When it comes to designing and developing a website, there are many platforms to choose from. One particular platform that stands out from the rest is WordPress.

Not surprisingly, many web design agencies prefer to use this content management system to build beautiful and functional websites for their clients.

This is primarily because WordPress has a variety of features that can benefit brands and companies that are looking to establish their online presence.

In this article, we’ll go through the various benefits this web design software has to offer.

Offers More Flexibility

When designing a website using WordPress, you have the option of building a simple and basic one-page site for your business. You can expand your site by integrating additional pages and content later on.

The level of flexibility that WordPress provides in the design and development process provides you with full control over the creation of your business website.

For instance, you can start with a simple blog layout that delivers helpful and information-rich content to your audience. As the operations of your business grow, you can use WordPress’ various offerings to expand your website and turn it into a fully functional e-commerce site.

SEO-Friendly Features

Another major advantage of using WordPress for web design is its SEO-friendly themes and plugins. SEO or search engine optimisation is the process of improving a website’s various features to increase its visibility in search engines, such as Google.

This allows brands to attract more customers by making their websites more visible according to the search queries of their target audience

Since WordPress values the importance of SEO, it has various features that are dedicated to this digital marketing strategy.

Moreover, WordPress makes it easy to optimise pages by allowing developers to add meta tag keywords, descriptions, and titles to all of the site’s content.

Provides High Security

WordPress has built-in features that are designed to enhance a website’s security. This is ideal as it allows businesses to protect their online customers and operations.

In addition to providing safe-to-use plugins and themes, WordPress has a dedicated team that monitors any software vulnerability and regularly releases security updates.

In addition, this platform provides users with ways to heighten the security of their site by disabling file editing, choosing a trustworthy hosting provider, changing their WP login URL, and limiting the login attempts with two-factor authentication.

Easy Integration With Social Channels

Aside from having a website, building a social media presence can also help businesses attract customers and boost brand visibility.

Thankfully, WordPress makes it easier for business owners to share content from their website on different social media platforms through its widgets and plugins.

With these features, you and your followers can share both new and old content from your site on social media. This gives you an opportunity to solidify a social media presence while reaching out to new audiences.

Mobile-Friendly Themes

In the world of e-commerce, having a mobile-friendly website is crucial to the successful operation of a business. That’s mainly because more than half of overall Internet traffic comes from mobile devices. This indicates that if your site isn’t responsive on mobile devices, you’re at risk of losing customers and sales.

Since WordPress understands the importance of mobile responsiveness, it has developed many free and premium themes that are mobile-friendly.

This helps ensure that your site will be functional and easy to navigate, even when viewed on handheld devices.

These are only some of the best features of WordPress. With this platform, web design and development agencies can create fully customised and bespoke websites that accurately reflect the nature and business goals of their clients.

Local SEO is a type of search engine optimisation strategy that’s aimed at helping businesses increase their online visibility in local search results on Google. For instance, if you have a business in Melbourne that mainly caters to customers in this city, it’s ideal to utilise digital marketing campaigns that are geared toward catching the attention of people in the area.

This is where local SEO comes in. This strategy allows businesses to secure the top positions in Google’s search engine results pages by ranking for keywords and search queries typed by local consumers.

Defining Local SEO

As mentioned earlier, the goal of local SEO is to boost the visibility of local businesses. This strategy involves optimising the business’ website for a specific local area. This includes improving the various aspects of web pages to make sure that they rank for certain search queries performed by a local audience.

By doing so, your business’ site will appear in the top search results whenever someone from your area searches online for a product or service that’s similar to what your company is offering. Local SEO is different from SEO in general in the sense that the former is more focused on ranking in specific areas, such as cities, towns, or regions. Although the latter shares the same strategy, it is not too keen on targeting local searches.

How Local SEO Works

Optimising a website for local search, as well as utilising various off-page local marketing strategies, such as setting up a Google My Business profile, can let Google know that your brand or company is located within a specific area. More importantly, it signals to Google that you want to be found by people in that region.

This can be achieved in various ways. But the first and most important strategy that site owners and local SEO practitioners should carry out is conducting keyword research. In SEO, keyword research is the process of identifying terms commonly used by the target audience to look for topics related to the products and services offered by a company.

