Stephanie McGuinn is a Digital Marketer specializing in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with additional skills in Social Media Management. She is an Account Director at Creative2, where she manages the digital marketing accounts. She is the author of the Search Engine Savvy blog.
Take it away Steph...
“I finally have a nice website but nobody comes to it.” “We don’t have time to keep up with a blog on our website, why do we need one?” “When I search for my product or service on Google, why doesn’t my website show up?”
These are all questions that SEO companies get on a daily basis and the answer is: SEO, SEO, SEO!
What the heck is SEO anyway?
Here’s how SEO is defined by Search Engine Land:
SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” It is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” listings on search engines. All major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing have such results, where web pages and other content such as videos or local listings are shown and ranked based on what the search engine considers most relevant to users. Payment isn’t involved, as it is with paid search ads.
Companies compete for the top spots on search results pages through SEO. These sought-after positions are attained by developing a widespread presence on the web and establishing your site as a trusted source for information.
5 Ways SEO Can Bring in the Big Bucks for Your Business
With a well crafted SEO plan, you will be able to:
1. Find Customers You May Not Otherwise be Able to Reach
According to a 2010 Nelson Global Consumer Report, 81% of people research products or services online before making purchases. When people are narrowing down which store to patronize, or which company to use, they are doing it online. More specifically, as we’ll see in a moment, they are searching Google. Do you think you should be there? I do!
Many people in this market are not likely to walk into your store or meet you at a networking event. The best way to reach this population is to show up high on Google search results.
The best part? These people are already shopping for your product or service. Wahoo!
Additionally, you can use keyword research to determine what people are typing to search. For example, if you are a dentist and sell tooth implants, you might discover that people are searching for pricing information rather than where to get their implants. Answering this population’s query with a blog about average pricing can develop instant rapport and give them the feeling that they need not search any further than your dental office.
2. Get Those Site Visitors to Buy Something Already!
With a good SEO plan, you can be in front of potential customers at their point of decision, which is already a great start.
But even better, is that you can monitor their behavior once they get to your site and rework web content that isn’t resulting in sales.
A wealth of data about the behavior of visitors to your site is available merely by adding a snippet of code to your site. Easy enough, eh?
It’s important to note, though, that the amount of data is massive and complex. You’ll likely need the help of a professional or you’ll need to be prepared to spend hours upon hours learning the system on your own to be able to process and make decisions based on the data. Yikes!
3. Appear Trustworthy
“Google isn’t a search engine, Google is a reputation management system.” Clive Thompson, Wired Magazine. Google spends a huge amount of resources to ensure that its algorithms provide visitors with search results that best meet their needs. If your site appears as a top result, it provides instant credibility.
4. Get People to Come To Your Website
Managing where and how your company appears in search results will ensure that people looking for your brand will easily find you. Places you may wish to appear in addition to searches for a product or service are: within search results for your competitors’ names, and in response to common misspellings of your company’s name.
Also, as you acquire more web real estate by creating shareable content, your site will appear in more search results, websites, blogs, social networks, and directories. This will not only help in getting and keeping you top of mind with consumers, but should also build your reputation in the eyes of the customer as they see you on multiple reputable platforms.
5. Go Head-to-Head with Your Competition
Each month 87.8 billion searches are performed on Google. Your competitors are on those results pages, getting new customers, and in Google, the top results win.
Here are ten facts about how click-through traffic on results pages is distributed, courtesy of The Beginners Guide to SEO on Moz.com.
1) The first ranking position in the search results receives 42.25% of all click-through traffic
2) The first ten results (page one) received 89.71% of all click-through traffic
3) The second position receives 11.94%
4) Third position on the first page obtains 8.47%
5) The fourth placed position on page one receives 6.05%
6) The others on the first page are under 5% of click through traffic
7) The next 10 results (normally listed on the second page of results) received 4.37%
8) Third page receives a total of 2.42 %
9) The fifth page receives a total of only 1.07%
10) All other pages of results received less than 1% of total search traffic clicks.
If you want to increase traffic to your site, grow your brand, and increase online sales leads, SEO could be the right next step for you.
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