Is it too late to do SEO for my local business?

You’ve had another busy season that’s kept you running around, same as usual. Summer is over, kids are back to school, and the busy season just finished up or is about to start with the holidays fast approaching.  You’ve had a moment to finally sit down and reflect on the business.

Things have been good!

Returning customers are flowing like normal, referrals are still stable, and you’ve hired a new manager. Revenue is steady although profit is down some due to hiring the new manager; everything is going great. After some thought, you decide that right now would be a great time to grow the business. Since your competitors down the street and in the next city over are doing SEO, maybe that will be good? It seems simple enough – if Joe & Sue’s Store is doing it you can too… right? Although… they did get that company to start doing their blog 5 years ago, but there must still be a slice of the digital pie for you too, right? Hmm. Did you wait too long? Are results even still possible?

Simply put, Yes, SEO results are still possible!

It’s never too late to start doing SEO. It’s true that your competitors will have an advantage at first, however, similar or better rankings are always possible for a local business. It’s always important to get the right search engine optimization company, but even more so if you have competitors that are paying attention to their own digital marketing. Results won’t come overnight, although there are a few strategies that can be implemented to get you some ranking results quickly while working on the longer-term strategy.

Okay, so how?

For nearly all local businesses, the solution to this begins the same way. First is setting up your main local listings: Google, Bing, and Yahoo. These will only take from a few days to a few weeks to claim, optimize, and show updated in the search results giving you the possibility of a top ranking in your city superfast. They are limited in their reach though, so it is important to continue with the next step: content marketing. This is the long-term strategy where you will see the real results shine. It won’t be fast, but that is why it works. Local businesses can typically start seeing results within 3-6 months, with the best part being that it will continue to grow each month!

Of course, there’s likely to be different details to the SEO strategy between your business and the business next to you, so a consultation is always appropriate.