Growing and glowing: A quickest way to expand a business (by Avantika Jain)

Did you wake up one morning and decide that you needed to take control of your life? 

Has the thought of starting a business ever crossed your mind? 

Are you already a business owner or looking to be one? 

These are all valid questions to be considered for people interested in entrepreneurship. The pandemic is very challenging for most businesses, but it also opens up new opportunities for smaller, house-based operations. In fact, a number of small, family-owned businesses have done relatively well during this time. So, I guess the real question is how exactly they managed to bring in new business and at the same time, keep their existing customers.

SEO, or search engine optimization, can be one solution to these questions. With everything being online nowadays, it is really up to the algorithm to decide. 

What is SEO?

SEO’s act as website filters that can help control traffic, all while promoting certain websites and brands through the natural engine. SEO’s such as Google can really help a website get more views if the website is up to the standards of the algorithm. Using SEOs along with other tactics is an easy way for businesses to grow and become popular. Let's assess some SEO tactics below:

Favored Content

One main reason why a website becomes popular comes from its marketing strategies, with appealing content to the general public. Meanwhile, such content must also "appeal" to the algorithm, resulting in more recommendations to more users. Small things, such as paying attention to the keywords being used when people try to find your business or using the proper website builder, will play a large role in SEO. Customizing the search engine by inputting words that the public is more likely to use can boost a website to the top of the chart.

Interaction

Using media to manage a business' websites and its presence in the cyber marketplace also requires interactions with others online. It is essential to build a community or a strong base of customers who will support your business. Networking is one of the most imperative ways to enhance interactions. Confidence or the way how people present themselves is always noticeable. Building relationships through social media can aid a business in achieving widespread success. Alternatively, businesses should also comment on other posts because engagement has to go both ways. Overall, businesses must leave thoughts, opinions, emails, comments, or create threads on social media to get recognized. 

Backlink

To provide some context, a backlink is a link from one website or webpage to another. Backlinks essentially link people back to a specific website, which can bring a lot of new people to a business website. The Google algorithm also greatly supports backlinks - that is because the linked content seems to be authenticated and therefore will be promoted. Backlink is a good way for a business to be recommended to large groups of people.

A Summary

While the above tactics offer some good ways for businesses on how to get popular through SEO, it is important to note that the website itself must have a "charm" factor to stay relevant. Content matters so much online. Personally, I know that website quality would really influence me on whether or not I would want to support that business and purchase a product/service from that business. Nevertheless, these “hacks” mentioned above help us understand how critical SEO is to today's business. 

So, what do you think? Do you think SEO is a critical factor to build a successful business? Besides SEO, what else contributes to a successful business? 

About the author:

Avantika Jain is a second-year student at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, California. She is currently majoring in Hospitality Management at the Collins College of Hospitality Management with an emphasis in Hotels and Lodging Operations, as well as a minor in International Business. She is expected to graduate in 2023. She hopes to work for a luxury boutique hotel somewhere abroad. In her free time, she likes to travel, bake, shop, and hang out with friends and family. She is excited to see what opportunities are in store for her in college for the next two years.

Work Cited

Spera, M., & Friedman, H. (2021, April 21). Top 12 SEO Growth Hacks for Any Business [2021]. Growth Marketing Pro. https://www.growthmarketingpro.com/10-growth-hacks-and-strategies-to-grow-your-business-with-seo

Picture: https://www.fomath.cn/xinwenzhongxin/xingyezixun/256.html