To start, let's define what SEO is. SEO stands for "search engine optimization." It is a digital marketing technique based on writing website content to include commonly used search terms (a.k.a. keywords) that are used when looking for information about your industry.
This causes search engines like Google to bump up your page in relevant search results, making your website more visible and boosting your client pool. In short, if you can arrive at a higher position in a web search related to your industry, more potential clients see and interact with your site resulting in more people contracting your service or buying your product.
So what are some ways SEO can help your business? Benefits of SEO include:
Local, Targeted Advertising: When a web design professional is writing a website based on SEO, they do their research about keywords depending on the customer base for your business. They write based on what customers in your specific service area are searching for in relation to your industry. For example, in one part of the country, it may be more common to search for a child care service by typing "daycare" into a search engine, while it might be called a "nursery school" in another area. By doing keyword research, your SEO provider can make sure your website showcases the search terms people in your area are actually using, making it more visible to the people who are most likely to use your product or service.
A More Informative Website: When your website is written and designed by a professional web design and content creation team with an eye for SEO techniques, your website will be more robust and be more useful to potential customers. SEO works best with a certain amount of words/characters per page, using targeted keywords throughout. It's to your advantage to have applicable information about your business and your industry on your website, thereby showcasing more keywords. Customers then have a better experience when they can find industry and brand information in the same place.
No Ad Campaign Maintenance: Successful ad campaigns require constant maintenance and adjustment. In the short term, that may be helpful, but if you are looking for long-term ways to advertise, SEO is a great, low-maintenance digital advertising method. SEO works for your company as long as your website is up. Periodic checks can make it even more effective, but it is an investment that works without excessive upkeep.
Affordable, Effective Online Advertising: Traditional marketing techniques often require both flat fees for short-term advertising services as well as per-click and per-view fees for some digital marketing channels. In some ways, that advertising becomes less affordable the more successful it is. SEO through web design gives you a high-functioning webpage as a tangible end result that stays with your company. If you are in a competitive industry, costs for successful internet advertising balloon because purchases by larger businesses inflate the rate; however, SEO rates don't fluctuate based on the market for your business and can't be "outbid" by companies with larger advertising budgets. The content for your website plays directly against the content for larger competitors without limitations based on how much you've paid for a Google or Facebook ad, or other digital advertising venues.
Better Customer Conversion Rates: Increasing website traffic is one thing. Increasing website traffic that results in more active customers is another thing entirely. SEO results in better customer conversion rates because an accurate website with useful industry information and brand/company representation is more persuasive and attractive to customers. Well-designed, SEO-guided websites can both introduce a potential customer to helpful information about your product or service as well as directly sell your targeted brand all in one attractive, convenient package. This is called creating "organic website traffic" because it naturally draws in people who are already likely to want and need what you provide. By helping you to be listed among top search results, SEO ensures customers are drawn to your site first, for both information as well as the bottom line of a transaction.
Improves Other Marketing Techniques: If you have a well-designed, well-written website, you have a "home base" for other marketing opportunities in the future. Company social media pages, business cards, podcast features, YouTube videos/channels, local news features, website banners, and more can all direct traffic to your company website. If that website is well-made, you have an effective place for your customers to find out exactly what you do and how they can interact with your business. You don't have to reinvent the wheel every time a new opportunity arises. Your site does the work for you.
Builds Online Credibility: We all have had that experience of searching for something on the internet, clicking on the first "real" link, and being met with an indecipherable wall of text or a bunch of cluttered images without any real information. What's the first thing we do when that happens? We click out of the site. We definitely don't spend time there and we may even think that brand is a scam. Alternatively, if we click onto a search result and it leads us to a tidy, appealing website with practical information about our search, we're likely to spend time on that site and we're more likely to think highly of that business. Your page is more likely to continue to appear at the top of searches, your company looks better, and potential customers feel safer engaging with you.
Surge Web Design is a website hosting, content writing and design service rooted in SEO principles. We're based in Boise, Idaho, and serve businesses both locally and throughout the United States. We can help your business–large or small–by knowing how to increase your website traffic, drawing in potential customers, and helping them engage directly with you.
To learn more about other SEO (i.e. search engine marketing) topics, see our other blog entries. Check out our reviews to see how our clients have benefited from Surge's web design and website improvement services. Then, contact us to learn more about how we can make your business' digital "home base" as attractive and effective as possible.
