A search engine optimisation (SEO) consultant has included a forklift company in a pilot program for small businesses to implement online marketing strategies with no upfront costs.

Renea Blanck, a Houston, Texas-based independent marketing and SEO consultant created Best Forklift Service's company website about two years ago.

Now, Best Forklift and another client will benefit from Blanck's services on a "no business, no charge" basis to direct targeted traffic to the website.

Blanck researched the small family-owned forklift parts company's potential online market and discovered the key words people used in internet search engines to find products.

"By identifying key terms and phrases that relate specifically to Best Forklift, I was able to determine there are hundreds of people looking for forklift parts and other forklift-related information, services and products.

"We believe we should be able to generate an additional USD10,000 to USD20,000 a month via the internet," she said.

The challenge in improving Best Forklift's website visibility rested on "beating the competition". Blanck said there were more than one million websites competing for forklift-related traffic, many with a high page ranking on internet search results.

"Best Forklift currently has no page ranking as they haven't done SEO before, so the first step is to get them a competitive page ranking.

"The other strategy will be to target more niche terms to capture some of the untapped traffic," she said.

Blanck said many small businesses found it difficult to afford online marketing like SEO. Under Blanck's pilot program, clients are charged according to an agreed percentage of online sales generated by her efforts.

She said she was currently testing the program and if it was successful, it would be implemented as part of her business model.

"Most SEO firms or individuals I or my clients come across require large fees and do not offer any no-risk programs other than, in some cases, a money-back guarantee."

Best Forklift Service CEO Jim Nicholson said Blanck provided the expertise the company needed.

"[She] developed an affordable, easy-to-use website for us. It was natural to approach her again when we were ready for SEO," he said.

Best Forklift Service carries forklift parts for brands that include Caterpillar, Clark, Crown, Hyster, Kalmar A/C, Komatsu, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Raymond, TCM, Toyota and Yale. The California-based company also supplies forklift speciality items, like battery connectors, booster cables and LP-gas components, and a selection of strobe and flashing lights for the materials handling industry.