“Build it and they’ll come” – there is perhaps no worse business advise than this. Just creating a good product, or setting up a business is not enough. The most essential ingredient of a successful business is the marketing. If no one knows about your organization or product, how do you expect them to patronize you?
In this day and age, marketing has taken an entirely new dimension courtesy of the internet. More and more people now go online to do their research before buying something or patronizing a service. Unless you can get your word out to these potential customers, you are losing out on a huge chunk of revenue.
This is where SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes in. A vast majority of people use search engines like Google and Bing to find what they are looking for online. SEO is the technique by which you can get your site to rank high for a keyword. For instance, if you are a cosmetic surgeon in Chicago, the keyword phrase you might want to rank high in Google for would be “Chicago plastic surgeon”. Thus, when someone types in this query in the search engine, your site would show up among the top results.
SEO is a very cost effective way of advertising. Its results can be a bit slow, but once done, they last for a long time without any active effort. Unlike traditional advertising methods such as print, radio, or television, SEO requires a lot less initial funding. In fact, with a little bit of training and practise, you can even do it yourself.
The problem with traditional advertising is that you need to constantly invest in it to see results. Your leads from an advert last only as long as you are advertising. The passive effect in terms of leads is minimal. SEO, on the other hand, can give you constant efforts passively, giving a great return on investment.
SEO is perfect for small business owners looking to get an edge over larger compeitors. A small business may not be able to compete with a larger competitor in TV advertising, but it can definitely outpace it online, landing it a huge chunk of a very important market.
The biggest advantage SEO has is that you are selling to a pre-sold customer. If you place an ad in a newspaper, the number of people who are actively looking for your services will be very less. But online, if someone types in your target keyword phrase (‘Chicago plastic surgeon’, to take the earlier example), they are actively looking for a plastic surgeon in Chicago. Therefore, the leads you get are already pre-qualified and much easier to convert into actual buyers.
This is only but one of the many benefits of SEO. Ranking high in the search engines can give a big boost to your business. If you haven’t employed it yet, now may be the right time to head online and take advantage of this wonderful advertising medium.
