You’ve probably heard about the importance of SEO, but you might not know how it can help your business. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a marketing strategy that allows companies to reach new customers by increasing their visibility on search engines like Google and Bing. But SEO takes time and expertise. Fortunately, you can utilize small business SEO services to help you reach new customers fast.
Keep in mind SEO is about more than just ranking on page one of Google; it’s an essential part of any online marketing campaign and benefits your business in many ways. Here are a few examples of how an SEO service can grow your business.
Why Small Business SEO Services Is the Most Effective Way to Reach New Customers
Helps Customers Find You Easily
You might be surprised to learn that an overwhelming number of people make their purchases from businesses they found online. In fact, 35% of all product searches start on Google. When you consider more than 40 billion Google searches happen per month in the U.S. alone, it’s easy to see how valuable high Google rankings can be for your business. If you’re not utilizing Google, you’re absolutely losing out on sales.
But SEO needs to be done well for it to work. For example, if you’re not ranking on page one, you’re going to get very few sales as clicks drop a whopping 95% from page one to page two. There is even a drastic difference in clicks between ranking 1st and ranking 7th on the first page! That’s why a qualified SEO service is crucial for you to rank within the top few spots and maximize your site’s traffic.
Draws Customers Away from the Competition
SEO gives your business a voice that can be heard over the competition. The truth is, there’s a good chance your competitors are already leveraging SEO to bring in business. But if you rank higher in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) than the competition, those customers will click through to your website instead of theirs.
An SEO service can help you create user-friendly, high-quality content that outperforms the content that is currently ranking. They can also help you build authority as a reliable company in Google’s eyes. When these two strategies are expertly implemented, you can outrank your competitors.
Generates High-Converting Traffic
SEO traffic is high-converting because it has strong commercial intent. It doesn’t just give you the most traffic; it provides you high-quality visitors who are already interested in your product, which means they’re far more more likely to make a purchase and become long-term customers.
The conversion rates are particularly impressive for local searches. According to market research, 80% of local searches on a mobile device result in a purchase, with nearly 75% of them bringing a customer into the physical store.
Creates Lasting Results
The problem with social media posts and other forms of digital marketing is that once that post has had its moment, any new customers and leads will drop off pretty quickly. For example, a well-constructed Facebook post might go viral for a week or two, but it is of little use after that. Similarly, emails are read, deleted, and forgotten almost immediately. But the results of good SEO are long-lasting.
Once Google establishes your site as a high-authority site with quality content, it will be easier to rank near the top in searches for new content, while older content’s rankings improve as well. Provided your SEO services provider stays up to date with all the latest Google news, top-ranking pages can hold for months and even years. That means SEO will continue to bring in new customers and quality leads month after month.
Local SEO is Especially Powerful
Your physical location is incredibly valuable for SEO if you operate a brick-and-mortar business, such as a restaurant or retail shop. No less than 46% of Google searches have local intent. That means that people are searching for produces or services with a brick and motor location near them. Further to that, 86% of people search for business venues on Google maps.
SEO services can help you leverage these statistics by setting up your Google Business Page. They can also help you increase your visibility in online local search results so that you’re among the top search results in directories like Google My Business. These directories properly catalog information like your phone number, address, and business hours so that you appear on Google maps.
Leverages Search Results with Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Pay-per-click (or PPC) is a powerful marketing tool, but only if it’s utilized correctly. Keywords and search volume need to be researched to formulate a strategy that will give you a high ROI. Fortunately, it works exceptionally well with SEO for garnering sales, brand awareness, and a loyal customer base.
This is because PPC gives you more visibility on the SERPs, especially for keywords you’re already ranking well for. In other words, you have twice the visibility as relying on organic search alone, which means potential customers are twice as likely to click through to your website.
Drives New Leads to Your Sales Funnel
Email marketing is easily one of the most powerful sales tools at your disposal. Once you have a lead’s email address, you can stay top of mind by emailing them regularly with updates, useful information, and of course, sales offers. So what does that have to do with SEO? Well, not only does SEO help you increase online visibility and get more traffic, but it also drives new leads into your email sales funnel.
The top two sources of inbound leads are organic search and email marketing, which means both of these marketing strategies should be an integral part of your overall strategy if you want to generate more paying customers. (If you need help with your sales funnel, we also offer email marketing services!)
Increases Social Media Reach and Engagement with Social Syndication
Social syndication is when you share links to your SEO pages on your social media accounts, which is beneficial for a few reasons. First, it gives you something to post on your social media accounts, increasing brand awareness and inviting engagement with your followers.
Second, Google can detect when sites have a solid social media presence which may help increase your site’s domain authority. Domain authority is known as “off-page SEO.” The more of it you have, the easier it is to rank.
Decreases Bounce Rate
A high bounce rate means most people click through to your website but don’t stick around for long enough to take the desired action (i.e., buy your product or sign up to your email list). SEO services help decrease your bounce rate by twofold. First, good SEO means that your website is more likely to be found by those who are actively looking for your product. That’s because search engines deliver results based on the user’s intent, meaning they’re more likely to stay to see what you have to offer.
Second, a qualified SEO service knows how to optimize your web pages for the best user experience. For example, web pages that are slow to load or otherwise difficult to navigate are considered a bad “Page Experience” by Google which harms your rankings – and conversions.
Increases Trust and Credibility in Your Brand
Google is well-known for delivering the best results on any search term, which is why people use it in the first place. So if Google trusts your site enough to rank it, people are far more likely to trust it, too. It fast-tracks that “know, like, trust” factor, which means they will be far less hesitant to place an order online or visit your store than if they found your website another way.
Helps You Align With Your Ideal Customer’s Needs
SEO also ends up being a good exercise in market research. By conducting regular keyword research, you stay on top of the market trends and what your customer is searching for. This could lead you to generate new services or products that are the solution to your customer’s problems – services and products you might not otherwise think to create!
For example, let’s say you have a small bakery and people in your town are searching for “bakeries open on Sundays” or “bakery with macaroons.” If you weren’t open on Sundays or didn’t offer macaroons, you could consider making these changes to meet your customer’s needs.
Google and SEO are here to stay, and if you aren’t using them to your advantage, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to grow your business to new heights. So if you want to reach new customers efficiently, take advantage of SEO services from an experienced agency with a track record for delivering powerful results.
You owe it to your business – and to your future customers who need your product or service! Ready to start reaching new customers with SEO? Visit us at Anthem Software today, and we can take care of all your search engine marketing needs!
