According to  BTRC, at the end of December 2021, the total number of Internet subscribers had reached 123.82 million.If you want to expand your small business, you cannot afford to overlook SEO.  Investing in website optimization will provide several significant benefits. Small business SEO is not the same as local SEO, which helps businesses appear in location-based rather than global results. Some small businesses, on the other hand, may hope to benefit from local traffic; if this is the case, your small business strategy will include local steps. Having an online presence for your company is unusable if it does not generate sufficient leads. Often, staying on page one is not enough to guarantee success. To generate more leads, you need both online and offline clients. Because of search engines, potential customers now have greater market control. Read: Share Market Investment Guide: How to Invest in Stocks in Bangladesh Your goal is to convert these potential customers into paying customers for your company. SEO, on the other hand, will not perform selling tasks. It drives traffic to your website, and your sales team will deal with the rest. What exactly is Local SEO and how does it function? Local SEO is a marketing strategy that assists local companies in being more visible in Google's local search results. It is performed by companies that wish to be more readily discovered online by local customers. If you want to offer items or services to people in a certain town or city, you must understand local search marketing. This sort of SEO, when performed correctly, helps a local company appear more prominently in the Local Pack, the Local Finder, the localized organic results, and on Google Maps. Read: Making Investment Decisions: Factors to consider when investing money Why do We Need to Invest in Local SEO? Attracting customers within one's own market is a major challenge for many business owners. Businesses emerge from their immediate surroundings and then expand over time. Local SEO services are now an important component of comprehensive digital marketing strategies. We'll go over the six reasons why your company needs an effective local SEO strategy. Promoting Business on Social Media Is not enough Social media can reach prospective consumers and boost business exposure. It is risky since you have no control over it. You can customize your profile and write your own postings, but you're utilizing someone else's platform to promote your business, so your destiny is in their hands. Your social media account isn't yours. It is just one of the road if your online success is converting target audience members into paying customers. Highly Specific SEO lets you bring your content, web pages, and more in front of individuals looking for relevant keywords, phrases, and concepts. One of the most significant advantages of local SEO is that because local traffic is so specific, businesses can position their brand more effectively. Local searchers are frequently looking for a particular type of business in their area, and using local SEO services allows businesses to reach that ideal target audience within their region. Read: How to Buy Stocks: 10 Key Factors to Check Timely If you want more people to see your website and company when they search for it online, SEO is what you need. Local SEO searches are also convenient. Queries are frequently made with the intention of visiting a business or purchasing a product that day. This means that utilizing local SEO services allows businesses to connect with high-value, purchase-ready buyers. Mobile Access About 70% of all internet users access the web through their mobile devices. If the vast majority of your clientele uses mobile devices for web browsing, failing to optimize for these users might lose you a great deal of potential business. SEO can also help your business' mobile presence. You'll attract local buyers who are searching for a product or service on their smartphone while on the go, reaching an audience that is already traveling and looking for a specific product or service. Connect with Google My Business Only 44% of businesses have claimed their Google My Business listing. Working with local SEO experts will ensure that your profile is designed to attract qualified local buyers. The process will give you an advantage in the local market and keep your company at the top of the search results for high-value searchers. Read  More: ​​​​​​​Neuromarketing: How brands psychologically manipulate the consumers ROI (Return on Investment) SEO-generated leads have a conversion rate of 14.6%, whereas conventional marketing leads have a conversion rate of only 1.7%. The worth of local SEO is obvious. Local digital strategies, unlike newspaper advertising or radio marketing, are based on tangible, actionable data that can ensure your company achieves a return on investment over time. Local SEO experts can create a strategy for you based on client actions and proven data to achieve effective results. Local Competition Companies are becoming more adept at digital marketing. They are reaching out to local audiences through their website and social media platforms, and your company must respond if it is to remain competitive. Working with qualified SEO experts allows you to implement strategies that strengthen your organization's brand reputation and protect it from changing trends. Getting Started with Local SEO It is critical to understand what your target market types in search engines when looking for your product or service. It can be extremely beneficial to understand how people repeat their terms and phrases. Including such phrases/keywords in the content of your website will result in your page ranking high in the SERPs. Read More: How to Transform Your Freelancing Career into a Scalable Business? There are aspects of SEO that are boosted locally that you need to get right, such as the following: -Create and optimize your presence on Google My Business. -Identifying the best keywords and topics to focus on for your seo campaign. -Improve your website's performance by optimizing the URL, title tags, headers, meta description, and content. -You must ensure that your technical SEO is flawless. -Making sure the material is of the best quality possible. -Gaining Google's attention by attracting quality backlinks to your site. -Improve your visibility in web directories and citations. -Your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) information must be consistent across all of the sites that connect to you, so double verify it and start using it. -To be successful, local SEO requires a dedicated strategy. Read More: YouTube Affiliate Marketing: Tips to build a successful channel 

