How SEO Works for your Business
Search Engine Optimization or “SEO” is a term that is thrown around a lot these days. I have been involved with internet marketing for years in the Michigan SEO space, and SEO is becoming more of a buzz word these days. The B2B market is vast, and SEO is becoming a business model on the rise for small to large digital marketing firms. However, to business owners, SEO is a mysterious space, ether thought of as a troublesome math problem or the complexity of the stock market. I have even heard business owners think of SEO as a gamble or scam with little return on investment. Though of course we are partial here at NavWork, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Business owners have heard that SEO is the marketing technique that optimizes your website so search engines can crawl and find their content, subsequently ranking their page based upon their relevance. Large in part, this is true. However, with the most powerful internet company dominating search traffic, keeping up with their methods of ranking websites can be a daunting task. In fact, according to Moz, Google makes more than 300 alterations on their ranking algorithms a year. How can a small business owner keep up with these kinds of updates when they are in business doing what they know and love?
When done correctly, SEO is such a powerful phenomenon. It all comes together when potential customers are actively searching for businesses, services, products, information or a problem they are looking to solve using keywords in their query. If your digital landscape is optimized through SEO, hopefully your website and brand is what they see first.
Ugh… Ads…
We have grown up with ads. Advertisement is everywhere. Not only have we grown up with advertisement in every facet in our lives, we have also been conditioned to tune it out. We protect ourselves from invasive ads and take active measures to systematically screen these nuisances from our lives. It has been found through research that when individuals search for a product, service, business etc., over 70% ignore the ads that are accumulated at the top of internet searches and click on the organic listings underneath. Why? Trust… Moreover, we communicate to the small businesses we work with that nearly 90% of internet searchers pick a business on the first page of search results. You have to ask yourself, if you own a website, are you on that first page? If not, you are absolutely losing business to the competition that IS on that first page…
Hard Work Pays Off in SEO
Oh yes, there is a lot of chatter on SEO these days. Even to the extreme that SEO is dead. Not even close. Forbes reports SEO is even more relevant today. The fact of the matter is, SEO has just changed dramatically. The old SEO techniques are dead, this is true. Not so long ago, when search engine algorithms were in their infancy, crafty SEO internet marketers could use methods that would manipulate and take advantage of these ranking systems. Well my friends, those days are drawing to an end. Though there are still methods of “fooling” the system, Google is cracking down on this. In fact, it just isn’t worth it. WHEN Google finds these methods in active practice, Google actually penalizes your site, and you slip into the abys. All your hard work and reputation gone, for rolling the dice on these unethical tactics. Its all about the content these days and providing a great user experience for the user. Google has so many ways to account for this, which makes the profession of SEO even more relevant today.
Its All About the Content Baby! Content Marketing…
The web design space is saturated with options for the small business owner. So is the SEO space. However, so many web design and SEO companies fail, in that it takes a special and motivated marketer to keep up with the trends today. However more importantly, it’s all about the creativity. Yes, there certainly is a science to SEO, with on-page SEO procedures. Both on the front end, and the back end of websites that dramatically affect your rankings and how well your website performs. However, Google is increasingly adamant about quality content, the art of SEO is as important as the science. A good SEO company can combine the science with the art, as creativity and content marketing is paramount. It is true, that “good” content is subjective. However, the way that content is presented determines how well your website performs and how high it ranks. Hiring a company that attempts to trick an entity like Google is foolish. Not only do they hire some of the most brilliant people, AI is here people. It’s hard work, but quality SEO focuses on content that is optimized and sustainable through any algorithm change for years to come. That’s our view and practice here at Navwork, based in Midland MI.
In addition, content diversification is crucial to success. More channels of content is even more important today. Video is where you need to invest today, as well as being well optimized for voice search and mobile users. Put yourself in your customers shoes. They land on your website and know nothing about your company, past work or reputation in your market. How well are your presenting your brand and information that ultimately is aimed at solving their problem. Is your content engaging or attractive enough for the user to stay and read your offer? Or will they bounce?
Build it, and they will Come. SEO is an Investment.
Yes, SEO is an investment, and results take time. There is no instant gratification here. Though depending on how competitive your market is, you could see dramatic results in a relatively short time given your competition is low. However, in the long run, SEO has a much better return on investment than digital advertisement, in that, once you turn the flow of cash off on digital ads, your potential traffic stops too. With SEO, we are gaining traffic organically, without the aid of ads. This content can potentially gain traffic to your site for years to come, depending how relevant it stays.
We love SEO in Michigan and beyond and would love to talk to you about how your digital marketing campaign is going. We don’t come at a sales angle, but a consulting one and are passionate about helping small businesses win online. Reach out to us, and let’s talk about how local or organic SEO can help scale your business.
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