Marketing is a vital part of launching a successful startup. It brings in customers, which increases your revenue and opens the door to profitability. The question for founders is which marketing strategies to use among the many that are available.
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a marketing tactic most startups can’t afford to skip. Here’s what it can do for your business as well as some introductory tips to get you started.
The Importance of SEO for Startups
SEO is valuable for startups for two key reasons. First, it has a business-to-customer conversion rate of 2.1%. That compares favorably to many other forms of digital marketing — including influencer (1.1%) and pay-per-click (1.2%) ads. The average SEO conversion rate is even higher for B2B brands, at 2.6%.
Second, SEO has lower ongoing costs than PPC campaigns. You may have to pay more upfront to generate the right strategy and content. But once you get it right, the material can generate new leads for years. Plus, when you share content that helps your audience for free, your brand image improves in their eyes. That can have a number of positive effects that are hard to quantify.
Basic SEO Concepts for Startups
With SEO, your goal is to create content that ranks high on Google for terms your customers frequently search for. These terms are called keywords. They’re one factor that determines how well your content does on Google. You’ll also want to think about on- and off-page SEO.
On-page SEO means optimizing your content's structure and HTML elements to improve your search engine rankings. Off-page SEO encompasses strategies like link-building and online reputation management. You should also look into technical SEO, which means optimizing website speed, mobile-friendliness, and site structure for improved Google rankings.
Just make sure the content you create still addresses your customers’ concerns. If you over-optimize for search engines, it can lead to poor readability. That’ll send leads away from your site and hurt your Google rankings anyway.
3 SEO Strategies Tailored for Startups
So you know what SEO is, why it’s worth pursuing, and what the basics are. Now, let’s look at three startup-specific strategies to get your plan going.
1. Focus on Long-Tail Keywords for Your Niche
The keywords that people search for the most tend to be highly competitive. Other businesses in your industry are targeting them, too. As a startup, beating out more established brands is difficult because of the head start they have.
That’s why one of your goals should be finding alternative ways to compete for SEO rankings. Focusing on long-tail keywords is a great place to start. These are more specific keywords that are easier to rank for on Google.
For example, instead of targeting “men’s sweaters,” you might try “men’s sweaters made from wool.” The more specific a phrase is, the less competition there tends to be.
2. Optimize for Local SEO
People use Google to search for local businesses every day. You want your startup to appear when they do — especially when the search term is relevant to your industry.
This concept is called local SEO. It’s another way to attract more site visitors by targeting niche keywords. For example, “men’s sweaters in Monterey” will be much easier to rank for than the more generalized “men’s sweaters.”
3. Build Backlinks Through Partnerships
Google considers many factors when deciding its SEO results. One is the trustworthiness of your website. Backlinks are like votes of confidence from other brands and content creators. These links to your site from elsewhere on the internet are especially valuable when they come from highly trustworthy sources.
Partnerships make backlinks easier to get. For example, reach out to your local chamber of commerce. It's an easy way to get high-quality backlinks and improve your local SEO. For other websites, you may want to offer reciprocal backlinks. This backlink-for-backlink exchange is beneficial for both parties and entirely free to do.
Measuring SEO Success
Another question is how to tell whether you’re succeeding with your SEO strategy. The easiest way is with tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, HubSpot, Semrush, and other SEO software.
These platforms show you how your website traffic has evolved over time. For example, they can tell you how many extra visitors you got after posting your latest search engine-optimized blog post.
You can also examine key performance indicators like organic traffic, bounce rate, and conversion rate. These data points help you assess which parts of your SEO strategy are working and which may need further refinement.
For example, a new blog post might bring tons of traffic to your site. But if it also has a high bounce rate, that’s a sign that visitors are unhappy with its quality. It would be a signal that you’re doing well with the technical aspects of your SEO strategy but not quite executing on the content quality.
Common Startup SEO Challenges and Future Trends
SEO can be a great marketing tool for a new business, but it’s not without its challenges. For example, startups typically have small budgets and may not be able to afford the SEO expertise they want. It’s tough to overcome the technical hurdles without that experience on your side.
There’s also an evolving SEO future to prepare for. For example, AI and machine learning are changing how Google ranks its search results. You may also need to adjust your strategy for voice-based search and mobile-first indexing. You can stay ahead of the curve by leveraging the best AI tools for your business, but that means learning how to use new software and staying up to date on the latest trends.
But you don’t have to solve all of this today. Just focus on getting started and making progress over time. The sooner you do, the faster your SEO strategy will help you find new leads.
Save Time and Money on SEO With Pyromaniac Digital
Search engine optimization is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies for startups, but it’s also highly competitive and tough to execute. Instead of doing the work yourself, consider hiring Pyromaniac Digital to do the job for you.
We’re SEO experts who can put your SEO marketing on autopilot with marketing packages tailor-made for startups at every stage. Just let us know what you want, and we’ll make it happen. All you’ll need to do is figure out how to handle your new leads.
So why wait? Get started today.
