Does a small business really need SEO?

Small business SEO is a perfect example of how powerful of a tool SEO really is – it can be the differentiating factor between a small business just getting by and a well established local institution.

SEO for small business is a delicate balance of budget, goals, and the markets. We won’t tell you that SEO will 100% take your sole trader, hand made artisanal giftware shop to the international heights of something like Target – but SEO can 100% improve your reach and establish you in your niche.

Pro tip: if an SEO company tells you that SEO alone can and will do that for you, that’s a red flag. Check out our “How Do I Know My SEO Company is Good?” for more things to help you know what to look for in a good SEO company

Out performing big businesses in search results is absolutely possible with SEO, and lots of people do it regularly. Whether it’s a one-woman travel blog appearing above Trip Advisor and Booking. Com or a local mechanic coming first when a national chain of mobile mechanic vans is result 2, 3, 4, or 5 – SEO is why.

While it can feel futile to compete against a company larger than your own, nationally or even internationally established, we’re here to tell you it’s not!

Really – it’s not!

Many people (understandably, but incorrectly) feel that there’s not much point for small businesses to use SEO to rank higher than the big players in their industry because they’re not providing a similar service – no one goes to Target for artisanal goats’ milk hand cream.

The difference is, target is aiming at everyone while you’re aiming at the people who most resonate with your product. Let’s expand this example a little more.

Imagine: you’re looking for a gift for a family friend, they love skincare but you don’t know too much about it. Searching for a broad term like ‘hand cream gifts’ will probably show up a bunch of market place ads, and mega retailers like Target offering low-price, pre-wrapped, and generic gift boxes – but you’re not that keen on giving something so obviously impersonal and so add ‘organic’ to the search bar. That gives you may of the same results from Target, but the third one down is someone hand-making hand creams, soaps, and candles down in Queenstown. Their website is full of information about their products and the making process, this person even raises their own goats and posts adorable pictures of them on their socials – and hey look they have free shipping.

Now, the person who doesn’t care what hand cream they use might choose either the mega retail or the small business, but the person buying something they care about? They’re going to choose the small Queenstown local.

It might seem illogical, but when a small business gets in front of the same people Target does they immediately have a competitive edge simply because they’re not Target – the trick is getting in front of that audience, and SEO is the key to that trick.

SEO for small business owners is often a point of concern due to the perception of high costs, but when you look at the benefits of SEO and the comparative costs of other digital marketing it can still make a lot of sense for small businesses to invest in SEO.

While the upfront cost can feel like a lot, SEO is the most effective and long-term marketing avenue – including paid advertising. The ROI is impressive to say the least, considering that when done well your SEO puts more appropriate eyes on your brand than traditional or online advertisement. You know those bus stop ads that are selling the ad space itself? They often say things like ‘get 140,000 eyes on your brand by advertising here’.

Sure, 140,000 people may well drive past that bus stop in a day, but let’s say you’re a craft brewery.
Around 20% of those are likely to be children – not your audience. About 25% of women and 17% of men don’t drink alcohol – also not your audience.

So let’s do that math.

• To account for the children: 140,000 – 20% = 112,000
• To account for the female non drinkers: (112,000/2)-25% = 42,000
• To account for the male non drinkers: (112,000/2)-17%= 46,480
• That leaves 88,480 people seeing that bus stop that are immediately disinterested.

We hear you saying ‘88,480 people is still a lot of people!’, and we don’t disagree – but the ROI is terrible! You’re paying to be shown to 140,000 people and over a third of them will never be your customers – and that’s before looking at the percentage of people who don’t drink beer, don’t want to go out to drink, or just don’t have time to drink socially. If you asked your assistant to hand out 1,000 flyers and they threw away 370 of them – would you keep asking them to do it?

Compare that to well crafted SEO where 99% of people who are looking at your brand have actively sought out a craft brewery to go to.

We aren’t saying that SEO should be your only avenue for marketing but we know – and the stats agree – that it’s easily one of the best returns on investment in the marketing space.

Does a small business need SEO if they’re not looking to serve people outside their immediate community? Let’s talk about it!
When we’re looking at the question ‘does a local business need SEO’ it comes down to a few more factors, like what the local competition is and if they’re looking to grow.

If you live in a town of 100 people and you’re the only bakery in 50 miles, then SEO probably won’t be at the top of your list of places you’re sourcing your customers from. If, however, to make a little extra revenue you’re thinking of selling an e-book on the history of baking, niche dough braiding patterns, and historically accurate baking practices – you’ll have a lot more success with SEO on your side.

For a more realistic example, let’s imagine your small local business is one of three or four art supply stores in a town of 100,000 people or so. You might be local, but there are plenty of people who have only ever driven past one of those store fronts and don’t know you’re there. SEO for your small business can put you on the map – literally! The simple act of getting your business to show up on Google Maps is a matter of digital footprint management and SEO, and it means that when someone goes to their app and types in the name of their preferred art store – yours will still pop up! The opportunities SEO for local businesses provides is huge and can’t be ignored.

Let’s level up for the next example. You’re a plumber in Auckland, there are hundreds of competing plumbing businesses all after the same Auckland homeowners as you. This position can benefit hugely from SEO specialized for local businesses. You know what it’s like looking for a local company to provide a service, unless you have a personal recommendation from a trusted friend – you’re going to turn to the search engines for information, and honestly how often do you go past page one? Page two? Page three?? If your company isn’t easy to find, people will go with others that they find first – even if your service is better, prices lower, and technicians friendlier.

There are several things to consider when engaging a SEO consultant for your small business, but the bottom line is that when SEO for small business owners is done well it can be the key to success.