Considering the fact that small businesses have limited budgets and a lack of brand awareness, growing the company is quite challenging. To raise awareness of your products, services, and brand as a whole, you need to invest in marketing through different channels. However, most small and medium enterprises simply give up on marketing because of the costs certain marketing strategies incur.
While a single ad on any of the conventional marketing channels, such as, TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, etc. can still be out of reach of a majority of businesses; modern technology has opened doors to a whole new world of cost-effective and efficient marketing channels, namely, search engine optimization and social media marketing.
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is now an integral part of most successful businesses’ marketing strategies, no matter how big or small they may be. Successful businesses, whether it be your local bakery, or a multinational giant with a large customer base, all know how important SEO is to become a well-known brand online. However, a survey conducted in 2016 showed that half the businesses that maintain a website don’t focus on optimizing their website for a higher rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). If your business is one of those not using SEO, find out why you’re making a mistake:
User-friendly Website
By making your website SEO friendly, you will notice a rise in user experience. Many people consider SEO as a tactic to boost ranking on sites like Google. However, have you ever thought about all the aspects you need to focus on to receive a good ranking?
While setting everything according to Google’s algorithm, you’re actually improving your website’s speed, readability, and value. Hence, don’t worry if you’re not getting a high number of leads immediately; know that through optimization, you actually have a much better website than before.
Attract Greater Traffic
Businesses, regardless of their size, operate a website to increase their customer base and beat their competitors. However, if your site isn’t SEO optimized, you’ll never witness the increase in customers from it. SEO is currently the most affordable and efficient marketing technique used. Above all, it mostly attracts individuals who are actually interested in your products as they have searched for it.
All you have to do is spend a few hours of your day, learn all the tips and tricks, and kick-start your SEO marketing campaign. You can also consider speaking to SEO marketing consultants to help optimize your website and get you results that you may not otherwise be able to achieve.
Higher Conversion Rates
SEO-friendly websites are faster, easier to read, and optimized for various screen sizes and devices. Sites with better readability always fetch high-quality leads and increase chances of conversions. Additionally, with better user experience, customers stay loyal to you and can consider returning for other products.
Brand Awareness
Have you seen the websites on the first page of every search you make on Google? Well, around 1.2 trillion search queries are made per year. Imagine if your site was SEO-optimized and ranked highly on your relevant keywords, how many people will know your business just by reading the website’s name out there? The figures and results are quite exciting as you can generate lots of organic traffic just by having your webpage ranked on the first page for search terms relevant to your business, products, or services.
A number of businesses don’t have a physical store where you can simply walk in and purchase a product or service. These e-commerce businesses focus on SEO marketing to get their web pages ranked better and boost their brand’s image in the market.
Takeaway
There are still many businesses following traditional marketing methods to find success, and the fact is that quite a few are actually doing pretty well. However, as the world is strides towards digitalization, online marketing techniques like SEO optimization are a great way to compete with big companies without throwing away a big chunk of your budget.
