Consequently, a lot of small businesses and professionals today are struggling to achieve their SEO goals on a restricted budget. After all, for small companies, hiring an expensive agency is often not feasible. Having said that, there are still a lot of smart yet pocket-friendly SEO tips that businesses can implement on a shoestring budget.

Here are 4 top SEO tips for small businesses on a shoestring budget:

Contribute to High Authority Blogs in Your Niche

Aim your energies at quality blogs. This will help you to develop referral traffic, cultivate thought leadership, and garner authoritative and quality links. Of course, you’ll only be able to do that if you generate remarkable content that offers actionable information.Here are a few strategies that can help you identify quality blogs:

a) Create an account on platforms like myblogguest, etc. These platforms create a meeting point for bloggers and blog owners looking for guest blogs, so you can easily identify quality opportunities.

b) Download the Google Chrome PR plugin. It will let you see the PageRank of every blog you visit instantly. While PR is not the sole indicator of a blog’s quality, PR 2+ blogs that show regular updates and host quality posts, can be good prospects.

c) Run a Google search for potential high authority blogs by using the niche areas you want to blog about with the keyword “guest blogs”. For example, let’s you want to write posts about e-cigarettes, your search query could be “E-cigarette guest blogs”, “quit smoking guest blogs”, etc.

Publish Quality Content on Blogs by Content Curating and Accumulating Content

Content curation is the act of collecting, discovering and offering digital content that surrounds some specific subject matter.Content is the most effective SEO tool there can be, if used right. But, the major problem that a large number of business owners or bloggers face is the lack of quality blog content. Luckily, there are gazillion resources available that can be used to generate interesting content ideas.That’s where content curation comes in. Simply put, content curation involves:

a) Researching and putting together top blogs on a subject.

b) Quoting important paragraphs from the blogs, and giving them proper citations and credit.

c) Adding your own spin, or interpretation to what’s already been published.

Conduct Competitive Link Analysis Using Free Tools

One of the things that helps your website rank higher is the number of links from other reliable and reputable website that link back to your website. There are two ways you can do this, either get someone to do it for you or do it on your own.

Look for websites that are linking back to your competitor’s website. You may use Open Site Explorer, to do this. With OSE’s free services, you may not be able to get all the data, but you’ll still be able to gather information to get started with your own link building activities.If you can stretch your budget a little, you may as well opt for paid membership for detailed information about your competitors link-building activities. There are lot’s of tools like, SEOSpyGlass, Majestic SEO, etc, that you can use.

Use External Proficiency and Expertise Tactically

Before engaging in a complete retainer based relationship with an agency, seek out the following kind of arrangements:

a) Monthly consultancy: Some SEO agencies or consultants do sell hourly consultations, which is a very smart way to garner some useful insights for a lesser fee.

b) DIY SEO audits: You may use free tools like Seoptimer, WooRank, Goingup, etc to do a review/audit for your website, so that you can identify the areas that need improvement. Then hire contractors and assign them specific tasks suggested by the tool, and implement the changes that require minimal technical expertise in-house.

c) Use free SEO tools to keep track of your performance: Free versions of tools like Ranking Checker by SEOmoz.com, SEO Analyzer by Sitening.com or SEO for Firefox by SEOBook.com, can all be of great help.

When it comes to budgeting, you have to make a choice between investing time or money. For small businesses, these cost-effective SEO tips make a lot of sense, however, if you adopt them you have to be prepared for some time investment, especially if you plan to implement all of them in-house. Good Luck!

Emma-Julie Fox writes for Pitstop Media Inc, a Vancouver company that provides SEO services to businesses across North America. If you would like to invite the author to write on your blog too please contact www.pitstopmedia.com.

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The Internet may be constantly chirping with activity, but that doesn’t mean that all content is worthy of users’ attention in the same manner. According to Neilson.com, there were 181 million blogs around the world at the end of 2011. (In 2006, there were 36 million in existence.)

