Why You Can’t Afford To Ignore Your SEO

When it comes to small business marketing, there are so many areas you have to focus on and sometimes; a few of those areas get ignored. If companies ranked the best platforms for advertising based on ROI the list would be a variation of social media, pay per click and display ads, press releases, email marketing and so on. SEO would probably not reach the top three for most businesses which is why it often gets ignored.

This is a mistake most companies make when it comes to looking at data, traffic, return on investment and more. Unrealistic expectations combined with a misunderstanding of the true value of search engine optimization often lead companies to ignore it all together. To understand the value, you have to first understand what SEO is:

• Branding: No matter who you are, you have to put your brand out there. Branding is often the most overlooked and underutilized area of small business marketing because everyone is striving to be found with the rest of the competition. Wouldn’t it be nice to have people search directly for you? Rather than trying to be found among the others, build your brand and stand out from the rest.
• Being placed in the right spots: Before people know your name, they go to sites like Google to find the information they need. When they type in a key word, your goal is to either be on the top page or to make sure that you are found on sites that are listed on the top page. This introduces your brand to new customers and can help increase sales over time.
• Protect your name: One of the key advantages to search engine optimization is that you can keep control over your own name. Why is that important? When you research a company and you see a lot of bad publicity about them, it keeps you from buying their products or services. By focusing on protecting your name via content, search engine optimization, press releases and more, you flood the web with positive news about your company and keep the negatives down.
• Cost-effective: What is the cost per click on PPC for your top five producing keywords? PPC is a great tool for getting quick traffic in. However, if you can get to the top page on those same keywords, it will literally save you thousands of dollars a month while also helping you drive in traffic and sales.

Reasons Why Your Business Needs SEO From Dennis John, Head Digital Marketing

1. Proper optimization not only means better rankings, it means a better user experience.
2. Organic search may account for as much of 64% of all website visits.
3. SEO leads tend to have about 17% higher close rates than outbound leads.
4. Inbound marketing methods (including SEO) result in 14% more leads than outbound, paid media or self-sourced leads.
5. Ranking in local search directly leads to 21% increased visits and sales.
6. Marketers rank SEO as one of their most effective digital marketing strategies
7. SEO leads to increased credibility for your brand by 56%.
8. SEO can be a 33% less hands-on strategy than other inbound techniques.
9. Being on the 2nd or 3rd page of the search results means virtually no search visibility.
10. 47% of consumers research products online before going to a store.

There is no denying that when it comes to small business marketing, you need to have SEO at the top of the to do list. However, if you do not have a sound strategy in place, you could be wasting a golden opportunity. To see how your site stacks up against the competition, test your SEO score today!