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Small Businesses and SEO : Why Your Branding Needs Optimisation
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SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is huge. In 2015, if you’re looking for regular, targeted traffic for your website, blog or brand, there is no better way for you to harness the customers and readers that you need to survive in the wilds of the internet. Getting seen on Google is the first step towards making a sale online – you fill in the rest as you go!
But what about small business owners? Is there a need or want for the self-employed to invest in such optimisation? The answer is undoubtedly ‘yes’ – while getting into the world of SEO can seem daunting or maybe even an unnecessary expenditure if you are keen to outsource such work, the rewards you’ll reap from acknowledging the power of Google and the keywords you employ in your content will ensure you receive constant and genuine traffic. To see how important Google is, take a look at this website for live updates on the statistics of the search engine – http://www.internetlivestats.com/google-search-statistics/
Only 25% of Google searchers will click past the first page of results.
So your brand is on the internet, has a Facebook page, and has a great stock of regular content – but where is it without keyword optimisation? The answer is as plain as the above statistic – an astounding 75% of people searching under any given keyword will never see your website if it’s hidden away on page two or later. Getting wise on SEO will maximise your business’ chances of fitting in with the big players and chains on page one.
SEO provides traffic, sales and results.
Year after year, specialists advise that it is plain to see that SEO drives traffic and increases interest in your product. Providing either you or the specialist you hire researches and edits your content thoroughly to allow for crucial key phrases, it is only common sense that the higher you appear on the world’s biggest search engine, the more chance you have of gaining popularity. SEO has been proven to be more successful in achieving interest than paid advertising or ‘Pay Per Click’ alternatives. One such statistic advises that 80% of Google searchers will ignore paid ads at the top of the results list and are more keen to click through on ‘organic’ or genuine results.
The big businesses and small businesses know the importance of SEO.
Ignoring the importance of optimisation is very likely to put you behind your competition. Big industry is investing huge money into the optimisation of content for searching, and it’s easy to understand why. Google calculates over three billion unique searches per day worldwide – and the internet never sleeps, meaning as Google changes its ranking system periodically, keeping on top of SEO will ensure that your business rolls over custom on a regular basis.
It’s not all Social Media
As a small business, you may well have a Facebook page or Twitter profile, yet have not thought about encouraging SEO for your content. While social media is still rife and used by millions the world over, statistics again win through for keyword optimisation. Up to 300% more traffic is driven to online content through searches and good SEO practice than click-throughs on social media links. While maintaining a social profile is excellent practice, using it in the place of optimisation may risk the loss of an untold number of customers.
People can find you any-time, anywhere!
Gone are the days of your business being confined to local directories or limited coverage. If your content is optimised correctly, you will be able to reach a world of potential customers who are searching for the services you offer via PC, via mobile and in different time zones. Ignoring SEO could cost you an unlimited potential in interest – while it may seem fairly complex on the outside, looking for advice or hiring the right specialist to handle your brand’s promotion will be worth your while now, and far into the future. SEO is set to continue to be big business for the foreseeable future, and investing now will provide long-term returns for growing your own business.
