As the owner of a small or
medium-sized business, you may be under the impression that "SEO"
(Search Engine Optimisation) is just a fancy marketing term for big businesses
and corporations. And you're not alone - in a recent survey, it was found that
while 56% of small businesses have their own websites, only 28% think about
SEO.
The importance of SEO in this day
and age could not be more prevalent. Neglecting to apply SEO strategies to your
website may be as crippling for your business as locking your front doors. So
what does SEO do? In a world where most consumers use search engines to find
nearby companies, SEO is the difference between being visible or invisible.
Here are 5 reasons why SMB's should use SEO today.
1) Traffic Boost
The traffic going to your website is
driven mainly by search engines. Simply putting up a website is not enough to
get seen; people have to know you exist in the first place. Every time they use
Google or another search engine to find their new job, designer handbag, car
repair (or anything else), Google uses special algorithms to determine which
websites will show up on the front page.
By using certain SEO strategies, you
can be one of the first sites to pop up every time someone needs something related
to your business. Without SEO, you will be buried beneath a mountain of
competitors.
2) It's Cost Effective
Most marketing and advertising costs
big money, but the only cost of SEO is how much time you spend learning SEO
strategies and writing content, or paying an SEO specialist to improve your
Google rankings. With a proper SEO campaign maintained over several months, you
can expect an ROI several times greater than any Facebook or AdWords
advertising, up to 800% or more.
3) Small Businesses Can Beat Big
Businesses with Specific Keywords and Other Localized Advantages
Once you get into SEO, you will
start to learn that it's all about the keywords, which are simply the words and
phrases that people enter into search engines. The overall goal of SEO is to
write content in which these keywords are used and focused on, making your site
stronger and higher ranked when people Google that certain keyword.
So you might think that your chances
at success are hopeless; after all, how are you supposed to out-SEO
corporations and large businesses that have been doing this for years? Well,
small businesses actually have a greater advantage due to long tail keywords.
Long tail keywords are long and specific keywords or phrases. As a small
business, you also have a smaller and more specific target audience (for
example, everyone looking for your product or service in your town or city, as
opposed to a global audience). You can hone in on long tail keywords that
include your specific location or audience, that big businesses won't bother
tackling. Sure, Toys R Us may get all the "new toys" searches, but
your small toy store can capture all the "new toys for young boys in
London" searches.
And this isn't the only thing that
helps out small businesses, search engines generally take into account the
user's location with Local Search, meaning you have a better chance to be seen
by people in your area. This will only improve with recent updates in which
business owners can further personalize their listings.
In addition to this there is also
what's known as "off-page SEO": this is less about the SEO work you
do on your website, and more about improving your reputation in the real world
and through social media. It turns out that people are more than willing to
talk up a small local business that provide a good service, and the more people
are talking about you on the web, the more likely your rankings will rise.
4) Competitors Will Always Have an
Advantage If You Don't Jump Onboard
The internet boom has come and gone,
and ignoring what it can offer is just irresponsible for your business. SEO is
fact of life these days and most, if not all, of your competitors are certain
to be doing this, so you need to get onboard.
You may argue that you already have
a stable group of loyal customers who will keep your business afloat, customers
with whom you have built up trust before the SEO and social media years. Sure,
that may be the case now, but how long until those customers stop needing or
wanting the service or product you provide? New customers will not flock to
your store like the old ones. Why? Because new customers will be swept away by
your competition long before they even hear your name.
5) SEO Will Always Be Around
SEO isn't something that we'll ride
out. The way search engines work, and the fact Google has an increasingly
monopolized hold over search engines and various social media platforms, SEO Agentur Salzburg will always be relevant. The best option is to start working on your SEO as
soon as possible if you don't want your business to drown under the current.
