SEO, which stands for search engine optimization, is one of the most important factors of all when it comes to marketing your business. When used correctly, good SEO practices should allow your site to be seen more easily when searches are carried out online, and if you can be seen. Your link clicked on instead of a competitor, you will often get the business (this will, of course, also assume that your products and services are of good quality and are what your customers are looking for).
Yet SEO is essential for other reasons too. Although its main function is to allow you to be spotted more easily in search engine results, it will help your business in other ways as well. Read on to find out more.
Organic Searches
Most people will find what they are looking for online via organic searches. They will go to a search engine, type in what they are looking for, and usually click on a link in the first page (and often nearer the top of that first page) of results. Using a search engine like Google, for example, which has a 75 percent market share when it comes to users, means that the results are going to be trusted by those looking for answers online. So, having your website rank highly on a trusted search engine will give you more clicks, more visitors, and hopefully, more sales. For this to happen, you should:
- Include a blog on your site so that you can have changing content and easily include specific keywords
- Add keywords throughout your site
- Ensuring you use a link building program to gain more views
- Use ALT attributes in any images
Build Trust
Trust is something that all businesses need to ensure their customers have with them. People just aren’t going to buy from a business they can’t trust; they will worry that the products and services aren’t going to be what they really want, or of a good enough quality, and they will be concerned about losing money too. This is just not worth it for many people, especially when there is a lot of competition and they will easily be able to find another business to buy from.
If you can show them they can trust you, those customers are much more likely to stay with you rather than going elsewhere. Using SEO to rank higher on trusted search engines is an excellent way to show those who might be wavering that you can be trusted and that they should certainly use your services. It might take time to build a good reputation in this way, but it will be worth it when people are happy to buy from you.
You Will Sell More
The ultimate aim of any business is to make a profit and to do that, the business must sell its products and services. This won’t happen if no one ever knows about your business, and that’s why digital marketing, in general, is always going to be required – make sure you set a reasonable budget aside for this since, without your marketing, your sales won’t be enough to make you any money. You may need to close the business prematurely.
Using SEO specifically to help you make more sales is ideal. You can use SEO to ensure that any potential customers can see your special offers, your news, your interesting new information, and much more. This will help them to make a purchasing decision and, if you do it well enough, you will sell enough to make a profit. It will also mean that you have a reason to update your blog, and this can also help when it comes to making more sales – a customer who sees a blog was updated just a few days ago as opposed to months ago will be happier to buy, knowing you are definitely still in business.
Save Money With SEO
Depending on how you manage your SEO, you could even save money using this form of digital marketing compared to some others. This will, of course, depend on your business circumstances and other factors, but it is certainly possible to spend a relatively small amount on SEO and still get a good result. You can even maintain the SEO of your site yourself, although you must be confident that you have the time and expertise to do this; it can pay dividends to invest in outsourcing your SEO to make sure it is right and will do the job it is meant to be.
When it comes to value for money, SEO is an excellent choice. Ranking in search engines, building trust with customers, putting your company’s message out there to be seen will all help boost profits, and with SEO it can be done much more quickly and easily.
It’s A Long Term Strategy
Having a good long term marketing strategy for your business will help you now and in the future. It will mean you always know what you are spending (and so you can add the figures to your budgeting spreadsheet) and you will be able to see the difference your SEO strategy makes to your bottom line.
This will make interesting reading for any investors you want to bring on board, or for a bank manager who can lend you the money you need to take the next steps in your business, and your business plan should reflect these ideas.
It’s true that, over time, SEO practices might change to reflect the new ways that search engines work; it has happened before, and there is no reason why it shouldn’t happen again. This is why engaging professionals to help you is ideal as they will be aware of these changes and can ensure you are still within the guidelines. However, even though things might change, your plan can still be used with a few tweaks and additions – the important part is creating it in the first place.