SEO Basics: SEO for B2C Companies

SEO is essential for B2C companies to succeed online. But what does SEO specifically do for B2C companies? In our latest entry in the SEO Basics video blog series, we answer that question (and then some)!

Transcript Hello everybody and welcome!

My name is Christopher Zook and I’m an Internet marketer here at WebFX, and today we’re going to talk about SEO for B2C companies. If you sell products or services straight to a consumer, this video is all about how SEO can help you. But not all B2C companies are the same, so we’re going to split them up into lead generating companies and product sales companies.

Let’s start with why SEO works for B2C in general.

Why SEO Works

SEO works because your primary target is an individual consumer. These consumers fit into demographics that make your ideal customer, and they all have the capability to decide whether to buy from you. That’s substantially different from a B2B company that has to target key decision-makers at entire companies.

But you can use SEO to reach practically everyone qualified to become your customer. And it’ll work for you whether your business earn money through generating leads or selling products. So first, let’s talk about how SEO helps your company get leads.

Lead Gen B2C SEO

The first key SEO strategy for you is local SEO.

Since you run a service-based business, you can only work with people in your area. It doesn’t make sense for you to drive across the country for one customer. By using Google My Business, Yelp, and other business listing sites, you can make your business pop up in search engines for any local search.

So if you run a plumbing service, you can show a potential customer your address in Google Maps, your hours of operation, and your phone number. Someone can even call you directly from Google. With that kind of support, local SEO is essential to a business like yours.

On top of local SEO, you can create awesome content for your customers to find in search engines. The most important is to educate your potential customers. Write content on your site that answers common questions, and provide pricing so someone can know right away that they can afford to hire you.

If your prices vary, give a ballpark estimate. Anything is better than nothing, especially when you’re already showing you’re an authority in your industry. Finally, you can optimize pages you already have on your site, especially your contact page.

By building up those key pages, you can make them show up in search engines just like your other content. But these pages are more important because they get you new leads. So any time you offer someone a free quote, tell them to call you, or ask for their email address, optimize it so Google can find it.

Once you do, you remove most of the obstacles that someone experiences when they try to become a customer. Every click they have to make means some of them will stop pursuing your business. For you, that means leaving money on the table.

By optimizing your contact page and others like it, you can be sure you’re getting as many customers as possible.

Bonus Read: B2C Marketing Strategies

Product Sales for B2C SEO

Selling products online is one of the easiest ways to make money. To make SEO work for you, start by optimizing every single product and category page on your site. Make sure Google and users can tell what each page is about by using descriptive title tags, meta descriptions, and unique content.

By optimizing every page, you tell Google everything it needs to know to show your products in search results. That means more customers see the pages that let them buy, which means less opportunity for them to fall through the cracks. Second, you can add your products to shopping feeds like Google Shopping.

You can do this through Google Merchant Center, which shows you step-by-step methods to uploading your products straight to Google’s feed. Once your products are on there, customers can buy from you even faster, and you have yet another opportunity to beat your competitors in search results. They keys to a good Google Shopping feed are high-quality images, competitive prices, and a professional-looking website — all of which you can accomplish by following SEO best practices.

Finally, even though you can sell products to anyone online, you should still have a local SEO listing with Google at least. Use Google My Business, Yelp, and other local listing services to make sure anyone in your area knows that you’re the best online. Add key information like your brand name, address, phone number, and hours of operation to make the most of this opportunity.

Even though a local listing doesn’t directly lead to sales, it’s a great way to establish yourself in your city and build a larger customer base.

Make SEO Work for You

Whether you earn money by generating leads or selling products, SEO has the potential to earn your B2C company millions in revenue. All you have to do is start. If you want to work with an experienced B2C local SEO agency, just contact WebFX and we’ll help set up a B2C SEO plan for you.