The following questions can all be answered by the phrase: Google it.
How do you find out what services a business provides? Where can I find a company that does [insert service]? What are their hours of operation? Their address? Their phone number?
If someone is in need of a product or service, they’re going to turn to their preferred search engine. Companies who appear on the first page of relevant searches garner significantly more traffic than those on the next ten pages combined. This is why it’s vital to optimize your online presence for search engines. If you want to improve your business, one of the best ways is through SEO (search engine optimization).
- Controlling the Conversation
- For the kids – Make your company’s backpacks look way cooler than any other boring backpack on the market.
- For the parents – Write about how a custom-designed backpack can boost their child’s confidence at school.
- Build Trust and Credibility
- Be knowledgeable on relevant topics
- Offer that knowledge for free
- Show that customer service is a priority
- Make your brand personable
- Stay up to date with what’s happening socially
- Generate Traffic Organically
- Use SEO as a Feedback Loop
- Focus on Local SEO
When you’re using SEO content strategies to market your services or push a new product, you are effectively controlling the conversation. Say your company makes customizable backpacks for kids. A niche market. When you roll out a batch of content, you can choose what to focus on.
Customers are likelier to use your product or service if they trust you as a company. Once you control the conversation, you’re able to use that to build credibility within the community. Try producing SEO content with the following in mind:
Highlighted at the beginning of this article are all the typical questions that bring customers to your website. Either they know the name of your company and they’re trying to find out additional information. Or they’re looking for a service that your company provides. Generating this type of traffic is called organic search, and it’s the dominant form of traffic that’s going to lead to sales and new clients.
If you improve your search engine optimization, your business will naturally gain traction and grow. To do this, first determine where your SEO falls short. An SEO audit service can highlight weaknesses within your site, and provide actionable tips to start improving your rankings.
Say your company is a financial advisory firm with two primary revenue-generating services. One, you advise clients where to hold their money. Two, you invest their money if the client wishes. Which one is more valuable to the company?
The first instinct is to check the books. For this example’s sake, the investment service generates 80% of net revenue. Great! You double down on marketing that service and the following quarter you notice there’s been no substantial change. What happened?
Well, if you had checked the web traffic logs (in this conveniently organized example), you would have found that a whopping 90% of new clients flooded in via search results about financial advice. Aha! Customers came for the financial advice but paid top dollar for investing services.
By having content available online, you’re able to see the full picture of how each service benefits the company. It’s your own data feedback loop.
There’s a geographical component when working on local SEO that is highly valuable to small businesses. There’s no way a small auto mechanic shop can compete with an established chain like Pep Boys when it comes to content marketing and output volume. They instead must rely on local search results from Google entries like “mechanic near me” or “auto mechanics in my area.” Google takes those signifiers “near me” and “in my area” and places emphasis on proximity to the user. Now the user will see both the Pep Boys down the street and the small local shop they previously didn’t know existed.
When setting up a local SEO, make sure you focus on the following information:
- Google My Business – This is the description, address, phone number, and other information that pops up when you find a company on Google Maps. Setting up your GMB has the biggest impact on your local SEO. Prioritize it!
- Update information – Make sure everywhere your business shows up has the correct name, physical location, hours of operation, and phone number.
- Highlight positive reviews – Customer reviews are an essential component of local SEO. More positive reviews mean more potential customers.
Make SEO a Priority
With the efficiency of search engine algorithms and the impatience of modern users, nearly all organic traffic is going to come from the first page of Google. This makes SEO an increasingly important factor for modern businesses. If you want to generate traffic and organic growth, your business needs to make SEO a priority.
