In the increasingly consumer oriented world of today, businesses need to employ numerous different marketing techniques to stand out. When done right, none of these techniques is more effective or affordable than Search Engine Optimization known more commonly as SEO. As the internet has become more and more popular, the value of traditional media and physical location based marketing methods has fallen drastically, as any newspaper sales manager could tell you.
You need to look no further than the local shopping mall where you can see that lots of big name stores are having a hard time, Future Shop being just the most recent victim.
More and more consumers are focusing on their mobile phones and tablets and since they spend time there it affects their buying habits. As tablets, smartphones and laptops have become not just common but universal, smart businesses have redirected their advertising strategies to be where their consumers are looking, online.
One of the great things about online marketing and its various techniques is that they work just fine for the small business as well as large business. In fact and when done skillfully, SEO and a well-designed website offer the smart small business owner significant competitive advantage. The key word is “skillfully” because running an online advertising campaign is not easy and is all too often not executed properly.
It’s not rocket science, but it is a specialist skill that requires not only technical capabilities but experience and hard-won knowledge to do right. Unless you are familiar with online marketing and have the time and ability to do it right, it is usually best to hire a professional.
If you have invested a good amount of money in your business, you will want to see returns. It doesn’t matter if you spent thousands of dollars creating an e- commerce website with a very elegant and useable interface; unless visitors are able to actually find the website through search results, they will never know what you are offering. Search engine optimization helps your site get higher rankings for relevant keywords on popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo! Once the website is fully optimized, you should notice a significant increase in daily traffic. Also if the SEO is done right, most of this traffic will be people who are looking for what your business offers. This will translate in to a greater number of visitors that you can convert to customers for your business, hence boosting your ROI.
The internet is highly competitive. Regardless of the niche that your business operates in, you are bound to face competition. Think about your own usage. How do you go about looking for something? Over 80% of online purchases start with a search, most often in Google, but also Bing Yahoo and other search engines. This is one reason what SEO is SO important.
Most people consider search engine optimization services a necessary expense. Instead, you should consider it an investment. Every dollar you spend it SEO should generate you a healthy positive return and if it’s not then you need to review your online marketing strategy. We have numerous customers that see ROI figures of 5x 10x and sometimes more for every dollar spent on SEO. Thousands of businesses now operate exclusively online. That’s because sustaining an online business is relatively easy and cost effective if you know what you are doing.
The first step is to create a website, and not just any website, but one built to act as your #1 salesperson. Even if your business is still “bricks and mortar”, without a website you are losing a large chunk of your potential opportunity.
Building your brand and reaching new customers online can be incredible cost effective no matter if you are running a shoe store, a hotel, or a painting contractor. If your business sells consumer-focused products and you really want to maximize your sales, you should consider setting up an e-commerce website where people can buy from you online. That way your store is open 24/7 and at least one salesperson is working for you all the time, your website. Once you have built a good website the question remains how will you get people to it?
Basically people find your business on line one of three ways.
Search traffic is very desirable as it has the highest conversion rate. This means that for every 1000 people finding you by search, a higher percentage will buy (all else being equal) than for any other form of traffic.
Organic search traffic is the absolute best traffic to have, because it coverts even better than Paid Search and costs less over time. Organic search traffic is exactly what SEO brings you.
The first step to online success is getting your nice well designed website found in the search engines. After all would you buy a new suit or dress and put it on and then sit at home, NO, you get out there and you show it off.
Your website is the same, you want it to be “out there” being seen and to do this you will need to optimize the website so that it is listed in as many different search indexes and for as many relevant search terms as possible. Doing so maximizes the chances that your website will show up when a person enters a keyword that is relevant to content on your site. This process is known as Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. With the right search engine optimization techniques, your business will enter an untapped market. Building an online presence is not easy. You will have to get the receipt right.
You start with a quality website, add good content and mix with generous amounts of SEO. Add advertising campaigns according to budget, but keep in mind paid advertising works better with good content and SEO so do things in the right order. Tie all of it together with your social media advertising endeavors and voila your online business is doing nicely. Not sure how to cook up the right online marketing receipt?
Too busy to cook or want some pointers on how to do it better, contact Guaranteed SEO or call toll free at 1-866-588-9292. We love nothing better than putting quality marketing ingredients together and watching your business rise!