You run a small business and you wear many hats. One day you’re the accountant, the next day the salesman. Sometimes your the chief marketing officer and other days you’re HR. Every once in a while, when you have the time, you’re the webmaster.
So you brushed up on your SEO skills, read the SEO blogs and checked out great SEO resources like the SEOMOZ website. You inserted your title tags, wrote strong, relevant content, added description and H1 tags, cleaned up broken links, etc. So your site is up to speed as far as your concerned.
Now what?
Now it’s a popularity contest. In order to increase your search engine ranking, you must have quality, relevant, in-bound links. And while that is a huge undertaking in itself, for which you may not have time for right now, there are some things you can do with your limited resources and time…
- Chambers & Associations. Register for relevant associations, such as your Meetup group or local Chamber of Commerce. Complete your member profile with a link back to your website.
- Local Directories. Submit your website to local business directories. Google your town’s directories, for example “Philadelphia Business Directories.” Browse the results and submit your site to the free directories.
- Vertical Directories. Submit your website to industry-related directories. Google your industry’s directories, such as “Interior Decorating Directories” or “Home Improvement Directories.” Browse the results and submit your site to the free directories.
- Speaking Engagements. If you participate in local events or job fairs, often these events will have dedicated websites, so request a link back to your website from the sponsors or members page.
- Charities. Request an acknowledgment link from charities to which you donate. Charities will often have pages dedicated to organizations that make monetary contributions, as well as donations of time or services.
- Blog. If you don’t have a blog, consider starting one. Also, contribute to other relevant blogs. Write a guest post for a well-ranked industry blog. Ensure that your blog, and other blogs in which you participate, link back to your main website.
- Links, Links, Links. Always keep links in mind. Any time you have an opportunity to participate in industry-related conversation online, link back to your website in your comment.
A major link building effort is time-consuming, difficult, and requires a lot of attention and creativity. However, there are some thing you can do as a small business owner in the meantime until you have the time and resources to devote to this strategy. Even if you can’t do it all, just get in the mindset of giving out your website address just as you give out your name and contact info whenever you are mentioned on the web.
June 15, 2011