Why Is SEO So Important?
The internet is one of the most useful tools for entrepreneurs that’s ever existed. In this day in age, it’s fully possible to run a business entirely from your laptop. In fact, you can even do it from a smartphone.
But no matter what kind of business you’re in, you won’t get very far if people aren’t able to find you. Even if you’ve spent countless hours and dumped money into creating awesome content, it won’t mean anything if nobody sees it.
This is, of course, where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play. But, not everyone knows why SEO is important (or how to incorporate it in their online strategy).
Modern advances in marketing are making it easier for businesses to reach consumers online. With SEO, your company can grab the targeted attention of consumers in different demographics faster than ever before.
Looking at the Data
By the end of 2020, companies will spend an average of $79.27 billion on SEO.
If you’re not making SEO a focal point of your overall marketing strategy, then the harsh reality is that you’re likely already far behind your competitors. SEO is no longer an option for companies who want to increase their revenue and make it to the top of search engine results — it’s a requirement.
However, if you still find yourself asking, “Does my business need SEO?” then you’ve come to the right place.
Consider this your quick and easy guide to some of the most essential reasons why your business needs SEO.
1. SEO Drives New Customers and New Business
SEO connects consumers who are actively looking for what your company offers to your website. These customers also convert better, see the chart below:
In short, SEO helps everyone win.
You get a sale, and the customer gets exactly what they’re’ looking for.
Organic Search Traffic Drives The Highest Quality Traffic
While this concept is relatively simple, it’s often one that many people overlook. This is often the result of being too numbers-driven when it comes to marketing-related metrics.
For example, many entrepreneurs will spend hundreds (and often thousands) of dollars on running online ads in order to get people to their site. Then, they’ll sit in awe as they review their monthly traffic and find that it’s up exponentially.
Unfortunately for many small business owners (and those with a website in general), high levels of inbound traffic don’t equate to higher conversions.
For those unfamiliar with the term, a conversion occurs when a member of your audience takes an action that you want them to. A sale, for instance, is a common type of conversion. But, signing up for a weekly email newsletter is also a conversion.
The problem with running online ads with the aim of getting as many people to your site as possible is that you run the risk of casting a net that catches those who aren’t interested in your product or service. This, of course, will result in them leaving your site without performing a desirable action.
With SEO, however, people are able to find your site on their own based on terms or phrases they search on Google. Once they make it to this point, they’re far more likely to interact favorably with your site since they’re already interested in what you have to offer.
This is especially true for those who go on Google with an intent to purchase a product or service.
Put simply, SEO is like a pizza shop leaving its doors open so pedestrians can smell what’s cooking. Mass ad-buying is more like handing a flyer to every single person out on the street.
Both work, but who’s more likely to buy a slice?
3. Your Competition is Doing SEO
If a sprinter doesn’t train, his competitors will still be getting faster. If they’re slower, they’re catching up. If they’re already faster, they’re only widening the gap.
The same can be said about SEO. If your company doesn’t take advantage of all the utility it provides, it’s highly likely that you’ll quickly fall behind your competition. Once you’re left in the dust, it can be fairly difficult to recover, too.
But, SEO isn’t just a ‘set it and forget it’ type of deal. When you do it, you need to keep doing it. This means checking your analytics monthly (or even weekly) and seeing how your numbers are performing.
Otherwise, you run the risk of telling yourself “my SEO is in place, I’ll be fine” and having your traffic drop for the next quarter without you being aware of it.
When it comes to industry competition, brand awareness also plays a huge role when it’s time for customers to decide who to trust. If you’re easily discoverable at the top of Google compared to other businesses in your industry, it’s far more likely your audience will choose you over your competitors.
This is even truer for local businesses, as being listed under multiple competitors could have a large impact on your company’s growth. For younger local companies, getting that initial traffic can often mean the difference between scaling and struggling to stay afloat.
4. Trackable & Measurable Organizational Growth
The aforementioned compulsive checking of your site’s analytics has an added benefit: it allows you to objectively track your company’s growth.
Since web traffic will often ebb and flow, it can be difficult to get a solid idea of how you’ve been performing until a few months have passed. If everything’s been set up correctly, you should see a nice upward trend in your inbound traffic, the duration visitors spend on your site, the number of pages they visit, etc.
All of these statistics together will often add up to an increased number of conversions, which will lead to more revenue over time. This money can then be reinvested into your company to scale outward and generate even more income.
While growth is a metric that company owners will always strive for, it’s more than simply a badge of honor. Showing your business’s current growth (and potential for growth) is a stellar way to attract investors if you happen to be in need of funding.
