by Irina Georgieva | Jan 2, 2025
“How SEO helps your business?” It’s a common and understandable question for business owners. Afterall, it’s hard to dispel SEO fact from fiction, and with so many digital marketers telling you that your business will fail without it, getting a clear picture of SEO’s practical benefits becomes hazy.
First off, let’s clear up what SEO is not. SEO is not a magic bullet for businesses to get their websites to the top of Google. There’s no code to crack or algorithm to beat, but by investing time and effort into SEO best practices, virtually any business, from local house painters to law firms, and e-commerce companies can attract more clients.
What is SEO and how it works?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving and increasing web traffic to your website or web page from search engines. Essentially, SEO is about understanding what your customers are searching for and the content they find engaging. Knowing the answers or at least working to get them lets you connect more, convert more, and expose your brand further.
10 ways how SEO helps your business with client acquisition
These are all proven ways how SEO helps your business to attract new clients and retain the old ones.
SEO makes your business more visible
The main reason for any business to implement an SEO strategy is to rise in search rankings. Ever hear the phrase, “it’s good to be on top?” Well when you consider that the first five organic search results get over 67% of all the clicks, you can see that it’s true.
When it comes to SEO, you want to be where your customers are. Businesses that don’t consider the keywords and phrases their customers are searching will continue to lose out to competitors, even if they offer an inferior service or product.
It allows you to get to know your customers
A lot of SEO centers around research. Business owners already think about their customers’ needs. This just takes it further.
For example, the owner of a convenience store probably gets a lot of the same questions, such as “where can I find the milk” or “do you carry this brand of soft drink?” After a while, it makes sense to put up a display that answers these questions.
Keyword research is the same idea. This lets you research and analyze popular search terms that users enter into search engines. There are any number of tools to help with this, but by anticipating your potential customers’ needs, you can direct them to your site with the best answer or the clearest path to one.
It also allows customers to get to know you better
You may have the best product or service on the market, but if you’re buried on page two or worse…three, users may have a hard time trusting you. Brand credibility and authority is a big advantage in the marketplace, and those that rise to the top are the leaders.
These are the brands potential clients look to for answers. So when your website shows up higher in the search results, it builds credibility. From there, you can earn your clientele’s trust and establish clout with keyword-focused content.
SEO reveals new opportunities
Some search optimization tactics can feel like replicating what others are already doing. This can feel stale and contributes to a lot of white noise. But with SEO, a big thing to consider is what’s lacking– what needs are not being fulfilled?
If the same convenience store owner kept hearing about a new snack that’s hard to find, it makes sense to get it in stock. Essentially, he’d be the one place you could find this elusive treat, and even if it only accounted for a fraction of his sales, those would be sales the store up the street wouldn’t get.
The same is true for your SEO efforts. Keyword research could reveal new and emerging trends in what potential clients are asking for, giving you an inside track.
SEO is trackable and adjustable
As mentioned earlier, SEO gives you a lot of information about your customers. Now what do you do with it?
One of SEO’s main benefits is noticing what works and what doesn’t. While it can take time for search engines to crawl a site, you can determine what moves the needle.
If a new landing page with persuasive copy and clear CTAs yielded higher conversions and you saw a jump in rankings, this may be something to repeat. On the other hand, if you implemented a dubious link building campaign in the past, you’ll see little to no impact. Fortunately, you can always switch gears and gain link equity from more reliable sources.
Local relevance equals convenience
You’ll hear a lot about locally relevant content in the SEO world. This refers to developing content and using SEO tactics to answer local customers’ queries and direct them to your website when they are looking for what you offer.
Put simply, if someone searches for “the best cupcakes in Columbus, Ohio” you want your cupcake shop to rank and showcase what makes your treats better. There are various SEO practices that can help, but doing it correctly shows customers what they want, where they can find you, and goes a long way to increasing revenue.
It makes websites better and easier to use
Search engines like Google are constantly updating their algorithms with the user or better yet, your potential customers’ experience in mind. They want to deliver the best website to meet their needs with the best UX. That’s why it is important to revisit and fine-tune your approach.
With more searches than ever happening on phones, tablets, and voice search platforms, is your site still suited for someone using a desktop? Large walls of text, out-of-frame images, and obsolete website architecture all contribute to a less than optimal experience and diminished rankings.