Don’t let these numbers put you off; it doesn’t mean that all of these blogs are in your niche or that they are producing the same quality content that you are putting out in the blogosphere. If you’re in business, you already know you have competition and that you need to focus on what you offer that is better or different if you are going to attract a customer’s attention or find the best talent.

Your first priority should be to write a high-quality blog content that will help your readers in some way.

First, capture a reader’s interest with a compelling headline. One technique is to appeal to the reader’s fear that they may miss out on something important by failing to read your post. Use compelling words to effectively to draw in your audience by giving them a taste of what your post will be about, and make sure that you deliver the content as promised.

Nothing disappoints a reader more than reading a “teaser” headline and clicking through to the post only to discover that it doesn’t deliver as promised. If you are going to tell someone how to do or not do something, make sure that you cover the topic fully in your content.

Next, offer something new to your readers. Offer a unique solution that your reader may not have considered before. If you have a product or a service that can help your customer solve a particular problem, share this information with your readers.

Engage and connect with your readers through the post. Depending on the size of your business and your level of comfort at sharing personal information, you may want to reveal how you solved a similar problem with your readers. If this is not appropriate for your business, personalize the post with a quotation or a testimonial from a customer.

Also, make it easy for readers to share your content. If your goal is to get your blog post shared with many readers, make it easy for your readers to get it out into Social Media by adding share buttons to your blog.

Tell your readers that you would like them to share your post on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Give them the option of instantly pinning it on Pinterest or e-mailing your post to a friend. If you allow your reader to leave your blog without taking action, he or she won’t remember where your great content was a few minutes from now.

There are many “share this post” plugins available for free. Make it easy, make it obvious, make it automatic.

Invite your readers to bookmark your blog or sign up for your RSS feeds as well. You want to attract loyal readers who will visit often and share their views about your posts.

Don’t forget to share your content on social media yourself! There is no reason why you can’t connect with your audience yourself by doing some self-promotion, and you should be doing this as part of your regular routine if you are blogging. Anything you are putting on your own blog should be worth sharing with the online community, so do go ahead and toot your own (virtual) horn by sharing it on your Facebook page, Google+, LinkedIn, and on Twitter.

When you share your own content, don’t just post a link. Include something about your content which will compel a reader to click through to read it. Ask a question or say something that will get the person’s attention. Make sure that it’s relevant to your content, and invite Internet users to comment about what they have read on your blog.

About our guest writer: Melissa Hathaway graduated in International Business and Journalism and has written about everything from global economics to local news, transport, sustainability issues and a lot in between.

(Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

First, reciprocal guest blogging can be a great opportunity for all. It helps bring new readers to each blog that is involved.

Set standards/boundaries – make sure that before you begin a guest blogging relationship, that all parties involved know what is expected of them. Setting standards for things like post length, how often the swap will occur, and how much editing the host blogger can do is important. If you are used to posting 350-400 word posts, but the blog you will be guest posting for has an average of 800 words per post, it’s important to decide which standard you will adhere to for guest posts.

Guest blogging isn’t for sales – usually guest blogging relationships are NOT geared towards direct sales. While there can be exceptions to this rule, it’s a good idea to assume that you are not using someone else’s blog as a forum to pitch your products. This is something that you and the host blogger should discuss before you begin a relationship – how much of a sales feel would they like for your posts to have (or not have)?

Be flexible – most of the time, bloggers are busy people, just like everyone else in the world. While you may agree on a certain date or time of the month to swap blogs, it’s important to be flexible. If things come up and your post has to be pushed back a week or even a month, it’s necessary just to take it in stride. Do reconsider the relationship, however, if you have agreed on a weekly or monthly post and you are being put off over and over.

Be willing to compromise – don’t be a stickler for your own standards when it comes to guest blogging. As I mentioned earlier, your expectations and those of the blog that you will be contributing to may be different. It’s a good idea to keep an open line of communication when it comes to guest blogging. Be receptive to constructive criticism, also.

Guest blogging can be a great help to all parties involved and can extend your content’s reach. Just make sure that everyone is in agreement so that things will continue on smoothly!

