The Internet’s reach seems endless. It connects people and businesses from all across the globe, to right down the street. Used properly it can help your business grow, or simply raise awareness. Or it can make it easier for your local customers to access your goods and services. Unfortunately, having the most beautifully designed website and a memorable logo simply isn’t enough to get you on the first page of any search engine results. To better understand, I’m going to explain the what and how of search engine optimization (SEO) and what winning the race can mean for your business.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization is the use of marketing strategies that enable your website to get traffic from organic search engine results. This process can place you at the top of search results without paying for advertising space. That is almost always costly and offers no long-term results without a continuous subscription. By utilizing various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, combined with the use of carefully selected keywords and a blog page, your creative agency can help you gain ground on where your company ranks. Here are a few SEO stats from imForza that demonstrate just how important your online presence is to your business.
- 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine
- 70% of the links search users click on are organic
- 70-80% of users ignore the paid ads, focusing on the organic results
- 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results
Blogs, Links & Keywords, oh MY!
When searching out goods or services most people turn to the internet. It’s fast and convenient and usually right at their fingertips. You may be under the impression that because your business has a web presence, ie a website, Facebook and so forth, that you should land on the first page. However, without a carefully crafted website that involves a select number of keywords and the utilization of internal link structures which help magnify the importance of those keywords, your business may be a virtual ghost. Creating a blog page on your website is a great way to build links via your current social media platforms and raise awareness of what your business offers. Through the utilization of a blog you can cite sources from other high traffic websites and then link them on your Facebook page and tweet about them on your Twitter page.
How Does it Work?
When thinking about your web presence imagine a beautifully crafted spider web with your business in its center. Each delicate thread has been designed by your creative agent to reach out further and further. Each thread is connected to each other via your online marketing strategy. The more threads you have and the wider your web presence reaches the better chance you have of snagging a search engine’s attention. The Organic Marketing Forum outlines the why and how of utilizing your web design and social media platforms in order to expand the reach of your businesses virtual presence.
“A business’s ability to optimize pages and websites for users and search engines is a critical component of maximizing a business’s content visibility. This is just one reason why having a professional design your website is a better route to take then building one on your own. A professional website will be optimized for SEO and the design more user friendly to your guests.”
I Search, Therefore I am
Don’t let your business get left behind in the race for search engine optimization. Like all good things, developing a strong web presence takes time and dedication, but with the help of your creative agency you can gain ground on your competitors and further your brands reach!