Streamline Your Business Development Strategy with SEO
If you are looking for sound business development strategies, there is no greater way to promote yourself than with SEO marketing.
There are over 1 billion websites in the world, with more being created by the second. This means that every second, there are web pages being made that are competing for the visitors that you want.
There are people that will tell you that SEO doesn’t have an impact. The problem with the “anti-SEO” crowd is pretty simple though:
They are wrong.
A strong SEO game can be the difference between a successful business and a bankrupt one. If you are in charge of a small to medium sized company and want to grow your online business, here’s how SEO can help you.
1) It’s all About Visibility
It doesn’t matter how amazing your company and product is if no one knows that it exists. In online business, exposure is everything. You have to be visible in order to compete. Visibility should always be your number one priority when thinking of you business development strategies.
SEO is the best way to ensure that potential customers find you easily. With the ever-changing algorithms of search engines such as Google, you need a team of dedicated professionals that know what your competitors are doing.
Keyword optimisation and making sure that the content of your website is engaging are vital. SEO thrives on making sure that your website is at the top of search results. You don’t want to be an afterthought in search results; this makes you seem less credible in the eyes of the public.
If you consistently rank highly in search results, the general public views this as meaning that your business is more valid. The average internet user doesn’t realise how search engines work; they just assume that the companies at the top of the list are the most trustworthy ones.
SEO is your ticket to the top of the search rankings. Without visibility being at the forefront of your business development strategies, you are giving your competition an advantage that is almost impossible to counter.
2) Your Customers Have to Know What You Do
If you have a business that specialises in marketing for high-end real estate firms, customers need to know this.
Search engines will not know what you do unless you make it clear to them. This is where optimisation comes in. Good SEO business development strategies will ensure that the terms people are searching for are front and center on your web page.
Articles with those keywords will be put up. Links to other websites will lead to your website, making google and others recognise your website as a popular one. This creates more traffic and thus more sales.
People will know exactly what you specialise in because when they search for high-end real estate marketing, you will be on the first page of google. It’s the best way to ensure that people will see you, and know exactly what you do.
3) SEO Will Build Your Content Profile
The more content you create, the more links will direct to your website. It’s all about exposure. If you have a blog on your website, and strategically use keywords that will send people to it, they will start talking about it.
Twitter users will send it out to their followers. Your page will be shared on Facebook. All of these things are factored into how much exposure you get with Google and others. Social media should always be a major factor in your business development strategies.
It’s a strategy that feeds into itself. You get exposure through keywords, making it easier to find you. Your page is shared, making it even more visible, meaning more links. If you use SEO as part of your business development strategies consistently, your companies content profile and thus its visibility and market share will grow.
SEO is an Investment for the Future
When using SEO, you are not trying to convince people that they need what you are selling. They have already decided that: you are just making sure that these people can find you.
For this simple reason, your ROI can be much greater than a traditional marketing campaign. While there is a small investment of funds in the beginning, as shown earlier a proper SEO campaign feeds into itself.
Visibility leads to customers, which leads to more visibility, and so on.
Much like the stock market, any SEO strategy should be thought of as a long-term investment. There will be ups and downs in terms of results, but over time there will be a far greater upside.
Think of it like this: If someone told you that your business can operate in the back alley of your city for $500 a month, or on Main Street for $1000 a month, which do you think would be the smart play?
For a little bit of an investment, you get the eyes of internet users on your business. You get the traffic, which leads to word of mouth marketing and social media marketing. In other words, don’t think of SEO marketing as simply one type of marketing.
Think of it as the root of marketing strategy tree. If you keep it watered, it will grow exponentially. Your business development strategies rely upon a healthy online presence.
If You Aren’t Doing It, You’re Already Losing Ground
SEO was once used as a business development strategy by a few tech savvy companies that knew the importance of maintaining a competitive edge. Now just about anyone with a business is doing it.
If you aren’t doing it, you are already losing. Those other companies that you are competing with will be far ahead of you.
Think of your business as a runner, and the other companies in your field as other athletes. If you are in a race for customers, why would you give them a head start?
If you aren’t using SEO, you are already behind in a race that you can’t afford to lose. Your business development strategies is a way to make sure you have the advantage.
SEO Will Help You Understand Your Customers Better
The more traffic you receive, the more information you can get. Tools like Google Analytics makes this information easy to receive and analyse.
You will be able to tell where your customers are from, what kind of information they are looking for and when they need your product the most.
If you run a specialised business, you can track these patterns to better understand when you should spend more on traditional advertising. If you receive less traffic online during certain months, you can decide to either cut back on your budget for those months or target certain regions with ads to bring new customers in.
This can be a huge advantage over companies that ignore such data. The key to having success with SEO marketing as a part of business development strategies is not only whether you use it, but how you use it.
Data in today’s business climate is the ultimate power. Use that power to grow your customer base and market share.
The Need for SEO Isn’t Going Anywhere
Traditional media is losing ground to the internet. Your company can be effective without having a print or radio presence as long as it’s internet presence is strong. Your business development strategies should be focused on growing mediums, not declining ones.
The days of television and radio ads bringing instant success are gone. Newspapers are in decline. Investing in those avenues are iffy at best. Think about the last time you personally heard a radio ad that swayed you into making a purchase.
People use the internet to research companies and compare services before making a purchase. Consumers are smarter than they have ever been. Making sure that your company is at the top of the search rankings is the best way to make sure that customers consider spending their money on your company.
Remember that in order to effectively earn someone’s business, you have to earn their trust. Seeing your website ranked highly in search engine results is the first step in establishing yourself as a legitimate company.
The internet is here to stay. Your business development strategies have to centre around the web.
Keep in Mind When Thinking About Business Development Strategies
There is no guarantee that SEO will make your company into the next Apple or Microsoft. Success is more than marketing. Being visible only works if you have a service that people want and can provide it at a fair price.
People have to know about that service though. You can’t rely on hard work and innovation only and expect to be successful. The image that your company portrays is just as important as the service or product it provides.
SEO marketing is the easiest way to shape the image of your company. It is the best way to show customers what you are all about. You decide the focus and who you are targeting, and let the SEO professionals take care of the rest.
The easy part is deciding to do SEO as a part of your business development strategies. The hard part is knowing how to best deploy this powerful tool to get the results that you need.
Author: Mike Khorev
Bio: Mike helps small and mid-size businesses drive leads, increase sales and grow revenue online. He designs, develops and executes integrated digital marketing campaigns across paid, social, organic and digital channels.