Search Engine Optimization is something a lot of people know about but do not understand. SEO is time-consuming to implement and if not done the correct way, can have poor results. Don't expect to have a page with just a bunch of keywords and wait for traffic to be directed to it by search engines. Big and small businesses alike need to properly create and adapt their search engine optimization strategies to get the most out of their website.
What is SEO?
Let’s start from the beginning: what is search engine optimization? In a nutshell, SEO is changing a web page to get it to the top of the list when someone hits enter on a relevant Google or Yahoo search. This is everything from putting keywords in the pages itself to having the right meta tags. There are many facets to search engine optimization, and businesses with large websites often have an entire team devoted to this task.
Basically one should get inside the mind of a visitor to their site. How did they get there and what are they looking for? If no SEO tactics were used, it is assured that a visitor didn’t get there from a Google search? So it must be advertising, either in the form of free links to the site or paid advertising links. The amount of traffic generated from these links is drastically lower than what can be generated by being on the first page of a search results list.
Implementing this Approach
The problem with implementing SEO and inbound links for a website is that it takes a lot of time —firstly to learn about SEO, and secondly to actually optimize the content. It is easy to see this as something that doesn’t need to be dealt with right now and there are other parts of the business which need time devoted to them. However, in 99% of cases, this is incorrect. Correctly used, optimizing a site for search engines will increase the inbound traffic hundreds, if not thousands of times. Added to that, the people that are on the site are actually looking for the service provided by the site. Instead of having three or four customers making purchases from a site each day, there would be thousands. There is literally no faster way to grow a business.
This doesn’t mean that the other tasks around the business are getting done, and how can a business owner be sure that the SEO implementation has gone according to plan? This is why it is often better for small businesses to outsource this task to a professional. Search engine optimization is basically web marketing. In an age where people turn to the internet to search for everything, it is viable to spend more money on web promotion than more traditional forms of marketing —using radio or television.
The best way to increase inbound traffic is to maximize the number of ways people are entering the site. From blog posts and gaining a foothold in social media to optimizing landing pages and forms, they all play a role in getting your site to a number #1 Google ranking and increase traffic flow to a business exponentially.
We've put together a free ebook for you, whether you've already invested in an SEO strategy or are just getting started, this guide will help you gain a stronger understanding of all aspects of the SEO process.
Topics: evaluating media efforts, online marketing, search engine marketing
