With global online sales expected to top four trillion dollars by 2021, getting a piece of the pie for your small business is more important than ever. Estimates show that over 1.8 trillion people now shop online or at least find what they need online with regards to new products and services. It is second nature these days to pick up your phone or open your search browser and type in exactly what you are looking for.
As a small business owner, you want your company to get to the top of the search engine results for your sector and be the first person people see for search terms relating to your company and what you can offer. SEO is your best way to hit the top of the search results. However, SEO – search engine optimization is forever changing and evolving. It can be a full-time job to not only create content for your online site but also make sure it is SEO optimized to help people find you for search terms relating to your company.
For this reason, many companies look to outsource their SEO needs to make sure they are taking advantage of professional advice and guidelines relating to SEO and the best ways for you to implement this on your sites.
So how does good on-site and off-site SEO help small businesses?
Firstly, every business needs customers. You need people to be buying what you are selling. Implementing good SEO practices can not help new customers find you by placing your website in their search results, but also help you to generate sales too. How?
Have you ever clicked on a site to find it isn’t so user friendly and immediately clicked off it again? SEO is more than keywords; it is also about the user experience and covers many different areas such as ease of use when it comes to navigating your site: page load times, images, responsiveness, and relevance. Directing people to the exact page, they need to fulfill their inquiry is something people expect when searching online in 2020. SEO will make sure that all your content is optimized not only for keywords but to cater to the needs of the user too.
A well thought out, informative, and easy to use website will help you to build your brand recognition online. Marketing your small business can involve you spending plenty of $$. Putting some of those dollars into SEO will help your customers recognize your brand and associate it with quality thanks to your rankings in the search engines. After all, you have to be the best if you are on top of the SERP!
Imagine this; you have two companies, both selling the same product. One with a well-designed website and reliable SEO and one who relies on word of mouth alone, who is going to be the one people find when they search online and ultimately order with? That’s right; implementing the best SEO practices can give you a higher conversion rate than mere reputation alone. The more confidence consumers have in your company and your brand, the more sales this will ultimately generate for you.
