When you think of digital marketing, you might think of email blasts, social media posts, and text reminders. Did you know there is actually much more to digital marketing than just creating an ad and sending it to your target audience? Search engine optimization (SEO) is now a necessary tool for any small business's digital marketing strategy. If you want customers to find your business online before they find others, then you need SEO as a main component in your strategy. Here are the top reasons why you need SEO for your small business.
Organic search is typically the primary source of traffic to your site.
During the buying journey of a consumer, they tend to look online for options that meet their specific likes and interests. Organic search online is one of the first stops for a potential customer for your brand. The primary source of traffic to your site is search result traffic. Having a SEO strategy in place will allow your brand to capture the most from organic searches. Understand what keywords are best for your business to help generate more organic search to your small business’s website. By understanding what keywords fit your brand, you can use this to your advantage on your website to put your business at the top of Google search results.
Increase Traffic, Engagement, and Conversions on your website.
SEO is not just for Google, it can help you to rank on any search engine online. Developing a SEO strategy will allow for more converts of leads, more interactions with your local marketplace, and an increase in store traffic overall as you rank higher on all search engines. Local search optimizes your current region, your state and country, and even what cities you are near to find the best results for those nearby. Even if your small business does not do a lot of online marketing, you should still have the basics of Google search under your belt to bring customers to your physical location to shop. Knowing what your target audience is most likely to search can help to strengthen your SEO strategy and bring more engagement to your small business.
SEO Offers a High ROI
Having a SEO strategy can yield measurable results, delivering a high ROI for your small business. As SEO is a long-term strategy, be prepared to invest into qualified SEO strategies that may take time to see proper return on investments for your small business. The most successful strategies in SEO are long term strategies that take time and money to generate results. SEO should not be a rushed process, as this will only hurt your brand. Although it might sound expensive to invest into SEO, the process is actually fairly inexpensive and has a large return on investment. The more you choose to invest into SEO, the more profit you will see in return. Having a SEO strategy for your small business will yield significant results and bring more opportunities your way.
Become a Leader in Good User Experience
In 2021, Google announced that they would be optimizing the user experience on their platform in an attempt to better screen out spammy, misleading pages that can disrupt a user’s experience. Having SEO already in place can allow your small business to become a leader in user experience, which can proceed to ranking as some of the first results on Google. The user experience will be mindful to mobile friendliness and safe browsing, specifically watching for cumulative layout shifts and first input delays. Your small business needs SEO to create the best user experience and avoid these easy mistakes that will hurt your ranking on Google.
Be Ahead of the Competition
If you do not already have a SEO strategy for your small business, you are giving your competition an advantage because they most likely have a SEO strategy already in place. You are only hurting yourself by not having a SEO strategy. As we progress into 2022, we will see more small businesses adapt SEO strategies as the awareness spreads about the importance of search engine optimization in your brand. Failing to have a SEO strategy gives your leads to your competitors online. Investing into SEO grabs leads from your competition and pushes them below your business in search engine results. If your competition is already executing SEO fairly poorly, then it will not be hard to surpass them in search results. You do not want to be caught on the wrong side of the table when it comes to SEO!
Investing in SEO Now Means Better Future Growth for Your Small Business
As algorithms change, it is important to stay ahead online as a small business so you always generate organic traffic to your website. Consider having an SEO strategy as a means to “future proof” your small business. In 2021, 35% of 1,124 consumers surveyed reported using search engines multiple times a week to find small businesses. This number will only grow as we proceed into the future. Having a SEO strategy will allow your business to reach the consumers searching online for local small businesses. You need to invest into SEO for your small business to guarantee future growth and help build credibility with your target audience. The sooner you adapt SEO into your business strategy, the faster you build trust and credibility among your target audience. The traffic generated through SEO converts well and helps to grow your business long-term.
ImageWorks, LLC: CT Digital Marketing Experts
Keeping up with trends in digital marketing can be exhausting, especially when you've got a company to run. That's why our team at ImageWorks stays up to date with the latest advancements in the marketing industry. Let us focus on turning your website into a lead generation machine so you can focus on your business!
