SEO On a Budget Small Manufacturer Started a Program From Scratch

Think again! Columnist shares a case study detailing how a small business was able to make big gains with a limited budget.

The small manufacturers who are thriving in the face of global competition and other challenges have spent the last five to seven years improving productivity and process efficiencies. This focus has often meant that marketing activity was next to nonexistent — with much new business coming from word-of-mouth.
Once a small manufacturer has their process down, however, they’re ready to begin a marketing program that includes SEO.

1:Null historical data
When my company first began working with the small manufacturer in November 2015, we noted right away that the client’s website had a huge error with regard to the Google Analytics tracking code, which had been added to the website home page only. The low number of visitor sessions was a dead giveaway.
The first step in creating the client’s SEO program, therefore, was to ensure Google Analytics was properly tracking all web pages. An easy fix, but one that left us with zero data on which to base recommendations for moving forward.

keyword guessing
The client wanted to appear in Google for a few specific keywords pertaining to the services his company provided. However, the Keyword Planner showed few searchers were using these keywords in their searches.
Because we’ve worked with many small manufacturers and their esoteric products and services, we’ve learned the Keyword Planner isn’t always accurate, so we went ahead and optimized the website around iterations of these keywords plus others.

2:Some backlinks
For smaller manufacturers, the backlink profile is often limited, and budget and personnel constraints mean the company simply can’t take advantage of a full-fledged content and social media marketing program.
Even on a budget, some things can be done which are easy and cost-effective: One of our first steps was to create a Google My Business page, get the company listed in the YP.com directory and create a LinkedIn corporate profile page.

3:Making content and building awareness
The client already had an internal list, so we created a new account in MailChimp, imported the list and developed a template.
We maked a new topic for each month, but midway through the campaign, the client suggested a topic we could break down into multiple articles — and which would be of high interest to the target audience.
That’s when we hit paydirt.Although e-newsletters generally don’t fall under the purview of SEO, they do play a role in that they assist in conversions and inquiries over time.

4:Slow but steady traffic growth and conversions
The chart below shows the All Channels traffic data (adjusted for referral spam) for January through September. Of this, organic accounts for 69 percent, direct 22 percent and referral three percent.

The chart below shows the goal completions for new and returning users for the Q3 period for the website form only; the client has also been getting email and phone inquiries, which his team tracks in-house.

5:Conclusion
Starting an SEO program from scratch for a smaller company on a budget can be a little daunting, as the expectation for fast results lurks in the background (especially given all the hype and misinformation regarding SEO).The key to success is to set realistic expectations and have patience: for smaller companies on a tight budget and/or limited resources, it can take up to a year to see results from SEO and content marketing.

Source:searchengineland

Peter Zmijewski is the founder and CEO at KeywordSpy. His expert knowledge on Internet Marketing practices and techniques has earned him the title “Internet Marketing Guru“ He is also an innovator, investor and entrepreneur widely recognized by the top players in the industry.