With search engine optimization (SEO) getting so much hype these days, the question on the minds of many a small business owner is whether he should hire a SEO specialist.

No, no, no.

A lot of small businesses do not need to hire a search engine optimization (SEO) firm.

Before we get any further, let me first explain what a SEO firm basically does.

SEO companies help a business to rank higher in a search engine’s organic search results (by organic, we mean the results that are not ads).

Of course, helping you to rank higher on a search engine results page comes at a price.

Fees charged by SEO companies are all over the place.

Hiring a SEO firm can cost a minimum of $500 and the upper limit can run into several thousand dollars.

You can save yourself a lot of money by doing search engine optimization of your site yourself if you’re a small business with a limited set of products or services.

I will now provide a few SEO tips that small businesses can follow without much difficulty:

SEO Tips for Small Businesses

1. Get an HTML editor to edit your web pages. If you don’t have one, use the free notepad application on your Windows PC.

Pay attention to the title at the top of your web page. Do not repeat the same title on all of your web site’s pages.

2. Your title should not be more 65-70 characters. Continue reading »