Source: Freepik
SEO is the art of optimizing your website, content, and technical performance to match the requirements of search engine algorithms and appear at the top of search results.
Lead generation is the process of creating interest in your product or service in target customers with the aim of generating sales.
Together, these two tactics can help startup owners generate interest, increase trust, and acquire more customers. In this guide, we are going to help you understand the basics of search engine optimization and explore effective SEO optimization tips that will help you get from the launch of your startup to lead generation and its scalable growth.
Understanding SEO for Entrepreneurs
Wondering why SEO is important for startups? According to Statista, researching brands, products, and services is one of the primary reasons for people across the world (43.7 percent) to use the Internet. And most of them begin their research in search engines.
With such a large number of consumers turning to search engines to explore brands, improving your visibility in them can make your startup skyrocket. Smart optimization can help you boost brand recognition and visibility, drive lots of traffic, and capture more leads (potential buyers).
If you’re also wondering what it consists of, here are the core principles of SEO for startups:
- Keyword research;
- On-page optimization;
- Relevant high-quality content;
- Technical SEO;
- Backlinks.
Further on, we are going to tell you how to implement SEO strategy effectively to grow your venture. But before we get there, let us stress the importance of taking it nice and slow:
Before you engage in search engine optimization, be sure to research your market and competitors, determine your specific goals and resources, and set realistic benchmarks for your efforts in order to retain motivation. Also, don’t forget about tracking SEO results and refining your strategy consistently to get the best SEO progress.
Pre-Launch Preparation
Before you launch your venture, there are a few preparatory steps you should take to make sure your business is SEO-ready:
- Conduct market research to identify the demand for your product/service and outline your ideal customer profile.
- Analyze the key competitors in your field to inform your own strategy. Leverage specialized technical SEO solutions like a website traffic estimator to see what kind of traffic your competitors acquire and what tactics work for them.
- Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or similar to research terms related to your business and location and make a list of relevant keywords.
- Work on your website’s structure, metadata, and content.
- Take care of the basic technical SEO performance, such as – crawlability, mobile-friendliness, and site speed (it must be at least 5 seconds or less).
- Lastly, build a compelling content strategy, keeping your target audience’s interests and needs in mind, and complimenting your strategy with relevant keywords you found earlier.
Launching Your Startup Online
When you’re finally ready to let your business idea go live, one more thing you might be wondering about is how to measure SEO readiness before the launch.
Here’s a checklist that should help:
- Keyword research
- A well-optimized website with a clear structure
- Site speed test
- Mobile readiness test
- XML sitemap for better crawlability
- Optimized images with the right names and alt texts
- Optimized meta titles and descriptions
- High-quality external links for greater value and trust
- Quality internal and backlinks
- Quality internal and backlinks
Source: Freepik
Alt: People working around the table and the search engine optimization concept on the background
If you tick all the boxes, chances are that your site is indeed ready to conquer the web. Yet, there are a couple more things you must do right after launching your startup.
First of all, master the art of local SEO. Create your Google My Business profile and create listings on all major directories to help consumers find your physical location without a hassle.
Next, set up an account on Google Analytics and Search Console. These tools will help you deal with tracking SEO performance and adjusting your strategy for optimized results.
Lastly, don’t forget to leverage social media platforms and connect with local journalists, influencers, and news sites to create some buzz around your launch.
Top 4 SEO Lead Generation Strategies
Once you launch your business and create some initial buzz, your primary goal from now on is to attract potential customers – in other words, to generate leads.
Here are the primary SEO for entrepreneurs tactics that will help you generate leads:
- Creating high-converting landing pages – Landing pages are designed with the single goal of capturing leads’ information and converting them into customers. To boost your results, create optimized landing pages that rank for your target keywords and perfectly resonate with your prospects.
- Integrating clear call-to-action – A call-to-action or CTA is used to encourage site visitors to perform a desired action, such as signing up for a newsletter. CTAs can capture leads very effectively but only if you use them right – keep your CTAs snappy (under 5 words) and clear, emphasize your CTAs with colors on the page, place them strategically to make them visible, and don’t overdo it!
- Leveraging lead magnets – To drive as many prospects as possible create tempting lead magnets – free items or services offered for free in exchange for users’ data. Depending on your business type, your magnets can be free consultations, trial periods, white papers, etc. Then, use the contact data you collect to create an email marketing campaign and nurture your leads until they turn into customers.
- Optimize conversion funnels – Actively measure SEO and lead generation outcomes to analyze and optimize your conversion funnels. Depending on the results you get, feel free to adjust your landing pages, CTAs, target keywords, and other elements of your strategy to generate more leads. Also, create special content for different conversion stages (targeting different user intents) to eliminate any friction before stages and ensure better conversions.
Wrapping Up: Tracking SEO Results and Optimizing Performance
At its core, the aim of optimization is to boost the amount and quality of organic traffic to your website. As a result, this tactic can help aspiring entrepreneurs get their brands noticed on the web. Blend it with effective lead generation and these two tactics can help you jump-start your startup and scale it.
After reading this guide, you already know about the primary tactics of lead generation and SEO for startups, such as keyword research, local optimization, landing pages, etc. Start using these tactics right now to build a solid grounding for your new venture.
And if you want to get even greater outcomes, let us give you a few concluding tips on how to do it:
- Based on your objectives, identify the primary SEO metrics and consistently monitor them using specialized tools.
- Analyze the metrics and identify areas for improvement to achieve better SEO performance.
- Focus a lot on link-building and social media to expand your outreach and brand visibility.
- Investing in ongoing SEO education and keeping an eye on the biggest industry trends to remain competitive.
- Don’t hesitate to leverage professional SEO services for startups to get on the right track.
- Don’t be afraid of failure because it’s not a bad thing!
Use all the tips we shared with you here to bring your business to the top! And don’t forget that search engines are now the key drivers of online success. So don’t hesitate to invest heavily in your SEO progress!
This content is a joint venture between our publication and our partner. We do not endorse any product or service in the article.