Think of it this way, if your site looks dated, is hard to navigate, and feels stagnant, how do you expect to engage a potential client?
An SEO investment is for long-term gains
Remember when we said SEO isn’t a magic bullet? It still isn’t. While there are
paid search alternatives like ads, their results are usually fleeting. Investing in SEO; however, is a slow burn because it takes time to put SEO measures into practice, for link equity to build, and for search engines to assess your authority.
While every situation is different and you should be wary of anyone who promises results overnight , it can take up to a year to see visible SEO progress. Some of the factors involved in gaining SEO ground are
your competition, market size, web design, and link building capabilities.
So keep the faith, your patience, and ensure you have a quality team managing your SEO.
It brings your whole marketing plan together
SEO is a great way to build brand awareness and should be the driving force behind your marketing efforts. All of your campaigns, whether they focus on e-mail, social media, e-commerce, or more traditional avenues like print should all borrow from and support one another.
This ensures your business has a unified brand voice, but it also adds authority. When your social media posts integrate with your blog and landing pages, your goals are aligned, your followers and engagement increase, and you’re better placed for organic growth.
SEO is cost-effective with a high ROI
It’s true that a lot of companies invest heavily in SEO, but that’s because the value of a first-page ranking is incredible. You basically get a lot for your money when compared to other types of marketing and paid search.
When done well, SEO has tremendous financial upside. A placement on page one is prime real estate so you need fewer ads. The compelling content with your user in mind does a lot of selling for you so you need fewer salespeople. And finally, the authority from link building gives your brand credibility in the marketplace.
Devoting resources to SEO is an undertaking for most businesses, and it definitely takes time and expertise. Some may be hesitant, favoring more immediate ways to increase web traffic and revenue. But this is often shortsighted.In the end, SEO is worth it because you better believe that your competition takes SEO seriously. The companies on page one are looking to make their sites faster, more user friendly, and engaging for their customers. There is nothing stopping your business from doing the same. SEO is how new and innovative enterprises level the playing field, and prove to the consumer why they deserve their business and the top spot in search.
by Irina Georgieva | Jan 2, 2025
Starting a business is not a piece of cake, and we know it, but it doesn’t have to be total chaos as well. Being realistic and aware of as many insights as possible will definitely be a big push when entering the business world.
You think you have done your research about the cost of doing business and you calculated the rent costs, buying equipment, paying salary, etc, but there are costs of doing business that don’t go by the book. That’s when asking business owners to share their experience comes in.
9 most (un)expected costs of doing business
In order to avoid any financial surprise, we’ve asked business owners who already went down that road to share the cost of doing business they wish they knew earlier.
Running a business is challenging in so many ways and a successful business will adapt to needs and the changing landscape of the world. The biggest cost that a new business owner needs to be aware of is that of inefficient employees. Not only do they have economic impacts but they can be cancerous within the culture of a business. Not only would you waste money on paying that employee, but they can also contribute to poor morale that ultimately can be a detriment to the entire business and drive away from a great talent.
Omid Torkian, CEO at Shipbots
As a small business owner, I used an online resource to map out the cost of all of my expenses so that I knew what to budget for and how to plan overall. New business owners should be aware of the cost of having a website. In order to have your own domain and use important features that your service has, it is going to cost you monthly payments. If you’re not good with computers or technology, you might also have to hire someone to create your website for you.
Andre Kazimierski, CEO of Improovy
The one cost that I would recommend any new business owner lookout for is taxes. If someone has never owned a company before, they might not be aware of all the different taxes and how much they can end up costing them from year to year. That being said, you should check with your respective state or country’s department of labor about all the tax matters related to your specific location and situation.
They will be able to provide detailed information about what kind of income tax concerns are relevant to your business situation. Entrepreneurs should also have an accountant that specializes in their field of business so that they know all of the rules to keep you legal and to save you the most money.
Jamie Hickey, Founder of Coffee Semantics
Regulatory and insurance costs
The simplest thing that new business owners can do to accurately calculate their cost of doing business is to create separate financial accounts for your business (checking account, credit card, etc.) and use them exclusively for all of their business expenses. This will take the essential first step of keeping all business expenses in one place.
