SEO - The Second Most Important Thing For Your Business
SEO - Search Engine Optimisation
I’m sure since opening this blog you’ve already come up with a couple of questions. Firstly what does SEO mean? Simply it stands for ‘Search Engine Optiminsation’. Secondly you’ve probably noticed that I’ve labeled SEO as being the second most important thing for business growth and advertisement. That’s because ‘word of mouth’ will always in my opinion be the number one form of advertisement for any business. The fact is that SEO sits in a solid second place and in this blog I am going to be looking at the key benefits of Search Engine Optimisation and how it could really benefit your business.
The pandemic was without doubt totally awful for a broad range of businesses including my own. I run a small DJ Hire & Entertainment business called Prescott Entertainment based in Somerset and in March 2020 I saw my business come to a complete standstill, losing all the work I had in the space of one evening. After this I heavily considered closing my business and changing profession which would have been devastating but after taking a 2 month break I decided otherwise.
With 10 months of free time on my hands I made the decision to be productive and carry out a full rebrand of the business which in hindsight was the best decision I ever made. Today my business is the busiest it has ever been and although some of this is down to the good reputation I had built before the pandemic a large proportion of the work I now receive is thanks to the SEO work that has been carried out on my website.
During the pandemic I learnt that the demand for instant information grew enormously. Potential customers do not want to be scrolling through business listings and Facebook groups in hope that they will find a suitable business for them. Instead they want to search on Google and find what they are looking for straight away. Finding a good looking website at the top of the google listings with simple but suitable information for what they are looking for.
To put it very simply SEO determines your online web presence, including where google ranks you in their search results. As I said before I would not class myself as an ‘SEO Expert’ and instead employed a specialist company to complete the SEO work. The time and money I invested in SEO services has easily paid for itself. Below are my current results from 6 months of SEO work as well as 3 Key Reasons why you should take at look at SEO for your business - but really the numbers speak for themselves and imagine the impact these types of numbers could have on your business.
1) Avoid paying for ‘Google Ads’
Google Ads can be a great way to increase traffic to your website quickly but there are a few drawbacks. Firstly you’ll only be increasing traffic for the time when the Google Ad is running. Once your advert comes to an end your website traffic will decrease rapidly.
SEO would naturally bring your website up through the rankings without the need for paid advertisement. Also unlike Google Ads dropping your website once you’re advertising time is up SEO should keep your website naturally high in the listings for a long period of time. You will also find in some circumstances that SEO is cheaper than Google Ads.
2) Target the right audience for you
When advertising in newspapers, Facebook groups or on business directories you are basically hoping that someone who is looking for what you offer will come across your business - basically it’s a bit of a gamble however SEO will zone in on members of the public that are looking for what you offer. For example if you offered an architect service and a member of the public searched on Google for ‘architects near me’ then if you had done the correct SEO work your business should come up in the Google suggestions. You would essentially be cutting out members of the public that are browsing through services and focus in on someone who is in need of your services.
Looking at this from a ‘flip-side’ perspective when you use SEO services you can choose what key words and phrases you want to show up for in results. You can choose specific target locations for where your business operates, giving you total freedom to do things your way.
3) Gain Ground on Competition
SEO cannot guarantee where you will list but with the right work carried out you should find yourself moving up higher through the listings overtime. Although it can take time you will find yourself gaining more and more web traffic as you climb higher up the giant data mountain of Google and past key competitors. If you can welcome your customers with a clear, informing and attractive website once they find you on Google listings then chances are they will be in touch.
The whole point of SEO is to get potential customers to come to you. It maybe the case that after speaking to them they decide not to go ahead with your services but the main thing is that they got in contact. With more members of the public contacting you your business will naturally expand but it also gives you much for flexibility to choose the work that feels right for you.
SEO does not happen overnight and can take several months to start to show. But once it begins to kick in I’m sure you will never look back - I certainly have not.