(Photo Source)

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

Good business blogs – the ones that have large readership – are like good restaurants. You go there for a good meal and leave pleasantly satisfied. Compare that to fast food places that serve greasy high-fat meals: you feel bloated and stuffed but not healthy.

Keep in mind that many people and Internet users have short attention spans. Not only do you need to have great content, but you need to present it in the right way. Think of what food at a French restaurant looks like compared with your local McSnack basket.

Don’t run the risk of having visitors to your blog click away. Once they leave, it’s unlikely they will return. Seize the opportunity to capture their interest by giving them content they can sink their teeth into from the beginning.

Start with a Topic You Can Build On

Let’s say you have a financial site and you choose a topic such as payday loans. This is a tool many people are using these days and they have lots of questions about. How can you make meaty posts about this topic?

One thing you can do is set up an RSS feed for Google News to alert you to interesting stories about developments in the industry. When an organization like the Community Financial Services Association of America issues a white paper called “Payday Loans and Deposit Advance Products,” you can write a post about it and provide a link to it for your readers.

Since many blog readers are interested in consumer information, consider reviewing the Top 10 Payday Loan Companies for your readers. Your goal should be to offer value to readers and to establish yourself as an expert on the topic.

Breakup Text into Bite-sized Chunks

Blog readers are more likely to skim a post rather than give it an in-depth reading (at least at first). Rather than posting long paragraphs, break up your text into smaller chunks. Use numbered lists, bullet points and subheadings to capture the reader’s interest. They can go directly to the portion of the post that is most interesting to them, and skip over a part that they find less relevant.

Don’t Be Afraid to Write Longer Posts

You can engage your audience with longer, thoughtful posts. If your topic is something that you can’t cover in a short post, give it the attention it deserves to cover it properly. Your audience will appreciate your attention to detail, so long as you are providing value.

Review your content (or your writer’s submission if you outsource this part of your business) carefully. If you could easily remove the sentence or the paragraph from the post and it would still make sense, then it doesn’t need to be included.

Get Personal with Your Readers

One of the reasons you want to have a blog is to engage in conversation with your readers. Use this platform to share an opinion about current events or ideas related to your general topic. If you are writing on behalf of your business, the ideas you express don’t have to be your “personal” opinion, but would reflect your company’s take on these issues.

You don’t necessarily have to confine your posts to issues that have an impact on your own industry. It’s possible to take a general topic, such as payday loans and link it to banking, financial planning, taxes, or money management topics if you wanted to branch out to attract a larger audience for your posts. Keep in mind that your readers are interested in getting information to solve a problem or meet a need, but that they also have related needs that you can help them with.

Think about what it takes to establish yourself as an expert in the blogosphere. You need to know a little bit more than the average professional. Provide blog readers with high-quality, meaty blog posts and you’ll be well on your way to reaching that goal and you’ll be rewarded with loyal readers and increased sales for your business.

About our Guest Author: Melissa Hathaway is a freelance writer with a degree in international business and journalism.

(Photo: freedigitalphotos.net)

A guest blogging relationship can be as basic or as involved as you and your guest blogger would prefer. You may just want to invite one or two writers to write posts that are their take on content that you typically share. You may want to consider a long term relationship with one or more guest bloggers, trading posts with them on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. Many bloggers who are willing to contribute to your blog are likely to want you to reciprocate. Again, this can be beneficial for everyone, because interlinking between the two blogs/sites can help your search engine and page ranking.

So how do you find guest bloggers? You can start out simply. Think about some of your favorite blogs to read. Do any of them publish content that is directly related to your business, or that could fit in with your posts? Chances are you can probably think of at least a few blogs like this immediately. Consider emailing the blog’s author and inquire about a guest post or blog swap. However, when you write the email, you need to make sure you write a compelling email offer, one that is personal.  You will receive a better response if you do so. 

Another way to find blogs to guest post to is you could also use Google or another search engine to find blogs that are related to your industry. From there, you can see which ones interest you the most, and propose guest posting or blog swapping as well. Or use AllTop.com, an easy way to look up blogs in any field.

