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MVP101: Is SEO Worth It For Your Game Store?
Episode 101
Does Your Game Store Need an SEO Specialist?
If you've been in business for any length of time you've probably been pitched SEO services at least a few times by people promising to get you on page 1 of Google.
That sounds pretty good right? The trouble is hiring someone for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can be very hit or miss.
Some people are great and others will try to rip you off completely, and it can be challenging to know who's who.
SEO is technical and somewhat abstract so it can be hard to tell if someone you hire is doing a good job or nothing at all, and it generally takes a few months to see any real benefits from the effort.
Something to keep in mind for someone who is planning on opening a new store in the near future, SEO is a long term strategy and if you're opening up shop in month or two, SEO isn't going to do all that much since you only have a short amount of time to get things rolling.
You should definitely get the basics started so you have an online presence that people can find to learn more and that you can grow over time, but if you want to prime the pump on your opening week, you should be spending time on promoting your store on the local Facebook groups in your area and trying to get the word out with some paid ads.
That would be money better spent than hiring an SEO specialist.
But all that said, it's still worth your time to get some SEO basics in place for your game store business.
The good news is 80% of what you want to achieve with SEO (namely better rankings for keyword searches that matter for your business) can be done yourself in the course of an afternoon assuming you already have a website created.
Here's a quick rundown on what you need to know to get your SEO going this weekend.
The Set Up
Start with getting the basics in place.
Open up Google and search for Google My Business and go through the set up process. It’s pretty straightforward and the app will walk you through what you need to do to get everything online. You will have to verify your address with a code they’ll send you in the mail so it might take a couple weeks to completely finalize GMB.
Make sure your graphics and logo assets match your website and branding, same with the copy.
Grab your Yelp listing and be prepared for a Yelp rep to call you and essentially hold your page hostage unless you pay them. Don’t worry about that too much though, the direct impact of Yelp itself on your business is minimal, but it does help rank what you actually care about, which is your website.
Don’t worry too much about Yelp reviews, direct people to your GMB or Facebook page to leave reviews there. They rank higher than Yelp and most people default to these first since they use them everyday already.
Set up your Facebook page and other social media accounts. Make sure the graphics and information match your website and branding. Also make sure the social media accounts that you plan on using are linked up on your website. Most website platforms make that pretty easy.
Create a listing on Yellow Pages. Not much to this one. The vast majority of people searching will find your website or Facebook page first and use that to contact you, or get your info from the GMB info box.
That's the foundation and will get you most of the way there. You should also try to register your website with other relevant directories like the Chamber of Commerce for your local area, or Industry Store Locator directories and GAMA, and any others that make sense.
None of these extra directories will drive any significant traffic to your site, but they will help build up your backlink profile, which I'll explain down below.
The Goal
SEO has three end goals. You want people searching for keywords relevan
Published on 4 years, 4 months ago