9 Reasons why spending on SEO will be your wisest investment of the year
It’s that time of year again. Companies everywhere are having intense meetings and heated debates about the best ways to spend limited budget dollars for the next fiscal period. If your company is in the midst of such discussions (or soon will be), don’t forget about SEO. Spending on SEO strategies and implementation could be your smartest investment of the year.
Today, customers are more likely to find you online. In fact, studies show that prospects go through more than half of the sales cycle before ever contacting your company representatives. If they don’t like what they find (or can’t find you at all) they will quickly move on to your competition. That makes the SEO function critical and a great value for the money. The top 9 reasons are listed below.
- SEO is an investment, not an expense
Accountants and CFOs like to think in terms of line items and net margins. Therefore, it may be difficult to persuade CEOs and C-suite executives about the overall value of SEO, but don’t give up. Overtime, SEO can increase your conversion rates, improve sales without depleting your marketing budget and direct those most likely to purchase right to your virtual front door.
- Comparison shopping is now a way of life
You can no longer count on being the biggest or closest fish in the sea. Even if you are the only company in a 50 mile radius that sells ugly furniture or you believe that no one else delivers personalized messages written on vegetables except you, your customers don’t. They are accustomed to searching for a better, cheaper, or easier alternative. SEO plays a vital role in their research. Having the right keywords and phrases can help to shine a spotlight on your company and your offerings to encourage them to choose you over the competition.
- SEO provides an excellent return on investment
Customers are not the only comparison shoppers. It’s likely that your business is in the habit of shopping around for the best deals. While it’s tempting to pick the lowest bidder, you should remember that you get what you pay for. The goal is to get a higher amount of targeted traffic to your website. When done correctly, SEO improves your name recognition, boosts your reputation and enhances your profitability. Consequently, you will find that a good SEO firm will pay for itself in a short period of time.
- SEO is like the cornerstone of your building, not the penthouse
You could have the most attractive website and the most useful product, but it means nothing without the proper foundation of keywords and a solid content management system. In order for customers to make a purchase, you must first establish trust, reliability and authority. You can build upon your brand by offering advice, helping to solve problems and delivering proof for why you are the better option. If customers start to turn to your company because you have a track record for adding value, when it’s time for them to make a purchase, you will be on top of their minds.
- Your website is your virtual front door
Think of it this way: your website is the one aspect of your business that’s accessible at all times. Even in the middle of the night, customers can use it to learn more about your company or make purchases and connect with you. In addition, it’s not limited by phone lines or number of available employees. SEO helps to bring customers to your website and, when they get there, elevate its performance and let your information shine.
- You need more than codes and luck to dominate search engines
Having the right codes means your website does what you want it to do. However, there are approximately 200 different factors that determine where you rank and these algorithms change periodically. In addition, Google now indexes information for mobile devices first, which means if your website is not optimized to be seen on these devices, your pages may not rank as high. On top of the list of what they search for is your content. This is what tells the search bots that your page has what it’s looking for. Clicks, views and bounce rates are fine, but to really slay the search engines, you must affect hearts and minds and maximizing your SEO strategies will help you do just that.
- Without effective SEO, your company is missing out
As you craft and develop your goals and objectives, you should realize that SEO can help you achieve them. For instance, if you are trying to increase brand awareness, you can use SEO to make the most of organic search traffic from customers who are looking for information about your particular product or service. SEO involves marketing, economics, business and creative thought. All of these come together to in SEO to help you implement your overall strategic plan.
- SEO lets you get a jump on the competition
You have to be where your customers are. If not, rest assured that your competition will be there. Get ahead of your competitors while they are still determining if SEO is for right for them. It’s important to make your company memorable with the right keywords, phrases and backlink sources to make you stand out from the rest.
- If your company can’t be found online, it may as well not even exist
When you perform a search, do you ever look at the second page of hits? Do you even venture past the first few results? It’s the same for your target audience. Even when receiving word of mouth reviews and critiques, they will still look you up online. With so much riding on your SEO success, it shouldn’t be left to chance; it should be handled by professionals with years of experience and success. Therefore, you need a top quality SEO firm to amplify your influence and get your website in front of key audience members.
If you’re ready to find the SEO firm that’s right for you, put OutMarket.Pro on your list. We offer search engine optimization (SEO), web design, branding, or consulting to find the best creative solution for you.