One of the great benefits of guest blogging is that it can breathe new life into your blog. Even if your guest poster is writing about similar topics to what you usually post, they will be written in a different “voice.” Every writer has their own unique style when it comes to blogging. Your readers may enjoy a fresh perspective. You may find that you enjoy reading a different take on your business or industry also. Even someone who has perhaps a conflicting opinion to yours would make a good guest blogger; it’s always great to show the other side of the story.

When guest blogging, there are some etiquette rules that should be followed. First, if you invite someone to guest blog for you, it’s a good idea to offer a post swap. This way, the other blogger gets something positive out of the relationship as well. If you are the one doing the guest posting, it’s also wise to read some of the content on the other person’s blog, in order to get a feel for their writing style.  This allows you to be able to write the perfect post for your blog swap, and avoid faux paus such as using profanity on a blog that doesn’t have readers who appreciate it, or touching on a sensitive subject.

About our Guest Blogger: Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

(Photo Source)

When you outsource writing for your blog, newsletter, video or any type of content marketing, be very clear about your content marketing goals. In fact, it doesn’t matter if you’re outsourcing to another writer or doing it all yourself.

1. What do you want your visitor to do after reading or viewing your article, blog or video?

For example, do you want them to buy a product? Call a phone number?  Register on a form with their email address? You should have a specific action you want your visitor to take after reading your article or watching the video.

2. Who’s your target market or audience?

Be very specific here, for example you could say, “My target market is new real estate agents who want to generate more leads.”

3. What makes you better than your competitors?

What is your unique selling proposition? Why should someone should listen to you? What makes your product or service different than everything else out there? Be specific.

4. Why might the prospect not buy your product or services?

What are his/her objections? What are their biggest pains and fears (reasons)?

5. Describe your customer persona (avatar):

Please describe how your IDEAL average customer behaves. For example, what is he or she thinking and feeling? Where do they hangout? What do they like? What are their biggest pains and fears (reasons)? What do they want to achieve?

6. What will your customers gain?

Provide the main benefits your prospects will achieve (up to 10 bullet points.)

7. How do you want to structure your content?

Decide whether you want the article/blog/video to be story-based (i.e. “Here’s Tom, bla bla bla…”) or if you want it to be more direct (i.e. “Have you ever wanted to be a filmmaker that bla bla?”) Or, you might want to start off with a piece of data or research. Or a poignant quote from a respected source.

So many professionals I know just start writing and let it flow. These are the same ones that procrastinate blogging … because they don’t feel the “flow.” I believe it’s because they haven’t reviewed these content marketing questions regularly. They aren’t clear about their content marketing goals.

Clarity stimulates ideas. These questions can clear out the pipes so the writing can flow better. What do you think?

(Image: Freedigitalphotos.net)

I look at content marketing as an experiment or adventure. Some things work well and you do more of them. Others, well, let’s hope you haven’t wasted money as well as time.

Steve Allen was a famous comedian who started The Tonight Show, in 1954, long before Johnny Carson became the host (and later Jay Leno). Allen started off in radio but got his first TV job as an announcer for wrestling matches. Here’s what Wikipedia reports:

Allen’s first television experience had come in 1949 when he answered an ad for a TV announcer for professional wrestling. He knew nothing about wrestling, so he watched some shows and discovered that the announcers did not have well-defined names for the holds. When he got the job, he created names for many of the holds, some of which are still used today.

The point I’d like to make is that if Allen hadn’t taken that first job offer, he might not have had the same career path and ended up one of the most respected and admired comedians of all time. He could have just as easily become a jazz pianist in an orchestra.

Instead, he eventually created a new genre of entertainment, the late night comedy-talk show. And he was a pioneer in TV wrestling entertainment. And he still had time to publish over 10,000 songs and win a Grammy for The Gravy Waltz (1963).

