Small business SEO strategy plays an important role in the success of any small business these days but with COVID-19 locking down businesses everywhere, more small businesses are abandoning ship. It’s instinct to panic and tighten the pursestrings when an economic crisis hits, but one area that your small business can’t afford to make those cuts is your SEO strategy.
Small Business SEO: 6 Reasons Not to Abandon Ship During COVID-19
1. It Took Time to Get There
It takes time and a lot of effort to build up your company’s SEO presence and it takes ongoing effort to maintain your current search engine presence. If you abandon ship, you stop the current momentum of your SEO campaign meaning that you are no longer going to gain ground in search engine linking. A complete lack of momentum also means that your current search engine results are going to start slipping and they will slip fast.
2. Shop From Home Access For Customers
The current age of technology has been a blessing during the COVID-19 lockdown because it has allowed us to connect with friends and family and to purchase the things that we need.
Online access has also been a blessing for many small businesses that have been forced to shut physical store locations. By taking advantage of their online presence, these businesses have been able to maintain a stream of income through online sales.
If your business does not currently have an online presence, it’s time to start getting one established because we really don’t know how long these lockdowns are going to last and a solid online presence can lead to a stream of income that saves your business from collapse.
3. Communication with Customers
Staying in communication with your customers is important whether you have a business that has been forced to temporarily close or not.
If your business has had to close, keeping in touch with your customers through social media and by maintaining an online presence is a great way to remind your customers that you are still out there. If you completely disappear from the radar, you are not only going to lose customers while you’re out of the picture, but you’re also going to lose rapport with your customers. Disappearing gives your customers the idea that you “get going” when the times get tough and that you aren’t reliable as an entity.
If your business has remained open during the shutdown, keeping in touch with customers is equally as important because it keeps customers who have been in quarantine in the loop. It reminds your customers that you are out there and trudging through the same mess that they are.
4. Growing Your Business
Even if your company has closed down during the shutdown, you have the opportunity to grow your business by growing your online presence and your social media following. You can gain potential customers for when your company reopens following the shutdown. You can also extend your reach by taking advantage of social media channels to market your products or services to a new demographic of client – it’s the perfect time to grow your audience!
5. It Matters to Google
When you have been regularly updating your website and social media channels to build your SEO presence suddenly stopping gets noticed by search engines like Google. Where you were building your authority previously, you have now dropped off the radar and are making much less of an impact. Unfortunately, this is going to result in a drop of status that is noticed web-wide and your site is going to be less of a “go-to” resource for search engine results. This means a drop in website traffic, which can also means a drop in sales, which, in turn, means less revenue for your company.
6. Your Competitors Aren’t
Dropping your SEO efforts right now isn’t just a poor choice for the reasons above, but it’s also a terrible choice because it gives your competitors the opportunity to overshadow your web presence. So, as your web presence declines, your competitors get to climb up the ladder and take advantage of your losses. What does that mean? It means that clients searching for your search terms are now going to find themselves on your competitor’s websites.
Do You Need Help With Your Current Small Business SEO Strategy?
If you need help with your current small business SEO strategy or if you need someone to help revive your business presence online during this crisis, we can help. To set up your free consultation with our experts, give us a call today at 727-475-6460.
