Search Engine Optimisations - or SEO as it's usually referred to by us marketeers - is integral to your marketing as a micro/small business.

Not only is it free (!), but organic searches make up 53% of all internet traffic so there is huge opportunity to capture the attention of your target audience.

Here are 15 easy ways to get started with SEO-ing your website and business.

1. Make sure your site is mobile optimised. This is 2021, half of the UK's traffic is from mobiles. Make sure people can see your website properly!

2. Think about your website structure: It should be intuitive to use, have lots of relevant content, and use descriptive, yet logical URLs.

3. Know your best keywords and use them throughout your content. You can research using Google Keyword Planner, by looking at competitors' websites and using Google Trends.

4. Never repeat content, always reword things for each new page or blog. This applies to both your website and elsewhere.

5. Use a blog to introduce long, relevant copy that is updated regularly. Both things are two massive ticks in the eyes of a search engine bot.

6. Link to other sites with information on your subject, this shows your content is valuable and informative.

7. Be descriptive when you name your image files. Search engines will just see the code, so you can use the image name as an opportunity to add in more keywords.

8. Add an ‘alt’ tag to your images again, so that search engines will see extra keywords.

9. Make sure image files are small so they don’t effect page speed. By small I mean less than 500kb, preferably smaller.

10. Write concise page titles using a maximum of 60 characters. It should be clear what your business is from this title.

11. Use interesting page descriptions. These should be enticing for your potential customer and a maximum 160 characters.

12. Redirect page errors so that visitors don't immediately bounce off your site. Use your website platform tools to redirect old pages to the new ones (this is a 301 redirect) and make sure that your 404 error page directs people back to your homepage.

13. Use Google My Business to take up lots of real estate on the search results when someone searches for you business name and also to give Google more information about who you are and what you do. It's also a good idea to ask for reviews to show that you're a trustworthy business.

14. Keep your social media updated and make sure profiles link back to your website. Pinterest is a search engine in itself, and particularly good for linking back to your site with every single pin you create.
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15. Get links to your website from other websites, especially well-respected ones. Guest blogs are a fantastic and easy way of doing this (just don't reuse one of your own blogs).

All of these steps are straightforward will make your website and business more search engine friendly, as well as more user-friendly for your customers. It's win/win.

I'm proud to be one of the writers for MamaTribe's features and this month I have created a hierarchy for how to prioritise your digital marketing channels. Here is a quick overview of the steps: 

1// Get your website structure and content right, making sure you are mobile first.

2// Focus on Search Engine Optimisation by researching keywords and adding them to your title tags, headings, descriptions, URLs and image ALT tags. 

3// Introduce basic email automation for important emails and make sure they are on brand.

4// Establish yourself on social media, remembering that it is better to excel at one or two social networks rather than spreading your time too thinly.

5// Dabble with social media advertising to increase your social reach and utilise social network pixels.

6// Up your email marketing ante with an email template and regular newsletters.

7// Get serious with your digital advertising across both social media and search platforms. 

8// And then add the rest, such as affiliate, content and influencer marketing.

To read my advice on prioritising your digital marketing channels in full you can find the MamaTribe feature here.