At the very least, knowing that your business is growing will allow you to analyze your SEO methods and know that what you’re currently doing is working. You can use these tactics in the future on a larger scale or even if you decide to start another company.
5. SEO Helps Tap into the Power of Your Local Market
This is especially true if you’re a service-based business. Great examples are legal professionals, doctors, businesses who sell products from a storefront and more.
Chances are, for a business who has a location that receives foot traffic, the majority of your market is made up of local consumers and not-so-much online sales.
In fact, tapping into and getting more out of your local market is a huge part of why a business needs SEO services. Check out some local SEO statistics and trends below:
According to a recent study by Google, over 3/4 of consumers who conduct a local search on a mobile device end up visiting that business within 24 hours — and 28% of them make immediate purchases.
That same study showed that over 30% of searches relate to location in some way.
Just think about it; how many times have you Googled a local business over just the past week?
If you want to beat out local competitors, increase your conversions, and make a splash in your local market, you simply can’t do it without a local SEO strategy.
6. SEO Increases Brand Authority & Recognition
Having a consistent branding strategy across all of your digital and print marketing platforms can increase your revenue by nearly 25% through an almost 93% increase in leads!
With a focus on SEO and building your reputation online, you’ll be set up for inbound sales success.
If you want customers to see your logo, products/services, company colors, and even your motto and recognize it as a part of your brand right away, the proper SEO strategy can help make that happen.
But it’s not just about building brand recognition — it’s also about building trust between your brand and your consumers by positioning yourself as the industry authority.
When your website ranks high in search engine rankings, consumers will see you as a trusted, superior source — and will choose to work with you over your competitors as a result.
7. Content Found in Search Solidifies Brand Authority
A business needs SEO because, unlike so many other kinds of marketing strategies today, it provides you with an incredible variety of content options.
SEO isn’t just about blogging or making a post on social media (although of course, those are certainly aspects of it.)
SEO means optimizing your content for voice search, making a mobile-friendly website, creating a seamless website design, creating a strong linking strategy, writing guest posts, creating a tutorial for your site visitors, and countless other tactics.
It’s much easier to keep your SEO strategy fresh, new, and above all, engaging, when you have this many options.
8. SEO Provides Target Audience Insights
SEO isn’t just about reaching more potential customers — it’s also about understanding their pain points, their interests, their needs, and even their general demographics.
SEO provides you with tons of quantifiable data that can help you to make more effective marketing campaigns in the future and form a stronger, lasting connection with your market.
You might be surprised to learn that your actual market is quite different from the people you perceived were buying your products/booking your services.
Knowing invaluable information like this and other data points helps you learn when to post, which platforms to use, the kind of content your market is interested in, who is clicking and sharing your posts, lets you identify weak points in your strategy, and much more.
9. SEO is the Most Cost-Effective Form of Marketing
Unless you plan on running and managing everything yourself, you’re going to have to set aside many for marketing. The good news, though, is that SEO is the most cost-effective way you can get your brand, products and services found by your ideal customer.
With proper SEO, your website attracts and keeps people on your website, which, in turn, has a direct correlation with profit.
It doesn’t cost you anything to write your own blog post, claim and fill out your business listings, or even to write guest posts for authoritative industry sites/journals. And even if you do decide to work with a professional SEO agency — and you should — you’ll still end up getting an incredible ROI on the SEO investments you make.
Plus, because it’s a long-term marketing strategy and not a “trend,” you can continually tweak and update your SEO strategy as opposed to starting from scratch on your entire marketing strategy every few months.
Even the most basic forms of SEO (optimizing image tags, filling out business listings, etc.) can have an exponentially positive effect down the road. The key here, though, is to make sure that the product or service you’re leading people to is worth the price you’re asking for.
This is a metric you may or may not have already figured out. If you’ve consistently proven to yourself that a percentage of people who reach your site will make a purchase, then SEO is a lucrative marketing method that you need to invest in as soon as possible.
An SEO agency can help you determine exactly what you need to do in order to hit the numbers you’re looking for. They can also help you find the amount you need to spend each month in order to make it happen.
It’s important, though, to hire an agency that has proven results. As with any other investment, you should do your research before you start putting money into it.
Your Business Needs SEO.
Now that this list of the top reasons why your business needs SEO has provided you with insights into the benefits, it’s time to start working with an expert SEO agency.
Whether you need assistance with website design, local or even national SEO, our team can help make it happen for you.
We invite you to take a look at our portfolio to learn more about what we can create for you.
Then, contact us to get started on developing a unique, impactful, and results-driven SEO strategy for your company.
