WHY DO BUSINESSES NEED SEO?
SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is the name given to activity that attempts to improve search engine rankings. It is the process of getting traffic from the ‘free’, ‘organic’, or ‘natural’ search results on search engines.
In search results Google displays links to pages it considers relevant and authoritative. Authority is mostly measured by analysing the number and quality of links from other web pages.
In simple terms your web pages have the potential to rank in Google so long as other web pages link to them.
SEO HELPS PEOPLE TO FIND YOUR WEBSITE
Your website is the first point of contact with your audience online. It can generate leads, qualify prospects and attract potential new customers, partners or investors.
But unless people can find it, your website is good for nothing. SEO plays an invaluable role here.
On the off-chance that you’re running a healthy business even without good search engine visibility for your high search volume keywords, then imagine how much more money you could make when you rank for them and reach those extra customers and make more sales. Remember… if you’re not there, your competitors are, ready to take your money!
SEO DRIVES OFFLINE SALES
Good SEO starts with smart purchasing decisions. Today, more sales offline are driven by research initiated on the Web. Recent studies have found that 86% of consumers use the Internet to find local businesses from which to buy offline. Yes, in the store!
It’s why most offline businesses cannot afford to ignore online marketing, and also why SEO forms the cornerstone of every offline company’s digital marketing strategy. Your website acts as a never-resting salesperson, working day and night to deliver qualified leads to your business.
These are people actively seeking out solutions that you offer to their most pressing problems and needs. SEO can bring many more of them to your virtual doorstep.
SEO IS NOT A COST BUT AN INVESTMENT
An investment with a high return. By tying in SEO to Web analytics data, you may observe certain keywords having great conversion rates for which you rank only on page #2 on Google and know that you’re leaving money on the table.
SEO IS A CRUCIAL PART OF YOUR MARKETING MIX
SEO is the master when it comes to pulling in prospects, and can help boost conversions too.
But SEO is not the only game in town! SEO alone cannot help you reach your highest marketing potential. Social media, branding and other marketing strategies segue into and complement SEO, the combination strengthening and reinforcing each element to grow your business exponentially… faster.
As a manager or CEO then, your challenge isn’t about picking one over another, but how best to intelligently integrate SEO into your marketing mix to reap rich rewards.
SEO MASSIVELY IMPACTS THE RESEARCH / BUYING CYCLE
SEO will increase your sales without proportionately increasing your marketing costs, thereby growing profits exponentially and over time. SEO can further all your business goals at a better ROI than most other comparable forms of online marketing because of this fundamental effect of better conversions and more sales at little incremental cost.
Assuming that everybody has heard about your brand or thinks that you’re the best place to buy can be a very costly mistake. People are constantly researching good deals, and are using the social-driven Web for comparison shopping. And price conscious shopping behaviour is more common in tough financial times, when consumers spend their money more cautiously.
SEO plays an important role in this research and buying cycle. It’s like a prospect magnet, attracting potential buyers to your website through critical and relevant keywords and phrases ranked high in search engines where searchers are already looking for information about them. It’s about being where your customers are, and directing them towards solutions you offer them.
SEO ATTRACTS RELEVANT TRAFFIC WITH HIGH CONVERSION POTENTIAL
SEO is highly targeted, down to minor details. Using keyword analysis, you can find just how big a “market” is, how many people are searching for that exact keyword, how competitive the arena is (in SERPs), and with some keen deductive reasoning, even identify the intent behind keyword searches.
It’s not all intuitive and obvious, and the devil is in the details. That’s why having an insightful SEO consultant can generate huge returns on your marketing money spent on optimization.
Web traffic from a good SEO campaign has high conversion potential. And by correctly tapping into ‘searcher intent’, addressing your audience’s concerns and problems, building trust, and convincing prospects that your company is the right one to do business with, you can enjoy a high rate of visitor-to-sales conversion that’s the envy of your industry.
For example, a well-planned SEO campaign for a hotel will reach potential customers looking to take a vacation, lead them to your website, and to the right section that addresses exactly what they’re looking for. In this way, SEO acts like a hybrid of a guide, receptionist, concierge, marketing executive and salesperson.
Without SEO, finding your website in the tourism industry will be hunting for a needle in a haystack. Without fully understanding the intent behind your visitor’s search and their unique and individual needs, the chances of losing the prospect forever is high. Getting them both right means more visitors, and more sales
SEO AS A MARKETING TOOL
Through SEO techniques lucrative keywords and niches with great ROI can be found where you can make money easily, carry out detailed market research and competitive analysis, and help you build content to pull in traffic that will close big deals for you.
It can also show you if the strategy is ineffective or the competition too well entrenched to unseat. This will save you money and time wasted in pursuing ownership of that keyword or niche, leaving you to focus energy on more profitable areas. Such market pre-analysis can be priceless to the right company or business.
SEO IS COST EFFECTIVE
Over years, SEO has been proven to be one of the most cost effective forms of online marketing, delivering a higher return for investment made over time.
Your Web hosting, design and content creation expenses are similar, whether your site is visited by one hundred people, one thousand, or one million.
You pay the same for each visitor to your website, whether they join your list, buy your product or interact with your brand.
Your marketing costs are identical whether one visitor in a thousand buys from you, or one in a hundred, or one in every five.
Effective SEO can attract thousands, even millions of targeted prospects to your business website, and increase your conversion rates by delivering the exact solution to problems they are facing.
Better still, the ongoing effect and impact of SEO continues far beyond the time you invest into a campaign, because the momentum will sustain for many weeks, often years, making SEO very cost efficient as a marketing choice.