SEO is pretty hard to get around these days. It’s one of the best ways to reach the top of SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), after all, which can get your business in front of a lot of eyes.
And attention is one of the few foods that make startups grow nice and strong.
But plenty of startups lack the cash for a sustained SEO campaign, which can cost up to $10,000 a month in some cases. In fact, 58% of them start out with less than $25.000.
So, nine times out of ten, SEO has to be done on a shoestring budget. While it sounds scary, it can be done. And here’s how:
Figure out What You Want from SEO
Before you commit any second to action, you need to know what you’re doing and why. If you don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish with your SEO, you won’t make a lot of headway.
That’s one of the main reasons why so many people feel skeptical about using it for their startups. The truth is that they’re simply using it wrong. Smart SEO practices are actually very important for startups.
With a clear goal in mind, you can get exactly what you want from SEO, be it brand awareness, lead generation, or boosted traffic; as long as you do it right.
Take Advantage of Free SEO Tools
When you have a tight budget, the best solution is, of course, to get things for free.
Luckily, you can find plenty of free SEO tools online. And they aren’t subpar by any means. For example, Google Analytics can give you a surprisingly in-depth insight into what search queries are faring well on SERPs.
There are quite a few free SEO tools worth checking out. Here are some that you might find interesting:
- SEMRush
- Yoast (in WordPress)
- Backlinko
- Google Search Console
- SEO Analyzer
All of them come with pretty useful options, so pick and choose to see which ones work the best for you and your business.
Recommended: 5 Best SEO Tools that Will Boost Your Reach
Run a Blog and Encourage Comments
A blog can ramp up your SEO by popping up to people who type in search queries. It’s a great asset to your traffic growth, so definitely consider including it.
And to really squeeze out all the benefits of a blog, encourage your readers to comment on your posts and have conversations with them in the comment section. Since Google indexes them too, active comments (and interactions on your end) help improve the SEO value of your posts.
Get in Touch with an Influencer
For a startup, getting a shoutout from an influencer of a relevant niche is a major boost in terms of visibility.
Influencers tend to be picky about what they advertise. The reason most often being: they don’t want to damage their audience’s trust — hence why attention from them should get you plenty of loyal customers/followers.
Keep in mind, though, that more prominent influencers charge a pretty penny (upwards of $5,000) for a spot on their social media. Nevertheless, you’ll likely afford the ones with a much smaller, yet tightly-knit, following.
Bottom Line
SEO is such a powerful tool that your startup would be seriously behind if you ignored it entirely. And, as you saw here, even an unforgiving budget can make room for at least a few SEO hacks for a budding startup. Leaving you with one less reason to run away from it — give your startup the growth it needs!
My name is Laurice and I’m a writer based in Los Angeles, CA. I’ve been passionate about writing ever since I was young, crafting fiction stories and journaling about my life.
