1SEO

For any start-up, the thought of SEO is always at the back of their mind because they know, sooner or later, their startup would be battling for the number one position on search engines. With so many online business out there aiming for the top position, it’s no less than herculean tasks for startups to identify a perfect SEO strategy that could beat the giants. While few startups have a laser focus approach on their SEO strategy, the majority of them fail to figure out the right approach for the SEO. They all jump on the SEO bandwagon out of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) without knowing what they want to derive from it. Some of them entirely focus on accumulating traffic—not on quality traffic that has high potential to convert. Like this, there are other SEO factors that, if overlooked by the startups, could land them to no man’s land. It is crucial the start-up understands and incorporates sound SEO practices and habits. Also, it is essential a startup has the product or service that's is saleable in the market. SEO should come second to creating a valuable product or service. For your startups’ SEO, you will have two scenarios. Scenario 1: Hire an SEO consultant OR Scenario 2: You will do it by yourself following the sound SEO practices Scenario 1: Hire an SEO consultant If you are hiring an SEO consultant, then you might not be actively involved in SEO planning. In that case, here are a few questions you must ask before hiring them. ( Image source: wpaisle.com) May I have a list of past and current clients? What is your plan or strategy to improve my search engine rankings? How will we communicate, and how often? Do you adhere to search engines’ webmaster guidelines? What SEO tools do you use? What are the odds my website will rank number one on Google, Yahoo, and Bing? Are you experienced in improving local search results? How do you measure the success of your SEO campaigns? Scenario 2: SEO done by the in-house SEO team Startups can actually make meaning out of SEO if they reach to their real customers. A startup should initiate working on SEO from day 1, especially for on-page SEO. Also, whether you are doing SEO by yourself or in-house SEO team, the SEO resources for startups are their real assets. ( Image source: seo-hacker.net) Best SEO resources for startups SEO Blogs There are some interesting websites and blogs that will give you deep insight into how SEO works. You can even connect to peers or influencers on social media to know what are the latest updates on SEO. There are also some great SEO QnA forums where you can enroll and keep your knowledge base upbeat. Search Engine Journal Search Engine Land The Moz blog SEMrush blog Backlinko Neil Patel’s blog Yoast SEO blog The SEM Post Mangools blog Free SEO Tools Startups’ main concern is their low budget. They have to look for the resources that are less expensive and within their budget. There is a list of free SEO tools that can be helpful for startups. Ahrefs’ Backlink Checker and SEO toolbar Moz Link Explorer Yoast SEO SERP Robot Google PageSpeed Insights XML Sitemaps Browseo SEO Site Checkup Robots.txt Generator Keywordtool.io Keyword Sheeter Free SEO Tutorials SEO tutorials are a great way to enhance your SEO knowledge. There are tons of online websites that provide online SEO tutorials for free. Here we have listed some popular ones. However, SEO is constantly changing; some of the courses may not upgrade on its content. So you have to read current blogs in parallel to see if the course content is updated or not. SEMrush Academy-SEO courses Moz.com- one hour guide to SEO Udemy.com - SEO tutorials for beginners Yoast.com- free SEO training for beginners Hubspot academy- SEO Training Course Google webmaster youtube channel Besides online tutorials, some SEO websites also provide e-books and learning guides for free. You can also use those guides for SEO best practice. If you are looking to connect with SEO experts on social media here is the list. Rand Fishkin – Founder of Moz Barry Schwartz – Founder of Search Engine Roundtable Aleyda Solis – International SEO Consultant Danny Sullivan – Founding Editor of Search Engine Land & Marketing Land Neil Patel – Co-Founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar & KISSmetrics Jon Cooper – Expert Link Builder Julie Joyce – Owner of Link Fish Media and Co-Founder of SEO Chicks Matt Cutts – Former head of the Webspam team at Google By using the above resources wisely, as a startup, you have more chances to make your website visible online. SEO is an on-going process, and only by trying, testing, and reiterating, you may reach your end-goal.