Allen wasn’t following any guidelines for his career.  He went with what interested him. When people try to follow too many rules and guidelines, for example, for content marketing and social media, they end up with mediocre results. Why end up where everyone else is?

I look at the 50′s and 60′s as the beginning of television entertainment. It was a time of great upheaval, with many pioneers experimenting with how to use TV. Today, we are in a similar period of upheaval. It’s the era of content marketing and the Internet.

Everyone, especially small business owners, is using blogs, website, and social media sites to get found, get known and get clients. Many gurus proclaim to know the way to content marketing riches. But we are still in early days. Those small business professionals that have the courage to experiment and looks for creative ways that truly work for promoting their business and connecting with customers will win.

Perhaps the focus should be on the customers you want to attract for your business. What will help them, entertain them, engage them?

It is the most popular document sharing site available, with over 50,000 uploads each day. Yes, that number is correct. This is key for those of us that use content marketing online to get found, get known and get clients. Pay attention to what I’m going to tell you…

Scribd clearly has established its authority and web presence. The high online activity makes Scribd ideal for content marketing purposes.

OK, here’s the question: why would you want to market through a site that is based on sharing documents? Document sharing is a great way to promote brand awareness, bring eyeballs to your content & marketing collateral and increase link building (and we love link building.)

Most of my clients have flyers, press releases, articles, etc. and why not share this content as I did with this Mother’s Day brunch menu and and for another client’s article on hospital safety for Alzheimer patients.

If you have all of your marketing materials just sitting on your computer and not getting out into internet land, then you are just wasting space. Today, most of us operate our business and personal life online.  Using Scribd makes uploading all of your documents a simple task.

Reasons to love Scribd:

• IT’S FREE
• Gain exposure to search engines
• Track reads and downloads
• Build business relationships
• Document sharing available via direct link or embed
• Unlimited uploads of most file types
• Bulk upload tool for desktop
• Social networking with Twitter opportunity
• Page fragment caching

The point of Scribd is the ease of access to documents. Scribd allows us to simply browse and click opposed to download. Uploading is extremely manageable. When a document is uploaded, you have the option of choosing a category, a subcategory, and numerous tags in addition to title and description. One of my favorite features of Scribd is the bulk uploading tool for your desktop. It is free and downloads quickly. The desktop tool allows people to upload as many documents as necessary without ever having to go to the Scribd website.

Keep branding in mind when creating titles and description. Once you are done uploading and editing, the documents will become available for viewing on Scribd immediately. All documents can be saved for editing and published at a later date. You can also add file subsets for organizational purposes within Scribd.

Sharing is simple too. Take any document off of Scribd and insert it into any website without worrying about the file type. If you have a blog, embedding documents is something that could be very beneficial. When you are looking at a document in Scribd, you will notice the embed option in the upper left-hand corner.

After you click that, you will be given the embed code.

Copy the code provided and paste it into your website or blog or you can share it from within as well.

It will then be published and appear the same way it does on Scribd.

I created a new Scribd account for a client and it’s still too early to know the reads and downloads, but you can follow your stats very easily. Basic stats appear on the homepage but if you click on them, you will be provided with a more detailed description in both bar graph and line graph charts including favorites, downloads, comments, and reads.

It is important to comment on documents within your niche. The goal is to encourage people to review your documents and possibly respond back. Scribd is a great place to stay connected through networking with the intentions of increasing viewership and brand awareness. Scribd has recently gone social. Like Facebook, there is a section for updating your recent activity.

Recently, Scribd created an E-book store for those interested in selling their documents.

So, if you’re looking to share your documents, get noticed, I recommend Scribd. You can also use this on your business page on Facebook tabs to share content as well.

About the Guest Author:

Christine Buffaloe from Serenity Virtual Assistant Services is a social media “ninja”. Since 2005, she is not only helping them implement their online and offline marketing plans, but has been instrumental in assisting them with their social media strategies.

Let’s face it, publishing frequently on a business blog is time consuming. Depending on how swift your writing and blogging skills are, it can take you 1-2 hours to publish a post of 350-500 words, including the writing, editing, linking, adding an image, and updating social sites. And you’ll need to do that two times a week, or more.

