SEO Costs to Small Businesses
Many small businesses recognise the need to have a presence online but Search Engine Optimisation, the process of making your website as visible as possible to people searching online, still has a whiff of the dark arts and can seem complex and inaccessible.
It doesn’t need to be that way. Hiring a search engine expert does cost, but having an expensive website that no-one ever sees is throwing money down the drain.
A month of a quality SEO is comparable to the cost of a single advert in a regional newspaper, and can bring many more visitors to your site.
What’s more, when your website is properly optimised for the correct search terms, the visitors it does get will be people who are actively looking for what you are selling.
Instead of spending money to throw advertising out into the wide world, interrupting lots of strangers in the hope that one of them might bother to follow a link to your site, you will appear in front of people right when they are asking specifically about your products or services.
Inform your Customers
People have learned to tune out advertising, but 80% of purchasers will use a search engine to find information before making a decision to buy.
SEO is not just about increasing traffic to your site, but increasing relevant traffic. Through keyword research, you can ensure that your website is optimised for visibility.
Your site can appear in front of people who are looking to buy products or services in your niche. They will find your site even if they don’t already know your company’s brand or name. In this way, SEO levels the playing field between small businesses and the big names.
Large companies can afford to throw huge budgets at advertising and marketing, aimed at raising awareness of their brand.
They can get their logo and brand name imprinted onto the buyer’s consciousness.
But a small business doesn’t need to play that game.
By targeting specific search queries SEO puts small businesses in front of people with specific needs, right when and where they are looking.
Develop Trust
People feel Google is a trusted site. Therefore, if Google suggests your site to them, they feel you are trustworthy, too. Links to your site from authoritative sites also “lend” their authority.
Simple-to-use analytic tools and reports provide extraordinary amounts of data which will give you feedback in real time on how your website is performing. Clear, measurable feedback allows you to check within hours the effects of changes to your site, so that you can see the results and quantify the return on investment.
Not so many years ago, buyers went to the Yellow Pages to find a supplier. Nowadays, they go online. The most beautiful website is useless unless it is seen by people who are ready and willing to buy. SEO puts your business where your customers are.
If you are loving learning more about SEO, we love this that shares more tips on SEO practices for small businesses.
