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If you're a business owner, you'll have heard of SEO, but as an SME can you battle against the search engines on your own… and win?

You wouldn't still be a business owner if you hadn't cottoned on to the need for a strong online presence. However, trying to get your website to rank well in the SERPs, to increase organic traffic and then convert it, can be a tricky task even for the professionals.

When the industry itself is changing and evolving, can SMEs hope to keep up and make sure their SEO efforts are working – without having to call in the professionals?



One of the biggest mistakes I see many businesses making, big or small, is thinking that SEO can just be cobbled together, with a bit of Facebook here, some Twitter there and a blog post of two for good measure.

Digital marketing can be incredibly effective when done right, increasing organic traffic, improving brand recognition and loyalty and of course raising profits. But you can't do everything overnight, so that needs a plan.

Make a priority list and work towards getting the basics of your SEO done right. That will probably be optimising your website titles and descriptions, checking its usability and path through to conversion and tracking progress through analytics.

At the same time you need to be thinking about content, as content is now king. Get a six month plan for your blog's content, looking at what will be relevant, interesting and useful to your customers.

Your Customers. Your Expertise

The major tool you have which will give you a head-start in your SEO efforts is your knowledge of your business and your customers.

You'll know who they are, what they want and how they like to interact with you, so use that to your advantage. Interact with your community, ask your customers for feedback or what content they'd like to see. Listen to them and you'll be rewarded with loyal customers and an improved service that is going to reap benefits that 'clever' SEO tactics won't.

Google isn't going to be buying your products or services, so it's common sense that all your efforts should be undertaken with your customers in mind. Design a website that is easy for a real customer to use, listen to their ideas and needs and then respond.

All this sounds like it'll take every waking hour, but there are some tools of the trade that you'll need to get familiar with, if you're going to tackle it all yourself.

Get The Technology

The industry is booming, and so the number of SEO tools is rising; tools that can automate practically any aspect of your SEO, if that's what you want.

From complete toolsets to specific ones for social, keyword research, site structure and lots of others, it's important to decide which are the best SEO tools for your business. Many even have trial versions or free access to limited functions, which mean you can try before you buy.

Find The Time

However, the most important thing to remember when it comes to SEO is that is doesn't necessarily have to cost you lots of money, but what it does require is time.

You need time to dedicate to learning the right SEO practices, and time to keep up-to-date as things change. You need time to come across as a real person on your social media account, and time to react to comments and feedback.

You need to have the time to update your blog with regular content, but more than that, you need the time to think through what that content should be.

It'll take some time and thought to consider all of these aspects and how they'll work together. Time you might not have.

So, The Verdict

The answer is 'it depends.'

My favourite answer for most situations, but perhaps not the most illuminating, so let me try and be clearer.

If you have the time and the inclination to keep on top of the changes in SEO and to dedicate energy to making sure you are producing the best relevant content you can, finding and interacting with the people that influence your customers and have a usable website that attracts and converts then there's no reason why it can't be kept in-house.

However if you don't have the time to get to a competent level of SEO knowledge then you may well need a digital marketing agency that has the expertise and resources to help propel your online business forward.

If you want to do your own SEO then there is a wealth of information and tools out there to help guide you in, hopefully, the right direction. It's just important to remember that it's not going to happen overnight.

Are you currently doing you own SEO? Share your thoughts, comments and experiences here.

Author Bio
Elise Lévêque is a freelance writer whose passion lies in social media. With SEO creeping further and further into her work, she's been spending her time working out what it means for small businesses.