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Written by the guest blogger Ryan Chaffin

Not all small businesses are the same. After all, some are very successful, and some fail. They vary in the products they offer, location and marketing strategies, and their management styles. There is one thing that nearly all successful small businesses have in common, and it is almost essential today. So what is this one thing successful small businesses have in common? If you read the title of this article, then you probably guessed it. Yes, that is right, effective SEO (Search Engine Optimization). So what is it that successful small businesses do right with their SEO campaigns?

Keywords

Successful small businesses do their research, and pick their keywords carefully. It’s quite obvious, with a simple search, that small businesses just cannot compete with the big guys when it comes to high traffic keywords. But do not lose hope just yet. There is plenty of search traffic out there on the Internet for everyone to get a piece of the action. You just have to know how to do it. For example, do a quick search for “Gift Baskets” in your favorite search engine (such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo). Pretty tough competition isn’t it? If you are a small business that sells gift baskets, there are some pretty big companies with much larger resources you are competing against. So try targeting long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords refer to keyword phrases that are at least three to five words in length. It is easier to rank for these because the big guys are more focused on higher traffic keywords.

Geo-Marketing

Successful small businesses not only carefully select keywords, they geo-market. This simply means that a company should focus on their geographical location, and the location of their customers. A small local business in Florida has no need to be attracting hundreds of customers from online searches in California. So why would you market to them? Especially if you are a small business, you are simply wasting money advertising to people that cannot even utilize your business. Rather, focus on marketing to customers that can actually buy your product or use your services. Put your geographic location into your SEO campaign efforts. This will allow you to attract relevant potential customers.

About the author:
Ryan Chaffin is an Internet fanatic. After learning what it takes to make a website at age 14, he discovered within himself a passion for the Internet including social media, search engine optimization (SEO), blogging, website design, and website production.