Although local SEO carries out the same process, it prioritises local keywords or those frequently used by local audiences. It also targets keywords and phrases that have terms that are specific to the location being targeted. For instance, if your Melbourne-based company provides SEO services, then you should probably include the search queries “SEO agency in Melbourne” and “SEO agency near me” in your list of target keywords.

This strategy allows you to target potential customers who are interested in and are looking for services similar to what you’re offering in your area.

Importance Of Local SEO

Local SEO can provide small or regional businesses with the necessary edge to compete against larger competitors. It allows them to laser-target their marketing efforts and campaigns to attract customers who are most likely interested in what they have to offer, which means they are likely to convert and become paying customers.

More importantly, local SEO strategies let businesses and brands take advantage of the current market and consumer trends. For instance, according to Google, around 76% of individuals who carry out a local search using their mobile devices visit a business within 24 hours. Moreover, 28% of them make a purchase.

In a different study, the search engine giant also noted that about 30% of all daily searches made on its platform are related to location, which indicates that users are searching for local-related topics. Likewise, a survey carried out by Rio SEO revealed that over 60% of respondents make local search queries every day.

These are only some of the data supporting the effectiveness of local SEO. If you’re looking to get more sales, attract more customers, improve your brand visibility, and boost your conversion rates, then you should definitely consider investing in optimising your business website for local search.

In today’s highly competitive world, companies of all sizes are going head to head against each other to attract the attention of potential customers. Staying ahead in their respective industries can be challenging for small businesses due to their limited financial and marketing resources.

Fortunately, search engine optimisation (SEO) has provided businesses with an effective way to beat their competitors. Since about 35% of product searches begin on Google, SEO gives small businesses an opportunity to improve their brand visibility and present their offerings to customers.

In this article, we’ll go through 6 tried and tested SEO strategies designed to improve the rankings of small businesses.

1. Start With The Basics Of Small Business SEO

Whether you’re an e-commerce brand or a traditional brick-and-mortar store, it’s important to cover the basics of a website’s SEO. One of the tools used by Google to rank websites in its search pages is the Core Web Vitals.

This tool keeps track of three key metrics: speed, responsiveness, and visual stability. Through these factors, Google reviews a website according to its loading speed, navigability, and if it has certain technical issues that can negatively affect the experience of site visitors.

In other words, if your site has problems related to these fields, its ranking in Google’s Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) might suffer. To ensure that you don’t get flagged by Core Web Vitals, you can use another digital tool known as Google Search Console (GSC).

GSC shows you the findings of the Core Web Vitals as well as other issues in your pages that can affect your site’s overall performance. You’ll also get informed of potential issues that could negatively affect your website.

Another Google tool you can take advantage of is PageSpeed Insights. This allows you to analyse the loading speed of individual pages, which you can then use to make necessary improvements.

Improving your site’s reputation and SEO through these tools can help boost your site’s ranking on Google.

2. Optimise For Local Search

If you’re a small business owner looking to target local audiences, then you should definitely consider setting up a Google My Business (GMB) profile. This free tool from Google helps brands manage their digital presence. It allows them to create a business profile on directories, which can include citation information such as their business name, phone number, and address.

Newly created profiles are shown in Google Maps and local search results, which makes it easier for local customers to find you. In addition, you can use your GMB profile to connect with customers through reviews and different social accounts.

Aside from these benefits, a GMB profile also enables businesses to control how their information appears in SERPs. For example, they can use this platform to promote their offerings by featuring photos and videos of their products or services. They can also use their GMB account to announce upcoming events or specials related to their operations.

Also, according to Google, about 60% of mobile phone users contact businesses directly from GMB results. This means that you can increase your leads and possibly customers by setting up a GMB profile.

3. Target Keywords That Drive Conversions

Keyword research plays an important role in SEO. Many SEO experts and practitioners have stressed the importance of going after low competition keywords, targeting terms with high search volumes, and using long-tail keywords to bring in more traffic to a website.

Although these are all effective strategies to attract visitors, they don’t guarantee that the users will be converted into paying customers. Instead, you need to adopt a strategy that’s aimed at persuading site visitors to make a purchase.

