Add another thing to your business building list. Learn how to increase your Google ranking so that new clients can find your business with ease.
In a recent study, 8 out of 10 respondents said they use a search engine to look up local businesses before visiting a store or engaging with a service provider.
How do you get high ranking in search results to capture the attention of potential clients?
I’m going to share a secret weapon with you and it’s got nothing to do with the latest technology or some new-fangled strategy.
Many spa owners and estheticians launch their website, get their social pages up and think well, that’s done! They don’t have to do anything else except wait for a bunch of bookings!
They wait… and wait… and wait… and nothing happens.
Why? Because they haven’t been showing up consistently.
Here’s an example of being consistent: when Gary Vaynerchuk was starting to promote his family business, Wine Library, he posted a YouTube video every single week. He kept doing that until he had over 1,000 videos on his channel.
The rest is history.
There's a reason consistency and patience are the new 'kings' of content. Click To TweetIt’s not about putting a few videos up once in a while over a span of a couple months. It’s about putting up videos all the time, year after year, until you have literally 1,000 videos.
The secret weapon to gaining traction and being found is consistency and patience.
Consistency Is Often the Missing Ingredient
There are hundreds SEO things you can do to improve your search engine ranking.
However, since we don’t have unlimited time or resources to chase every bright shiny object, this is what you need to keep in mind:
To get your local small beauty business to rank well on search engine results, you need to focus on doing a few things well and consistently.
Here’s how:
Post Client Reviews Consistently
Did you know that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as recommendations from friends and family?
You might think, “Yeah, I’m fine. I have a lot of reviews already.”
But are they recent? Are they relevant?
If those reviews were from 2015, they’re not going to carry as much weight.
Not to mention, search engines like fresh content. Consistently getting reviews on Yelp, Google, and Facebook will help you maintain a high ranking in search results.
I have seen an esthetician’s business skyrocketed because she has gotten so many good reviews posted consistently on Yelp over time. They got her to the top of Google searches and potential clients were able to discover her business online.
Publish Content Consistently
Publishing fresh and relevant content on your website signals to Google that you’re in business!
When you create new content (e.g., blog articles or videos) on your website consistently, you’re boosting your SEO juice one post at a time.
In addition, Google takes “time on site” into account. The longer visitors stay on your site, the higher your ranking will be.
Whether you’re posting an article or recording a video (which you can embed on your website and increase the time visitors spend there,) always make sure it’s high-quality and relevant so people will stay and come back for more.
If you find creating new content week-in-week-out daunting – don’t worry!
You can partner with other local businesses (e.g., a nutritionist) or practitioners who are in the same field but not in your area to co-create and co-promote content.
You’ll gain exposure to your collaborators’ audiences and you can include links to each other’s website to generate backlinks, which signal your content’s relevancy to Google and boost your ranking.
Gain Visibility Consistently
If you don’t stay on search engines’ radar, you’ll risk being forgotten.
You can generate backlinks and increase your domain authority (which boosts SEO) by getting mentioned in local publications and press releases.
You can do so by participating in local events or partnering with businesses in your community.
If you’re hosting an event, write up a press release and send it out to local outlets.
In addition, you can contribute content to local magazines or online publications and have your website listed in the byline.
Don’t be shy!
Publications and journalists are always looking for content and many of them will appreciate your reaching out and pitching ideas.
Keep Putting In the Work
If you want to keep ranking high on Google, you need to keep putting in the work.
By doing so, you’ll set up a virtuous cycle that drives more traffic to your website, and shows Google that you’re relevant.
You’ll move up in SEO ranking and in turn, drive more traffic to your website!
Keep in mind that building your business is a long game. Patience and consistency are the keys to success.
I get it, at some point or another, you could feel antsy. I mean, improving your Google ranking and SEO building takes time! Sometimes several months to gain traction.
But I always tell my clients to just take a deep breath and enjoy the business building process. Those who stay in the game the longest, often have a better chance of succeeding – you’ve gotta be in it to win it, right?
Enjoy this article? Want more practical training to help build your biz? We have easy to understand training on SEO and search engine marketing inside the Esthetician Inner Circle. Learn more about our business and marketing membership program designed exclusively for estheticians here.