Navigating SEO Success as a Small Business: A Non-Expert’s Journey and Insights
In the dynamic world of digital marketing, many small business owners find themselves navigating the complexities of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) without formal expertise. Today, I’d like to share my firsthand experience running a small video production company in Boston, highlighting the challenges, achievements, and ongoing strategies I employ to improve our online presence. My hope is that this candid account offers valuable insights for fellow entrepreneurs on a similar path.
Understanding My SEO Goals
First and foremost, I want to clarify that my approach to SEO is rooted in practicality rather than vanity metrics. My primary goal is to generate genuine leads that convert into tangible projects, not just to chase top rankings or inflated traffic numbers. Since an initial surge back in April—what I refer to as our “initial boom”—our website has consistently attracted more inquiries, even as some metrics fluctuate.
Key Milestones and Shifts
In September, our online visibility experienced a notable uptick, with impressions and clicks soaring. I observed a shift in the types of searches leading visitors to us; earlier successes centered around gear-related blog content, but recently, there’s been increased interest in searches like “video production company.” This evolution suggests that our targeted efforts are resonating more with local, service-oriented queries—an encouraging development.
Daily Practices and Strategies
In my ongoing efforts, I focus on several key activities, prioritizing those I find most engaging:
- Implementing schema markup across service and blog pages to enhance search result appearances.
- Building and monitoring keyword rankings using SEMrush’s free tools for Boston-specific keywords.
- Achieving local visibility by reaching the top position in SEMrush for core keywords.
- Consistently creating 2-3 blog posts weekly, optimized for Boston-related video production and gear topics.
- Writing compelling meta titles and descriptions for all content.
- Enhancing internal linking structures across the website.
- Refining calls-to-action (CTAs) with localized language to encourage Engagement.
- Developing a consistent tone and style to strengthen our brand voice.
- Adding schema-compliant FAQ sections within blog posts.
- Establishing partnership blogs with other studios to secure backlinks.
- Creating Google Business posts for new projects and blog updates.
- Sharing SEO progress and content highlights on LinkedIn.
- Developing strategies to improve click-through rates (CTR) on mid-tier pages.
- Conducting schema visibility audits to ensure proper indexing.
- Expanding our