If you own a business that has online presence or you manage a website of any kind, wanting to increase the traffic to your website sounds like a very sensible and plausible aim to have. Achieving this however, requires a set of actions that will improve and develop your presence on the internet.
From the initials of the words Search Engine Optimization such improving actions are called SEO for brief. The term SEO collectively refers to all those actions that will increase the likelihood of traffic to your website by web users. For example, if your business has an internet presence then SEO enables you to increase the chances of potential customers visiting your own website. However, things are not that simple. If you are not your industry's leading brand, then customers are less likely to search for you under your own brand name. However, if customers find that your brand appears steadily near the top of their searches, then this will greatly contribute towards the growth of your business.
Effective SEO requires strategic planning and continuous improvement if it is to yield the desired results. In fact, SEO is a long-term tool in the hands of any entrepreneur and with proper handling, it can really turn potential customers into actual paying customers.
But, what are exactly the key benefits of SEO?
The first think to bear in mind is that in essence SEO is an investment. If you decide to invest in SEO however you need to be aware that the return on this investment will not usually come before a few months have elapsed, although the actual benefits to be had are both important and have a long-term impact.
The primary benefit of SEO is undoubtedly increased traffic, since it is well known that the higher a website ranks for specific keywords, the more traffic it attracts. In fact, Google's first rank has been found to have an average success rate of 27.5% visits. In reality, this means that if you find yourself at the top position of a search engine results page for a keyword, then for every 100 searches of this term you will get 27-28 visitors to your site. Depending on your position, this number falls significantly as you go down.
SEO also leads to improved rankings and enhancement of your brand visibility. The more keywords you use, the more often your brand will be visible to prospective customers, provided these terms appear on the first pages of search engine results pages. According to statistics, it takes 5-7 impressions before someone remembers your commercial name or brand. Thus, SEO is a direct guide to improving your ranking in search engine results.
An important factor to consider is that ranking on the first page is always equated with reliability and those sites that appear on the highest positions in search results are always considered to be more reliable. This increases the credibility and trust of visitors to a business or brand. In fact, in 98% of the cases, the user selects a site appearing on the first page of the results. This is because visitors feel that these sites are trustworthy and reliable choices.
Moreover, remember that if you operate in an industry whose products or services are being searched online, then you surely have competitors who are already doing SEO. If you want to grow your business and be where users are looking for, then you also need to invest in SEO services and this is the only effective way to remain competitive and not be surpassed by others in the long run.
Yet another benefit of SEO is that it is a measurable tool. For example, through the use of Google Analytics, you can see the detailed statistics for your business customers. In addition, you can use Google to find the exact keywords that actually lead to traffic. When potential customers are looking for your products or services online, SEO enables each page on your site to become an entry point for them, thus maximizing your chances for converting them into actual, purchasing customers.
As a parting thought, consider this: according to Internet Live Stats more than 3.5 billion searches are processed by Google alone every single day! Somewhere amongst those you might find your potential customers and this is why for any modern business SEO is as important as it is vital as part of its entire marketing mix. So the question that begs answering is not whether you should do SEO, that is a resounding yes, but rather whether you will do it yourself or hire a professional SEO service provider. Whichever you choose plan it well and be persistent and results will soon become evident for your business.