My next piece of advice is to be aware of regulatory and insurance costs related to starting a new business. It can be easy to overlook these expenses in favor of focusing on supplies, rent, labor, and other more concrete costs, but these things are essential to starting a business and can be quite costly depending on your industry and regulatory environment.
Devon Fata, CEO at Pixoul
As an expert in debt consolidation, I can confidently say that the long-term costs of small business loans are an important expense for entrepreneurs to consider. Often, people have a vision for a business and will focus on making that vision a reality at the expense of doing it in a
financially sound way. It’s best to avoid small business loans as much as possible in favor of scaling up slowly, seeking investors, and keeping costs down until revenue starts coming in.
Carter Seuthe, CEO at Credit Summit
I calculated my cost of doing business by determining what I would be willing to spend out of pocket before establishing a steady revenue stream. I would advise new business owners to be aware of marketing expenses.
Marketing can include social media advertising, website creation, graphic design platforms, and even apparel. Individually, each is not very expensive. However, when you use multiple advertising sources, the costs can add up and not provide the desired results, income generation. Therefore calculating these costs upfront and making sure you get the most out of the advertising budget is imperative.
Annette Harris, Founder of Harris Financial Coaching
Hiring and training employees
I started by plotting out a hypothetical full month of operations. This made it easier to visualize all aspects of the business and helped me identify some costs of doing business I’d been ignoring in my initial operating budgets.
Hiring employees and training. That’s an easy one to ignore because it’s not a regular expense and it’s difficult to plan for, but it’s also one of the most significant employee-related expenses for a business. You should know what it will cost to replace each position in your company, even if you think your employees are committed for the long term. Even the best-run business has some amount of turnover so it’s unrealistic to expect you won’t need to hire.
Michael Moran, Owner of Green Lion Search Group
I actually hired professionals to help me calculate the cost of doing business since I was still new in the process and unfamiliar with all of the expenses. The process took a while but I ended up with a rather realistic estimate. One of the most unexpected costs was equipment failure. So, when in doubt whether you should buy or lease equipment, I say you focus on being prepared for equipment failure.
I calculated how much it would cost me to initially purchase tech equipment but a lot of it needed repairs or replacements after a short period of time and this cost quite a bit of money. I would suggest to business owners to always set aside a small budget for these unexpected technical costs since they happen more often than not.
Navarre Trousselot, CEO at Navexa
I compartmentalize these as government or industry costs like
business licenses, tax, or fixed operating costs such as working space lease. Businesses should especially be aware of their license costs. Some licenses are subjected to annual reviews to ensure businesses are still adhering to standards and best practices, which can sometimes mean incurring renewal and training expenses as part of the renewal process.
Ian B., President of Kredmo
Don’t start your business before you make sure you analyzed all your costs. Determine what costs are possible to minimize, which costs are a must and which are potential costs that can harm your workflow. Being a good boss means being prepared to respond accordingly to every scenario. Therefore, the priceless but biggest cost of doing business is taking risks and always being awake to predict potential problems before they lead to a disaster.
by Irina Georgieva | Jan 2, 2025
Vaishali Shah
Ananya Cards, Culturally Minded, Creative-ID
Not having professionally drafted contracts
When I started running my business, I undertook various projects after a verbal go ahead. I would execute my design and branding work and send off my designs to the clients. When it came to paying my invoice, some clients did not pay! Once they had the work they needed, they did not respond to my demand for payment; emails and telephone calls were ignored. I quickly learnt to have a professionally drafted contract in place and ask for 50% payment upfront and the 50% balance before handing over my files and artwork. These agreements need to be in place to avoid nasty surprises.
Not spending enough time ON your business
As an entrepreneur, it is very easy to get too involved in the day to day operations of your business, getting involved in tasks that are time consuming and not strategically important, which is what I did in the first few years. Now 20 years in, I work on my business – I work on the strategy and goals of the business, I prioritise and I delegate where appropriate. I devote more time on my business rather than in my business.
Debbie Gillespie
Cake Design
Find your own niche/path
I spent almost the first 4 years of my business agreeing to everything and marketing to everyone. I ended up taking on cakes that I didn’t like, didn’t charge appropriately for and ultimately resented. Over the last 12-18 months, I have worked hard on finding my niche, the designs that really make me feel happy. The result has been I am now attracting my ideal clients who love my designs and am becoming known for my particular style. I suppose it was a right of passage but I wish I had found my niche sooner.