This can be achieved through targeted traffic, which refers to the specific audience you want to direct your marketing efforts to. This audience group is composed of users who will most likely buy something from you or complete the desired action.

You can attract your targeted traffic by tweaking your keyword research to focus on terms that directly appeal to your target audience. For instance, if you’re a B2B company that provides services and products to other business owners, you should focus on targeting keywords that can attract company owners and managers who are interested in what you’re offering.

4. Take Advantage Of Popular Search Queries

In addition to ranking search engine keywords, your business’ content strategy can also focus on utilising search terms used in community questions to drive traffic to your website. Make sure to target frequently used terms in questions that are related to your offerings. You can find these types of questions on crowdsourcing platforms such as Reddit and Quora.

You can leverage these questions in two ways. The first method involves presenting yourself as a source of credible information by providing well-written, interesting, and informative answers to community questions. This helps make your website content and online persona more trustworthy to other users.

However, make sure to provide genuine answers instead of blatantly promoting your business on these online community forums. Aside from irritating other users, self-promotion can cause your posts to get taken down on Reddit.

If users are posting these types of questions on social media, they are also most likely searching for related topics on SERPs. The main advantage of this technique is it allows you to beat current SEO search term trends while presenting website content that ranks for specific search terms on SERPs.

5. Use Technical SEO

The concept of technical SEO covers various aspects, such as a website’s infrastructure and its different on-page elements, like meta tags and title tags. Although this may seem complex and daunting, following a couple of basic principles can improve your website’s visibility on Google and boost its chances of ranking high on SERPs.

An SEO audit is the best place to start with technical SEO. A proper audit evaluates all aspects of a website, such as its on-page content, structure, backlink profile, and other technical elements. It can also help identify potential issues that may be interfering with the site’s performance and visibility.

An SEO audit’s results can be used to create actionable plans designed to improve a website’s SERPs ranking. Ideally, these strategies should include both short-term and long-term objectives.

Another tool that you can use for your technical SEO needs is Google Analytics. This application can help identify and solve various technical SEO problems. It allows you to monitor how the various aspects of your site are performing by keeping track of its page views, visitors, and other vital metrics.

For instance, if your landing page isn’t getting as many views as you’re expecting, you can use Google Analytics to fix issues that need to be addressed. You can also utilise this tool to monitor your site’s bounce and conversion rates.

6. Build A Backlink Profile

Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors that the algorithm of Google pays attention to. According to a survey carried out by uSERP, around 58% of 800 respondents consider backlinks as the most impactful ranking factor.

A case study by Backlinko also highlights the importance of backlinks. According to the study, web pages that ranked at the number 1 position in SERPs had around three to four more backlinks than pages with lower rankings.

These two examples show how important backlinks are to a website. But, in order to build a comprehensive backlink profile, you need to understand the two main types of backlinks. The first is dofollow links, which inform Google’s crawlers to follow a backlink and index the content that it comes across.

The other type is nofollow links. These tell Google not to follow a link. Although they’re not as beneficial as dofollow links, they can still add value to your backlink profile and help with referral traffic.

Aside from these main types, you also have to consider other factors when building your backlink profile. For instance, go for quality and not quantity. Always make sure that your backlinks are from high-quality, credible, and informative sources.

Also, avoid black hat tactics that involve using link schemes and artificial methods of securing links. Doing so can negatively affect your site’s reputation and ranking on Google SERPs.

You can also get backlinks to your site by publishing engaging content on your site that users will want to share and link to organically. Additionally, use your social media accounts to promote your content.

Implementing an SEO strategy for a small business is a great way to improve the website’s visibility and organic search traffic. In addition to increasing web traffic, an effective strategy can also boost revenue.

When it comes to choosing an SEO agency to handle your business’ online marketing needs, make sure to pick one that’s near your location. For instance, if your business is based in Albury-Wodonga, avoid availing of the services of SEO companies from other cities such as Brisbane, Melbourne, or Sydney.

That’s because Local agencies tend to provide better services compared to outsiders. They also have better knowledge and experience regarding you’re area’s e-commerce industry and consumer culture.

