Can SEO Help Start-ups in Their Quest for Growth?

February 15, 2022
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4 min read

In this article, Oladimeji Amos Oke, a Growth Hacking and Digital Marketing Strategist currently undergoing his MBA programme at the prestigious University of Hertfordshire, UK, shares some insights on how start-ups can gain growth traction through Search Engine Optimization.

One thing that is common with start-ups is competing for limited seats on accelerators and the stamps of media influencers. The pump and glamour of the publicity this brings means they can quickly craft out some letters, look for the best press release distribution services, contact tech/media journalists and wait for some media triumph. While this strategy can help jumpstart brand exposure, the race for market dominance is not a sprint instead it is a marathon. Slow and steady will always win the race, and this is where content marketing and SEO come in as a game-changer.

Bringing the SEO Strategy

The scope of digital marketing will never remain the same when we consider how much data privacy is becoming mainstream. Facebook no longer has access to ad targeting data like before, Mozilla has stopped allowing third-party cookies, and Safari is also on the same page. The trend points to one thing: the companies with deep pockets will need to learn how to go for the long hauls and not buy quick wins. The goal of any marketing team is to forge a strategy with long-term sustainability and fight to win in the long term.

Search Engine Optimization helps businesses push for industry authority, increase audience engagement, and build a solid first-party data bucket. Most startups only at best create blog posts, actively engage their audience on social media, and push out emails to members on their platform. Talking of growth, using these strategies only warms up current members; it is not a relevant strategy for growth. A growth-centric strategy should focus on bringing in new users, educating prospective users, and establishing a solid industry presence as the go-to point for knowledge.

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Using SEO as the Growth Plug

Search Engine Optimization is an effective strategy for any startup interested in becoming an industry authority. Achieving this feat is essential for any startup that wants to create a lead-generating machine off their website and grow their sales by taking full advantage of their digital space. Over 46% of product searches start on Google, and this is a no-brainer when it comes to an understanding how important search engines are in connecting with a buyer’s journey. Building a formidable SEO strategy can help a brand build an impressive online presence connecting with their audience and funneling them into their sales system.

Educating Your Audience Through Content Clusters

Content clusters are a group of content relevant to a business and its audience. Clusters are a group of related content that collectively cover a broad subject area. Content clusters help provide contextual support for other pages within a group of clusters. This can increase the ease of discovery by search engines and provide better navigation for users through internal linking. Creating a content cluster helps you plan your content marketing strategy to establish your startup as the go-to education center for your users. Deploying this strategy will highly increase your chances of boosting your SEO as visitors will spend more time on your site, thereby reducing Bounce Ratio and increasing Dwell Time.

To create an effective content cluster, you can either outsource this by using a content writing service or using an in-house expert to make your content cluster. Creating a content cluster can be a challenging task as it takes time and effort to deep dive into a different type of keywords and understands how your audience interacts with the web when looking for your kind of services. Content marketing helps you intercept your buyers while aggregating while searching online. Put your brand right there before them without using the “Sales” Ad strategy users encounter with paid ads.

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The best type of content that gets the attention of buyers are the ones crafted to answer questions, address pain points or provide relevant information. A brand that can provide helpful and engaging content is more likely to appeal to people ready to hit the buy button. Savvy marketers use different content creation strategies, including press release distribution, blog posts, infographics, and guest posting. Whatever works for your business is what you should start with and consistently push it until you gain the desired level of traction desired.

Why Care About Content Marketing?

B2B marketers are increasing their spending on content creation, which is no surprise. In 2019, the most successful marketers spent 40% or more of their budget on content strategy. Content marketing helps you share the possible amount of content at every stage of your buyers’ journey.

Effective content marketing starts with a strategy. You will need to create an outline of how you will systematically engage your buyers until you pull them in to commit to a transaction. Careful analysis of your industry is important and crucial as this will help you create a gap and see what you can do to make your marketing unique and better than your competitors.

Crafting Out a Sustainable SEO Strategy

Search Engine Optimization thrives on the back of a solid content marketing strategy. When you fail to map out and create helpful content, there is no way you can be successful at your SEO campaign> When it comes to SEO, most marketers focus on link building. Link building remains an essential strategy in SEO, but it can only be as successful as much as your content marketing. As a start-up, you can win tomorrow by starting today and keeping the consistency going. So, if you are looking at an affordable strategy for your marketing, consider creating a rock-solid Content Marketing/SEO that will help push your brand to your buyers.

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Conclusion

Engaging in SEO is a smart strategy for any start-up looking beyond the fast-burning media traction most start-ups gain. It helps them establish themselves as an industry expert, acquire quality leads, and grow on their terms. It is only intelligent to have your team create quality content and promote it to gain maximum ranking on search engines. If you doubt if you should do this, think about Coschedule.com, built solely on the back content marketing.

This article is a Brand Press post. Brand Press is a paid service for brands that want to reach Techpoint Africa’s audience directly. Techpoint Africa’s editorial team doesn’t write Brand Press content. To promote your brand via Brand Press, please email business@techpoint.africa

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