depending on the products you offer and adding links to your main product pages so people can easily purchase them.
SEO is worth it if you implement these SEO content tips
1.Content for conversion
If you decide to work with an SEO agency to improve the visibility of your small business, keep in mind that you need to target the right audience who are likely to become customers, not just casual browsers.
It’s like opening your shop on a busy street; you want foot traffic, but more importantly, you want people who are likely to step inside and make a purchase.
In the digital world, this means optimising your content for the specific needs and preferences of your potential customers.
As a small business owner myself, I’ve learned that investing time and resources into understanding my target audience and tailoring my SEO efforts accordingly has been crucial.
That’s why SEO is worth it for small businesses – it helps build meaningful connections and drive sustainable growth.
2.Content for local reach
This means strategically incorporating location-based keywords and phrases into your website content, meta tags, and other elements to signal to search engines that your business is relevant to users in those specific areas.
By focusing your SEO efforts on reaching people within your target market’s geographic area, you not only increase the likelihood of driving relevant website traffic but also improve your chances of converting those visitors into paying customers.
Summarising: Is SEO worth it for small businesses?
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