Tuesday, 06 November 2012 07:56

Top 10 Reasons to Add Search Engine Optimization to Your Marketing

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a set of marketing and website optimization techniques that if used properly, can help a company rank better in relevant search results. Many business owners have heard this buzz word, but they do not really understand what SEO really is and how SEO works.

What Is SEO?

SEO is an all inclusive look at your websites' availability and presentation to the search engines (primarily Google). It takes part in creative and technical processes to examine your content on the website and social media platforms to make sure everything you put on the internet works towards a goal that can put you ahead of your competitors when a potential client searches relevant services or products. SEO techniques are inter-departmental in that they include "on-page optimization" and "off-page optimization", play a role in conversion optimization, social media strategy, website design, website navigation, taxonomy, as well as paid search (Google Adwords - PPC) etc.

What Isn't SEO?

SEO isn't the panacea that some SEO ads promise. First of all, it isn't a quick cure. For some goals and keywords, it may take up to 6 months to see results and then your website will need ongoing optimization to keep it up there. Also SEO can't cure an "unhealthy" website, which has no written content on the pages.

Why You Need SEO:

Market Need: Over 4.7 billion searches were performed on Google every day in 2011, which accounts for 65.09% of all search traffic (in June 2012). According to a 2010 study on consumers' search behaviors:

  • 70% of people have used the internet to find a local business in the last 12 months

  • 67% of local consumers have consulted online customer reviews of local businesses

Cost/Benefit Effect: In the economic downturn, every company has a strict marketing budget, especially small businesses, if one actually exists at all. Compared to traditional marketing and media campaigns, SEO is considered inexpensive no matter whether you hire an internal SEO specialist or a professional SEO company, like FiG. On the benefit side, a healthy SEO strategy and effective SEO execution will provide your business with a long-term benefit of consistent leads without extra costs.

The Benefits of Search Engine Optimization:

  1. More website visitors (from improved search engine rankings)

  2. Website visitors that are ready to buy (prequalified by specific keywords)

  3. Improved look and feel of the search experience for your customers (via video and image optimization)

  4. Visually richer, more informative search results for your customers (rich snippets, site links, targeted key words)

  5. Beyond the search engines, we make your website easier to find (social media)

  6. Improved findability in your own neighborhood (local search)

  7. Market in areas that are difficult to reach by conventional advertising (keyword niches)

  8. Business branding and employee recognition (Google author advertising)

  9. Branding of your company (social media)

  10. You don't have to be “big business” to achieve your business goals with SEO


 

Are you wondering how a search engine optimization strategy fits in with your overall website and brand strategy? Do you need to be more competitive online? FIG can help, contact us today.