In this article, we’ll discuss the various benefits of hiring a local SEO agency for your business’s digital marketing needs.

They Know The Area

The main reason why you should work with local SEO experts is their knowledge about local SEO. This concept refers to the process of optimising a website for local search queries. Doing so allows your business to rank higher in search engines such as Google than your competitors in the area.

Local SEO agencies are also able to provide an effective localised campaign because of their familiarity with the preferences of the local audience. Each area or city has its own trend. What consumers prefer to experience in Melbourne may not be the same in your area.

Through extensive knowledge about local consumer culture, home-grown SEO agencies can execute effective strategies and campaigns designed to help you dominate the local market.

They Provide Smoother Consultations

When working with SEO agencies, consultations are important. Through these sessions, the SEO professionals can explain to you their strategies to optimise your website and provide you with updates regarding their progress. Although agencies from other cities can also conduct consultations, these are usually done through virtual conferences.

With a local agency, you have the option to schedule frequent face-to-face consultations to gain a deeper understanding of your business’ SEO strategies. Also, if you can’t reach them by phone, you can always drop by their office in your area.

Due to the proximity, the project managers of SEO companies can also visit your store or headquarters to learn more about the nature of your business, which they can then use to create a personalised and more effective campaign.

They Are More Cost-Efficient

Local teams tend to offer cheaper services than those from other cities. That’s primarily because they don’t have to charge you with other additional expenses such as travel costs. In addition, their prices will match the standard industry rates in your area.

On the other hand, if you choose an SEO agency from some of the most industrial and commercial cities in Australia, such as Sydney, you might end up exceeding your company’s allotted budget for SEO and digital marketing.

They Know The Local Trends

As mentioned earlier, local SEO experts are more familiar with the marketing trends of their city than outsiders. This means they’ll be able to develop strategies and campaigns that effectively appeal to local search queries and target audiences.

With this kind of approach, you’ll be able to make the most out of your marketing budget by being able to target leads within your area who are most likely to turn into paying customers.

If you’re ready to increase your brand’s online visibility and attract more potential customers, make sure to get in touch with Digital Marketer Bee. We specialise in providing local SEO services specifically tailored to businesses’ needs and goals to help them grow digitally.

Directly competing against large enterprises seem impossible for small businesses especially due to the former’s larger teams, vast resources, and expensive SEO tools. Fortunately, there are numerous inexpensive and even free tools and resources that small businesses can take advantage of.

In this guide, we’ll discuss what SEO tools are and how they can contribute to the success of a small business. We’ll also provide a list of paid and free tools that you can use to develop your own SEO strategy.

What Are SEO Tools?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tools are programs, plugins, or software that are designed to help website owners, digital marketers, and SEO practitioners improve the visibility and search ranking of a website.

These tools are usually browser-based, and they can help analyse the traffic and performance of a site. In addition, they can identify areas that can be optimised and also keep track of the results optimisation campaigns.

Why Is SEO Important For Small Businesses?

As mentioned earlier, the goal of SEO is to improve a website’s visibility and search ranking. This means that this optimisation process can benefit businesses in a number of ways. For instance, with better rankings, a small business’ website can increase its traffic by attracting more potential customers, which can also have a direct effect on its online sales and performance.

In addition, through various on-page and off-page SEO efforts, such as optimising a site’s content and structure, adding elements such as titles and meta tags, link building, and setting up a Google My Business account, the online visibility of a website will significantly grow. Its improved visibility can then allow it to compete against larger competitors in the industry.

10 Paid And Free SEO Tools For Small Businesses

Due to the importance of SEO for businesses and brands, various tools have been created. Although all of these are designed to optimise the performance and visibility of sites, not all of them are created equal.

• Google Analytics
• Google Search Console
• Google Business Profile
• Google PageSpeed Insights
• Google Trends
• Ahrefs
• Keywords Everywhere
• Screaming Frog SEO Spider
• Answer The Public
• Yoast

Below is a comprehensive list showing 10 of the best paid and free SEO tools that you can use to optimise your business’ website.

1. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free analytical tool developed by Google. It’s designed to provide insights regarding a website’s demographics and traffic. This allows site owners to view the site’s most popular pages and which ones need improvement.