I usually advise my clients that a blog for your business should focus on communicating the solutions to the problems you solve. That’s pretty clear and direct. While a business may have many products and service offerings, and maybe several different buyer personas, it generally provides unique solutions to customers’ problems.

A business blog will make more sense to readers when it’s focused and clear about the solutions it promotes. (Not to mention it will gain favor with search engines that index the content according to keywords and subject matter…)

But what if you’re a professional service provider? Like a doctor, lawyer, consultant, writer, or web designer? Your services may cover a variety of problems and solutions, especially if you’re a general practitioner. And your customers could be anyone with a pulse…

Case in point… I’m a psychologist who makes a living writing for executive coaches. And I also provide web writing services and content marketing consulting. Recently, I’ve gone back to coaching, however, and in particular health and wellness coaching.

I decided I need a new blog to promote wellness coaching services. Neither of my current business blogs, ContentforCoaches and WritingontheWeb, would be a good platform for health and fitness topics.

It wouldn’t make sense to readers and it certainly wouldn’t make sense to the search engine algorithms. Here are the questions to ask to help determine if you need to start a new blog:

1. Is there an over arching common problem your varied services solve?
2. Is my target audience the same for both business offerings?
3. Are there similar keywords people would search for to find both?
4. Do my current readers also search for topics in this new related field?
5. Are the services and products related closely enough to keep them together as sub-categories?

If you can’t find a link that joins your products together, it’s probably because they aren’t closely related. The people who want information about one won’t want information about the other.

You need a new blog. If you’re serious about getting found, getting known and getting clients, you’ll need a new blog. Yes, it’s work and time, but you may as well get started now. You’ll be glad you did in a year or two.

How can you make your business blog visually appealing, even sexy? Blog formatting is key; in fact, it makes the difference between readers scanning and leaving, and staying to read. Here are four simple ways you can jazz up your site and get more blog readers:

1. Add images –I have run across many business blogs that are nothing but pages and pages of text. While the information they provide may be valuable, it’s not very visually appealing. Try to add images to your blog posts to increase the appeal of your posts. Smaller images can easily be found for free on sites like Freedigitalphotos.com or you can pay a small amount for access to larger sized stock photos. By providing your blog post with a relevant image you can increase the number of readers and also grab the image search queries for your blog post topic.
2. Make it easy to read – One thing that I run across from time to time are blogs that are obviously never read by their writers. These blogs have text that is almost the same color as the background or text that all runs together. Elements of the blog page overlap with each other and as you scroll down, ads get in your way. It is not easy to read the information even if you wanted to put in the effort to do so. Make sure that your blog is easy to read and break up your posts with headers or points so that readers can scan for relevant information. By making your blog easy to read you will increase the number of people that stick around long enough to make your blog profitable.
3. Be careful of ad placement – I know that many bloggers need ads on their blogs to make them profitable. However you should be careful where you place them. Not only is ad placement important for search engine optimization, but people also notice when ads are badly placed. Pop ups, floating ads, loud ads or flashing ads can distract from your blog content and work to counter purposes. Instead, make the ads appear a seamless part of your blog and you’ll get more clicks.
4. Make it flow – Last but not least, make sure your blog flows. I hate trying to navigate a clumsy blog where even getting to the next post is a hassle. Do not put too many widgets or add-ons on your blog. Instead, make sure the links or buttons you do have work well and are in a place easy to get to. By making your blog user friendly you will get readers to stay on it longer, which usually means increased profitability.

Do not underestimate the value of appeal to readers. While search engine optimization is important, it’s the real readers that count. Make your blog appealing to them and most of your SEO work will fall into place alongside.

About our Guest Author:

Jason Miner plays a vital role for www.blogcarnival.com.  He is an expert in writing topics of different categories.  He is helping the carnival team to grow & working on making this an even better place for bloggers. (Image: by Stuart Miles at Freedigitalphotos.net)