Search engine optimization has become necessary for both large and small businesses in the last decade. However, a considerable number of small business owners still maintain a perception that there are no pressing reasons as to why they should invest in search engine marketing. They forget that SEO is a massive opportunity for startups to establish themselves both in local and national market platforms.
Failing to incorporate search engine optimization is a clear and outright indication that a business has conceded to its competitors. In this article, I have discussed several reasons that justify why your small business needs SEO in 2019.
Increase Website Conversion Rates
Your small business website could be recording huge traffic, but only a few of these visitors convert to customers. The problem lies in the fact that your site has not been optimized through search engine optimization. Optimized websites are easy to read, surf, load faster, and can display quality images in all mediums. A website with such properties is likely to attract the attention of the visitor, and he/she is more likely to subscribe to your services and become a loyal customer.
Build Brand Awareness
The more your website ranks higher on the search engine, the more your brand becomes recognized. However, your website will not appear on the first page of the leading search engines such as Bing, Google, and Yahoo if it is not optimized. This means that potential customers will not have any clue about your existent. You need to invest in SEO after which you will start gaining top ranking in related searches. This is very important, especially when you’re pushing a new product in the market.
Increase Website Traffic
We all know that the purpose of a small business website is to attract many customers to your business. However, you will not attract customers to your business if your site is not optimized. You can use customized content to attract a particular group of customers after which you will direct them to your business. Recent studies show that SEO-optimized sites will attract a considerable traffic to your site as compared to the websites that are not optimized.
Bypass Competition
There are probably several businesses in your local area that are selling similar or substitute products in the same range of prices. This means that customers can opt to buy from any business, especially if none of the companies has a SEO optimized website. To avoid direct competition, you need to optimize your website so that customers can see you anytime they search for a related product.
Your competitors have already optimized their websites, which explains why they’ve been edging you in sales over the last few years. You need to reciprocate by optimizing your site and bypass the current competition.
Enhance Website User Experience
You don’t want your website visitors to take several minutes trying to navigate from one page to the other. This increase bounce rates and you could end up getting very few visitors on your website. However, optimizing your website enhances user experience by making it faster and smoother to navigate.
Customers can easily create orders and pay through an optimized website. Studies have shown that a website that enhances user experience is likely to convert more visitors into customers while at the same time increasing the time a visitor spends on your website.
Increased Return on Investment (ROI)
There is no doubt that investing in search engine optimization is an expensive digital marketing strategy. However, this method of marketing guarantees immediate results as compared to other methods of marketing. Operating small businesses is very complicated because there is no liquidity. This means that you want the money spent to return within a short duration.
Engaging in traditional marketing techniques will reduce cash flow in your small business while SEO marketing service will increase website traffic, increase conversion rates, and increase customers. This will lead to increased sales and therefore increased return on investment.
Reaching New Markets
Although your business is small, you might have the intentions of selling your products and services in other regions or a different part of the world. However, traditional methods of marketing will not reach customers in Australia, if you are operating in London but SEO can take your business to any part of the world. Use SEO to move your small business to the next level and start reaching prime customers in Paris, Las Vegas, Melbourne, and Munich.
Build Credibility and Reputation
One of the best ways to outshine your competitors is building brand credibility and reputation. You want customers to view your business as the only place where they can get legitimate products and services. However, that is not going to happen without search engine optimization. You have to optimize your site so that you can rank on the first page of Google search engine.
People trust Google, and the moment you rank on the first page for a related search, customers will view you as credible. Besides, any person interested in your business in details can easily navigate through your website and understand everything about your business.
Final Thoughts
Business competition is at an all-time high, and unless you have incorporated the necessary strategies to keep your business relevant, you will soon find yourself out of business. There are multiple methods of keeping your business relevant in the competitive business environment.
Search engine optimization is the best way to keep up with competition and attract customers. You will not only attract customers, but you will keep them as loyal customers, something that many businesses cannot achieve.
I hope this article has shed light on why your small business needs SEO. The size of the company does not matter because the competition is at all levels.
