Why should I invest in SEO?

Digital marketing is an ever-growing industry with many different fields that can be targeted, but many people still don’t understand why search engine optimization (SEO) is important for a website. SEO is often seen as the black sheep of the industry or even just ignored altogether when it is time to plan the budget. Search engine optimization has a tendency to be seen as an expensive and pointless process. I’m here to change that perspective.

 

Investment vs. Expense?

Most businesses opt to put their money into paid advertising to see immediate results, and I don’t blame them one bit. Who wouldn’t want that? It’s so satisfying to see your impressions and clicks spike after one day of running ads. But, in the long run, are you really getting better results?

 

When should SEO be used for my website?

When it comes to SEO, I’ll admit, results aren’t immediate. It could take up to six months before you see anything. But with time you start to see your website move up on Google search result listings. As that happens, you start to see high quality traffic driven to your website month after month. SEO is a hard sell because you’re not giving business owners the traffic and results they want right away. But, down the road, SEO brings more high-quality traffic into the site than any other form of digital marketing.

 

It’s a marathon, not a sprint

Now I know you might be thinking “why keep reading if it’s not going to get me the immediate results I’m looking for?” Simple. Because while you’re not getting the immediate results you’re looking for, you ARE getting the quality results you deserve. Investing in SEO is like investing your time into becoming a runner. You start slow and progressively add miles (or tasks) on to hit to your goal. While it takes time and patience to achieve this goal, once you get there, it’s all worth the blood, sweat and tears (maybe not literally if we’re talking SEO). Don’t rush it — good things take time, people.

 

Organic vs. Paid Traffic

Let’s rewind and get to the importance of organic traffic. Organic traffic is some of the most important traffic that gets driven to your website because these users are landing on your site at their own will. Paid visitors are more likely to click on your ad “for fun” then bounce off your site. With paid advertising you also take the risk of serving ads to irrelevant audiences and spending money in an area where it could be directed towards organic traffic. Organic users typically know exactly what they are after, making them a high-quality traffic source.

 

How SEO Optimization Works

To reach these high-quality users, you have to make sure your website is providing them exactly what they are looking for. You need to hook from them from the minute they click your listing on the search engine results page (SERP) and enter your site. This is where search engine optimization comes into play. Start thinking about which SEO techniques are popular. Various best practices include:

  • Keyword research: Adding specific words or phrases that people are physically searching for online.
  • Updating metadata: Implementing keywords into the meta titles and meta descriptions of the pages.
  • Updating title tags: Adding relevant H1, H2, H3, etc. titles per page based on keyword research.
  • Content writing: Creating new content focused around keyword research. Data proves that good content builds your audience.
  • Link building: Finding reliable sources outside of your own website to link to your website. This helps to get your information in front of more eyes.

>> The Case for Keywords: Why Keywords are Still Essential for SEO

You Can Do It

With these tactics, your website could jump from page four to page one of Google search results. What business owner wouldn’t want to be at the top of the first Google search results page? If you answered “not me” to that question please call us, I’m worried about you.

 

It all comes down to your business goals. Are you wanting to sell more products? Sell more services? Get more people to sign up to volunteer? Whatever it might be, SEO can help you tackle that goal. SEO is the secret superhero of digital marketing. So as your fiscal year comes to an end, or as you are strategizing for upcoming months, start to consider SEO as a tactic that could seriously change your business plan for the better in the long run.