Determine what success looks like to you
I spent far too long listening to podcasts and business coaches who said that money was the indicator of success, so I needed to think about up scaling etc. The pressure led to feeling overwhelmed, loss of creativity and almost sounded the death knell for my business. I had to work out what MY success would look like, not someone else’s.
For me, it was to have a small business that attracted my ideal customers whose requests fulfilled me creatively. It would allow me a reasonable income but not at the expense of my work-life balance and mental health. I am now happier, more fulfilled in my work and have attracted greater success as my confidence grows.
Emma Soulsby
Emma Soulsby Flowers, Emma Soulsby Flower School
Not creating a brand from the start and merely setting up a business.
I believe there is a big difference between ‘creating a brand’ and ‘setting up a business’ – the latter is what I did initially and saw me attracting the wrong client. When I set up I merely set up a blog, a company name and documented my floristry work. I didn’t give too much thought to a brand, a sustainable business model or narrow down exactly who my ideal client was. As a result, early on I was attracting the wrong sort of clients.
I re-branded a couple of years later and this is when my business truly elevated and I now get work from my dream ideal clients and I am getting the recognition I know I deserve and that I had hoped to achieve. My lesson learnt is to not rush into setting up a business, it’s not just about coming up with a cool business name, throwing up a website and randomly posting content and hoping for the best.
Nicola Russill-Roy
Propose PR, Nicola Russill-Roy LTD
Thinking I knew it all and not asking for help
In the first 5 years of running my business, I fell into the trap of assuming I knew it all (or if I didn’t know something then the only person who could find the answers was me). Whilst this approach certainly saw me no harm as my business accelerated quite fast after turning the 2nd year in business, I look back now and think I could have avoided wasting a lot of time and preventing myself from much stress if I simply realised that whilst I am a PR expert, I don’t know it all when it comes to running a business and that its ok to ask for help.
In the last few years I can now recognise when it’s more effective to outsource or get an expert in to the business to help me, whether that’s for social media, accountancy, human resources etc. Just because you run your own business, you shouldn’t feel you are expected to know it all, it’s ok to admit your weaknesses and get help in those areas.
Not being a good communicator
I am a self confessed control freak, so it has taken me a while to learn that I cannot do it all, I need to delegate in my business in order to grow. But with delegation comes the need to be able to communicate with those you are delegating to, what you expect, what you need doing and when you need it doing by. I found for a while that the tasks being completed by those I was delegating to were not being completed in a way I had hoped.
After a bit of reflection and looking back at situations, I can see it wasn’t necessarily anyone’s fault, it was more the fact I hadn’t communicated exactly what my expectations were. I am excellent at communicating to my clients but when it came to communicating to my team, I noticed the ‘niggles’ were actually due to my inability to accurately communicate. Having worked on this with a consultant, I can see that actually the fear of not being in control was affecting my communication skills! If you need to communicate tasks with your team members, make sure you really are asking them what you truly are expecting in return!
Bernadette Chapman
The UK Alliance of Wedding Planners, Bernadette Chapman Consultancy
Not seeking professional employment advice
In the early days of business, I hired my first member of the team and failed to consider looking into the necessary paperwork and contract in order to protect myself and my business if in the future I needed to make any changes to their position in the company. Having learnt the hard way was not ideal and caused much stress but the outcome is now I am very vigilant when it comes to entering into partnerships or agreements with anyone and I always have the correct paperwork. If I am unclear in an area that I know needs a contract, I know to consult a legal expert to ask for guidance.
Doubting myself and my abilities
Over the years I have wasted far too much time double guessing myself, doubting my abilities and comparing myself to other business owners. I would say this is mainly due to the significant rise we have seen over the past decade on social media where ‘imposter syndrome’ really does sneak in.
I have worked a lot on my mind-set as a result and whilst I still have times where I wobble (what human being doesn’t!), I can now confidently tell myself. “I AM good at what I do, I have nearly two decades of experience, a fantastic reputation, a leader in my field and that I will no longer allow others to make me doubt myself”.
More must-read stories from Enterprise League:
