SEO is not only necessary for your business, it’s one of the greatest investments that you can make.
You can think of SEO like investing money in a 401K for your business — it’s money that will gain value over time and remain in your account. Similarly, by investing in SEO you create long-term value for your website that will continue to accrue over time.
Here are 5 reasons you should start investing in SEO now.
1. SEO works.
This is a fairly straightforward reason, but it’s completely true. As of today, Google processes 3.5 billion searches per day. With that kind search volume there’s no debating that ranking in Google’s search results offers a valuable opportunity to get more traffic to your business’s website.
This is very important because traffic equals leads and leads turn into sales.
By investing in SEO and raising your rankings in Google you’ll send more traffic to your website which can generate to more leads and sales for your business.
2. Because of mobile, SEO is becoming even more important for small businesses.
Gone are the days where people needed to wait until they got home and in front of a computer to look something up online. With mobile searches now surpassing desktop, more people than ever are doing research on the go. This is great for small businesses because it means that people are searching for things at the exact time that they need them and are ready to make a purchase.
For example, let’s say someone is on a business trip in your area and walking around town when they decide they’re in the mood for a coffee. All this person has to do is type “coffee shop near me” into their mobile browser and they’ll find all of the local results. For a smaller local coffee shop, this creates an opportunity to rank in their area over big-name coffee shops like Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. That means people can find not only find them online, but also find them on foot in real-time.
By investing in Local SEO you’re putting your small business on the radar of people who are your ideal customers and are ready to make a purchasing decision quickly.
3. Higher search engine rankings gives your business credibility.
What do you do when you’re considering making a purchase online or in-store? For most people, the answer is research.
Most web users — as high as 80% in some studies — look past paid ads and focus solely on organic search results. That means that when someone is doing research for a product or service, they are much more likely to be pre-sold on your business if you rank highly in Google’s organic search results. Plus, in order for you to rank highly, your website will have relevant content, which will help to drive sales once someone clicks through to your site.
Having a high ranking means that Google and other searchers have found your website to be relevant. This builds trust and authority for your business and give consumers a positive feeling towards your business before they even start searching around your site.
