Search engine optimization (SEO), the process of applying certain keywords and technical code modifications that boost search engines’ ability to read your website, has become an essential tool for small businesses to promote goods and services and generate leads.
Unlike other advertising methods, search engines can drive targeted traffic straight to your Website. Traditional advertising methods create demand by trying to persuade people to purchase products or services that they don’t need (or really want). The new style of advertising responds to consumer demand, expressed by their user behavior. With more than 85 percent of consumers actively searching for information, products and services they want directly online, search engines are now the ideal source for new leads. Customers will come to you -- if you know how to tell them you’re there.
What Should You Expect From A SEO Campaign?
SEO naturally leads to increased market visibility. For years, the Internet was just a “place” to be seen. Today, that presence is vital to market visibility. Your customers now expect to easily find a Website for your business; if they can’t find it quickly and within a few clicks on a search page, they will most likely choose a competitor. If done right, SEO can move you to the top of the search listings, letting your online customers know you take them seriously enough to make their search easier.
SEO can also lower customer acquisition costs. With search engines, you don’t need to constantly chase after customers. Nearly all search traffic (more than 80 percent) is driven by the four major commercial engines: Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask.com. Target your SEO campaign to those four and you maximize your SEO profit potential.
There are two main types of SEO: organic (the main results that show up for search queries) and sponsored (pay-per-click programs, like Google AdWords or Yahoo! Search Marketing). Several studies say that customers overwhelmingly prefer organic SEO to sponsored links, but sponsored links have proven effective for targeted campaigns. Utilizing both organic search listings and sponsored advertisements dramatically improves your chances of beating your competition’s listings.
Additionally, real-time data tracking allows you to understand precisely how effective your SEO efforts are. Using readily available Web analytics software--some of it free--allows you to analyze your incoming Web traffic and keyword conversions. This gives you insight into your current visitor demographics and help you fine-tune your SEO campaign.
Effectively implemented, programs that track this kind of data will tell you how your visitors are finding your Website, what search engines and keywords they are using, and which visitors are successfully converting to sales.
