As a small business owner, capital and time are typically the most precious resources. Deciding where to allocate these valuable assets can often be a tedious task. With so many options available to you, putting your resources into the activities that can grow your business effectively can mean the difference between coming out on top or sinking to the bottom.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, isn’t typically the type of expenditure that an emerging small business thinks of in the early stages of development but there are several reasons why doing SEO early can greatly benefit an organization in the long run.

· D     Developing Niches

o As companies grow markets tends to decide which products and services are the most valuable to them, often without any guidance from the company themselves. Unique offerings can appeal to specific niche markets that the company may not have anticipated. By using SEO before these niche markets fully develop you capitalize most of the market exposure on the search engines before competitors join the niche. Getting your roots down early will establish your organization as an authority in the marketplace.

· B     Building Age

o Age of links is a very influential factor in search engine ranking. The sooner that you can start building links the sooner those links can start passing benefit. This thought process will also get you in the habit of thinking of ways to leverage your content as you build it rather than saying “We will adjust this for SEO at a later date”.

In part two we’ll discuss how good SEO will help you further discover and understand your market.