63,000 Google search questions are entered every second. This means there are plenty of opportunities for your business to be seen, examined, and contacted every day. But how can you make sure your business is visible when users search for information they can help with on Google? The key is search engine optimization (SEO).
You've probably heard the term SEO, but do you know what SEO actually means? As a starting point, here's the definition we agree on:
“Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to a method for making websites more visible to users looking for products and services by ranking high in organic search implementation records.”
- HubSpot
SEO is at the core of every partnership we have with our customers because it's one of the most important ways to get small businesses discovered in 2022. For small business owners looking to grow from marketing, this is why this is an absolute must.
Would having more relevant visitors to your website help your business? The answer is probably yes, so you should know that Google is the #1 source for website traffic. In fact, Google accounts for 92% of all search queries worldwide. That means there's a lot of potential traffic on the website.
It's safe to assume that the ultimate goal of marketing and websites is to attract more prospects and customers. Every time a new visitor comes to your website, you can become a prospect or customer.
But how can you get more visitors (and by extension organic leads) from Google and other search engines? This is where SEO comes into play. Implementing an effective SEO strategy is key to ranking high on Google and increasing potential customers on your site.
By utilizing SEO best practices, you can not only increase your potential prospects, but also improve your understanding of your customers.
Learning by conducting SEO research, that is, knowing what prospects are searching for using Google, can help you understand the most important challenges and challenges that prospects have. This puts us ready to serve our customers.
how? It's all a matter of search intent.
To be useful to viewers, viewers must feel that you can empathize with their challenges and provide workable solutions. If you use highly relevant keywords to write content that conveys the needs of viewers and solves issues, it will be a bridge of trust.
If this trust can be built by helping them overcome more challenges, they'll be re-incentivized to seek help. Eventually, they might get in touch to learn more about your services or products. By expanding your knowledge of customer pain points, you can deepen your customer relationships during initial discussions and increase your chances of winning new customers.
If you do your initial SEO research, you might find that small businesses have an opportunity to attract local prospects.
If you run a business focused on serving people in your “backyard” or city, there's no other way to find one locally than Google.
Buyers find help on the first page of Google (page 2 if they're having trouble). If a link to a helpful blog published by a legitimate local small business matches search intent, people are more likely to click on that link. Doing so will help new customers learn more about your business and how you can meet their needs.
Here are 3 tips to help you attract more local leads through local SEO.
Of all the marketing strategies available, SEO is the best ROI for small businesses. SEO provides high-quality leads to small businesses by targeting specific audience pain points.
If you use online ads, you'll pay between $1 and $2 per click. These clicks can cost you thousands of dollars each month, and not every small business can keep up with it. If you only use paid ads, implementation results will not be displayed once you stop paying. However, your SEO strategy will be continuously built while you work on other projects. There's no cost for organic leads to clicking links on top websites.
The “pitfall” of SEO is that it takes several months for visible implementation results to come out, but it is worth the effort for implementation results that are increasing in a snowball manner. That's why we recommend using paid advertising (such as a highly relevant and audience-rich platform like LinkedIn) while laying the foundation for clients' SEO lead generation strategies.
SEO not only provides a cost-effective ROI, but it also helps small businesses outperform their competitors on Google.
Google already has a competitor. If not, it will start soon. In a survey of 500 small businesses, one-quarter (24%) said they plan to invest in SEO in 2021. For small businesses, this figure will continue to rise in 2022 and beyond.
If you haven't already done so, do a competitive analysis to see what your competitors are creating for your content. What keywords are they ranking for, and what topics are they dealing with? This should give you an idea of where you stand in relation to your competitors and the opportunities for your business to surpass your competitors.
If you want people to find your business and not your competitors, then you need to invest in SEO.
There are plenty of reasons why SEO can benefit small business owners like you. So that they always stay in mind, let's quickly summarize them here.
One of the goals of SEO is to increase a company's organic website traffic. In other words, prospects will begin to grow. When businesses focus on local services, some of their organic traffic (including leads) comes from local SEO.
Once you've completed the research needed to begin your SEO strategy, you'll gain more insight into your target customers and be better prepared to serve them. It can take months from an SEO strategy to the required implementation results, but the ROI is well worth the time and effort. One of the benefits is that you can surpass your competitors on Google's search adoption results page and grow your business even more.
If you have too many marketing tasks, contact Google's fractional marketing team. We help small business leaders develop and optimize marketing strategies and lead generation strategies. If you'd like to create a custom marketing plan to enhance your current strategy, download the e-book below for free.