Part 1: Understanding SEO and Why it is Essential for Small Businesses and Nonprofits
- Sebrinia Welch
- Oct 25, 2023
- 3 min read
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With the internet chock full of information with its billions of webpages, getting noticed is a huge challenge for many businesses, especially small businesses and nonprofits. While it might seem like SEO is this magical tool that will make your website automatically appear on the top search results, it is actually more important to understand its elements to harness its true potential.
What is SEO?
As mentioned in the last blog [read it here!], Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is not just a buzzword or a one-step action that makes you rise to the top of rankings immediately. It’s more an umbrella term that consists of various techniques and actions aimed at improving a website's visibility on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. When done right, SEO can help your content, whether it’s a blog post, a product page, or your organization’s mission statement, appear higher on search engine results when someone types a relevant search or “query.”
Also SEO isn’t a “one and done” thing - it’s not really a checklist you complete when you build your digital presence to then never touch again. Think about the creation of new information as well as the evolution current (or past) trends - change is constant and so are searches.
As your target audience seeks answers to their questions and looks for their needs to be met, whether it is from your content, products/services or from a competitor, their questions may shift or their needs and want will evolve, pushing them to ask new questions and look for new products or services.
I like to think of SEO as a cycle - as trends fade, new ones arise, so how do I keep my business and its offerings relevant? How do I make sure I continue to positively impact my target audience so they keep engaging with me?
SEO - A Cost-Effective Tool for Small Businesses and Nonprofits
While the definition sounds straightforward, why should a small business or nonprofit invest time and resources into SEO? Here are some reasons why:
1. Increased Visibility: Think about the last time you searched for something online. How far down the list of results did you go? Rarely do users look past the initial search results. If your website doesn’t appear there, it might as well not exist for many potential customers or supporters.
2. Cost-Effective Marketing: Unlike paid ads, the effects of SEO are longer-lasting. With consistent efforts, you can make sure that your content continues to rank higher when connecting to searches performed.
3. Building Trust: Ranking high in search results also adds credibility. Users trust search engines to provide the most relevant information first.
4. Understanding Your Target Audience: SEO allows you to understand what your potential clients or supporters are looking for. This, in turn, lets you tailor your offerings, content and marketing to their needs.
The DIY Aspect of SEO
There are a lot of services and platforms out there to help small businesses and nonprofits implement SEO strategies for a fee and for some organizations out there, it may be worth the money and investment to outsource this work, especially for more advanced strategies. However, it is absolutely possible to do this work yourself!
One of the most empowering aspects of SEO is that, with the right knowledge and tools, many foundational SEO practices can be done within your team. There are a lot of free information guides, resources and cost-effective tools to support your work and in future articles we’ll break some SEO elements down even further into actionable bite-size pieces to best optimize your online presence!
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