Through Google Analytics, you’ll be able to keep track of various metrics, such as where your visitors are coming from, the types of browsers and devices they’re using, their geographic location, and how long they stay on your site. You can then use the collected information to improve various aspects of your site.

2. Google Search Console

Another free tool offered by Google is the Google Search Console. This provides small businesses with a wealth of information and insights that can facilitate the improvement of a site’s performance and visibility in Google’s search results. It provides helpful data such as how often your site appears in the search results, what keywords users are typing in to find your site, and how they are interacting with your on-page content.

Additionally, Google Search Console has tools that you can use to diagnose and address problems related to your site’s visibility. It also provides suggestions on how to improve a site’s structure and content.

3. Google Business Profile (Formerly Google My Business)

Google Business Profile is a free tool that allows business owners to manage their online presence. It lets them create a free local citation that includes basic information about their business, such as its name, phone number, and address. In addition to Google search results, businesses can also appear in Google Maps through a Google Business Profile listing.

This platform also allows business owners to interact with their customers by posting updates, answering questions, and responding to reviews.

4. Google PageSpeed Insights

This free tool works by evaluating the performance of web pages and provides suggestions on how to improve them. It measures the page load speed and gives helpful feedback on how to optimise certain factors to make it faster.

This is a vital aspect for websites since a slow loading time can negatively affect a site’s performance. Pages that don’t load quickly can cause site visitors to leave. Also, Google penalises slow websites. In other words, optimising a site’s loading speed can boost its rankings, improve its online presence, and attract more visitors and potential customers.

5. Google Trends

Google Trends is a free web service from Google that shows the performance of keywords. It can also keep track of the popularity of topics over a certain period and compare it with the popularity of other topics.

For small businesses, Google Trends can help provide them with an idea of how often their company or brand is being searched online. This information allows them to create strategies regarding the allocation of their marketing resources.

6. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a paid service that offers users a variety of tools that they can use to research and analyse their competitors. It works by using crawlers to collect data and create reports on keyword research, backlinks, and website traffic. Business owners can then use this data to study their competition, find new customers, and improve their site’s SEO performance.

Ahrefs is priced at around $99 to $999 USD per month, depending on the package.

7. Keywords Everywhere

Keywords Everywhere is a free browser extension that helps research and track a website’s ranking on different search engines. Additionally, it gives helpful information on the estimated cost-per-click, competition, and traffic of the keywords that you’re targeting.

You’ll also be able to see how often the keywords are being searched using this tool. This data can then be used to create or improve your online marketing strategies.

8. Screaming Frog SEO Spider

This free SEO tool crawls websites and collects key data that can be used to analyse and optimise a domain. The various aspects of a site that Screaming Frog can crawl include website images, titles, metadata, CSS, and JavaScript. It can also audit the internal linking structure of a website and analyse other on-page elements.

With the help of Screaming Frog, small business owners can identify technical problems with their site that can affect their search engine rankings. It can also carry out an SEO audit to find errors and warnings, as well as provide information on a site’s SEO performance.

9. Answer The Public

Although Answer the Public is a paid SEO software that costs $99 USD a month, it also has a free version. This software relies on Google autocomplete to generate long-tail queries that are based on questions that people are asking online.

Through this software, small businesses can get a clear idea of the topics that their target customers are interested in. They can then use this information to improve their content strategies.

10. Yoast

Yoast is a paid WordPress Plugin ($299 a year) that also has a free trial version. It’s designed to help site owners optimise the content of their site for search engines. It accomplishes this by providing feedback on how well a post is optimised. It also gives suggestions on how on-page SEO can be further improved.

In addition, Yoast can guide business owners on how they can improve the content and structure of their websites. It also helps them make sure that the sites are performing efficiently in Google search results.

Through these SEO tools, small business owners can carry out effective optimisation campaigns to improve and maintain their website’s visibility and performance. However, one important thing that you need to remember is that SEO is an ongoing process.

This means that in addition to regularly updating your SEO strategies, you also have to be aware of the latest changes and trends in search engine algorithms in order to stay ahead of your competition.