Economists and business insiders said the stimulus loans for the big and small businesses have worked like oxygen to face a crisis during the pandemic period.  Former BB governor Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed told UNB that the central bank has done a tremendous job, emphasizing implementation of stimulus loans.  Despite some criticism of delayed disbursement, the BB’s contribution to economic recovery is appreciable, he said.  Read:BB asks banks to cut tax on service value of non-resident nationals Md. Jashim Uddin, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FBCCI) and Faruque Hassan, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) echoed similar sentiments.  They also acknowledged that the support of BB has worked to increase the confidence of businesses which helped them rebound in the production of the industries.  Latest update of stimulus loan disbursement shows that around Tk1.218 lakh crore (Tk1, 00,218 crore) has been disbursed so far in first and second phases from 10 incentive packages managed by Bangladesh Bank.  Of this, Tk 42,173 crore was disbursed to the industry and services sector, Tk 20,793 crore in cottage, small and medium enterprises, Tk 513 crore in refinancing loans in the pre-shipment sector, and Tk 2,492 crore disbursed among low-income professional farmers and small traders.  Besides, Tk 21,250 crore from the export development fund, Tk 1,933 crore from SME sector loan guarantee scheme, Tk 5,000 crore for workers in export-oriented industries, Tk 1,390 crore for consumer interest subsidy and  Tk 4466 crore for agriculture sector refinancing scheme.  has been distributed.  However, a fund of Tk 1,000 crore was set up for the salaries and allowances of the employees of hotels, motels and theme parks in the tourism sector but no loan was disbursed.  The BB started implementation of the second phase of 10 stimulus loan packages from July of current fiscal year 2021-22 through banks and FIs. The BB released an update of stimulus loan activities till January 11, recently. It said banks and financial institutions (FI) have disbursed Tk 15,000 crore among 67,000 entities in big and small categories across the country till January 11, 2022.  According to the BB, in the first phase, Tk 32,703 crore was disbursed from the announced incentive fund of Tk 40,000 crore for the industry and services sector. Some 3,306 units have received this loan. In the second phase Tk 9,470 crore has been distributed from this fund to 972 businesses.  Although the interest rate of this fund is 9 percent, the customers have to pay 4.5 percent while the government bears the rest.  Besides, Tk 5,407 crore has been disbursed in the second phase under the announced stimulus package for cottage, small and medium enterprises. Around 35,760 enterprises have received loans from this fund of Tk 20,000 crore. In the first phase, a loan of Tk 15,386 crore was given from this fund to 97,814 enterprises.  The interest rate on this loan is 9 percent, but here again the government is giving a 5 percent subsidy on  the interest rate.  Read: BB asks banks to follow Covid guidelines till Feb 21 In the agriculture sector Tk 379 crore has been disbursed to 30238 farmers/ clients from the agriculture refinance funds in the second phase. In the first phase Tk 4295 crore was distributed to 1.85 lakh farmers and agro based industries.  The farmers and agro industries have received the loans at 4 percent interest rate and Bangladesh Bank has provided the refinance funds to the lender banks at 1.0 percent interest rate.  Bangladesh Bank officials said that there was not as much interest to receive stimulus loans in the second phase. Demand for  stimulus loans was higher among the businesses in the first phase.  In fact, the time has now come for those who have taken loans to repay their loans, they told UNB. And this too is a sign of the recovery underway. 

Hit hard again, this time by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bangladesh's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are now pinning hopes on the upcoming budget to stay afloat. Not to mention that the survival of these firms is important as they are one of the major employers in the country's economy. Ranging from short-term liquidity and tax cuts to simple compliance for availing loans and extension of debt repayment periods by at least two years, these enterprises seek an array of relief from the government to tide over the economic crisis. These leeways to SMEs, entrepreneurs say, will not only help the sector survive but also ensure the preservation of jobs. Read Speakers urge for simplifying process of stimulus fund disbursement to SMEs Kazi Sazedur Rahman, the president of Paper Cup Manufacturers' Association of Bangladesh (PCMAB), told UNB that though a slew of stimulus packages was announced by the government last year, over 80 percent of the small entrepreneurs in Bangladesh failed to reap the benefits of the same due to corruption in the system. “Though Bangladesh Bank said that over 72 percent of the stimulus packages worth Tk20,000 crore were disbursed as loans until March 31, the reality is different. Some 95 percent of the disbursed loans were availed by corporate houses through sister concerns floated overnight," said Sazedur, also the MD of KPC Industry. According to him, the SME sector has again been hit hard by the second wave of Covid. "The government has so far been very supportive of the sector, but the problem lies at the loan distribution level. Many SMEs are already out of the banking system. If more help is not extended to the sector in the coming fiscal, then many more SMEs will disappear." Also read: Central bank to support SMEs build resilience The small entrepreneurs also seek a substantial cut in the value-added tax on various items in the upcoming budget -- from the existing 15 percent to 5 percent. "Lower taxation will, in turn, benefit the economy as many SMEs don't acquire trade licenses to avoid paying 15% VAT. So, a cut in VAT will benefit both the government as well as the SMEs," Sazedur said. "Moreover, the central bank should immediately impose a moratorium on old loan repayments as it has already extended the deadline till June 30 for banks to disburse stimulus funds among businesses in the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprise (CMSME) sector. Otherwise, many defaulting entrepreneurs won't get the benefit." Read Raise threshold for financial reporting of SMEs: DCCI

Uttaron SME card has been launched to ease the small businesses and startups’ access to mainstream investment and finance.

For startups in Bangladesh, the biggest challenge is one -- funds, according to Md Humayun Kabir, the inventor of Laaibah Ruti Maker.