SEO – do you really know what this means and how it affects the bottom line?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results. This article from MOZ goes into way more detail than I could possibly imagine.
Now we know what SEO IS, but do we really know why it is so important?
Above all else, SEO makes the information on your website more “discoverable”. Over time, as people find the content on your website more often, you can expect more visits, sessions, and conversions. Whether that increased visibility leads to more sales is ultimately up to you. Is your content appealing? Are your offers attractive? Do our products and services provide a solution to someone’s problem?
The process of optimizing a website for results takes time. If someone pitching SEO services tells you they can make your website a smashing hit overnight, don’t just walk away. Run! It doesn’t happen that way. Search Engine Optimization, as the name connotes, is a process that takes time to yield results. It will take several months to take your keyword rankings from non-existent to the first page, so you will have to remain consistent and patient to let it take full effect.
Next question, is it good enough to just do SEO alone with no other marketing?
SEO is for organic traffic. That means there is no guaranteed way to PAY your way to the front page. But if you want to outwardly encourage people to find your product or service, you can push them to your site through advertising. This subset of online marketing, when combined with SEO, produces rockstar results.
What type of advertising is best?
Asking which kind of advertising is best is kind of like asking a parent to name their favorite child. Let’s not go there! From our perspective there are two basic kinds of online advertising: Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Targeted Display and Video Advertising.
SEM: think Google Ads. You bid on keywords people use in Google searches, and your ad text shows up in the “Ads” section on a Google search page. It’s quite a bit more complicated than that, but you get the point.
Targeted Advertising: you identify the demographic and/or behavioral attributes or your desired audience, and then serve them your ads on websites and mobile apps. Tactics include Search Retargeting, Geo-Fencing, Site Retargeting and more. Certainly you’ve seen those ads that tend to follow you around, right? That is targeted online advertising.
Utilizing both SEO and internet advertising harmoniously is a key formula for success in today’s complex digital landscape. But you must remember, the call to action needs to be strong, the message should be the same across all marketing efforts, and the website the consumer is taken to should also be compelling enough to make them stay or shop.
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