4 Reasons Why You Should Implement SEO into your Marketing Plan

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is a digital marketing strategy used to push your website up on search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing. Research shows that about 90% of people don’t go beyond the first page of results when searching online, which means being found on the first page of the results will help your website get more traffic and consequently put your business in front of more prospective clients.

More traffic in itself doesn’t increase revenues if that traffic isn’t taking advantage of revenue generating actions.  But, you also can’t sell a product or service to someone if they can’t find you.  In 2018 statistics showed that in Australia more than half of small businesses still didn’t have a website.  This is pretty scary, when 97% of search engine users search online to find a local business.

And in today's environment, now more than ever small businesses need to be implementing local SEO strategies in their marketing plan.

1. SEO is a relatively cheap marketing strategy

Imagine you’re at the pub and you decide to play a game of darts.  You’re trying to hit the bullseye and because you can see your target you’re more likely to succeed.  Now imagine you’re blindfolded.  It's a lot harder to hit that target, correct? 

Using traditional marketing techniques is a bit like playing darts blindfolded.  They tend to promote products or services to a large, un-targeted  audience in the hope that someone will buy what you are putting out there.  It is also known been referred  to as interruptive marketing since commercials, billboards, and in some cases print ads often disrupt someone’s concentration.  When was the last time you truely paid attention to a television commercial?  In fact, most of us like streaming and it has become so much more popular because we don’t want to watch commercials.

Compared to traditional marketing strategies, SEO is one of the most cost effective channels available to get your products and services to your audience, mainly because by using the SEO strategies available you will be marketing your product or service directly to the people that need it, after-all they are already searching for you. 

You can talk to an SEO Company about a SEO plans that suit your budget or you can try some DIY tactics to reach your audience.  Plans can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars per month, depending on who you talk to as compared to a TV ad that can range from anywhere between $2,500 to over $10,000 for a 30 second HD ad.  If you’re looking to be placed in a time slot that has millions of viewers you could be looking at anything upward of $150,000 for a 30 second ad.  For a majority of business, these costs are way out of reach.  SEO is value for money, but make sure you talk to a reputable SEO company that is looking to drive relevant traffic to your website.

Also, if you decide to take a break from doing any active SEO online, your content and strategies will still organically grow, but keep in mind at some point your competitors will overtake you, especially if they are actively doing SEO.

2. SEO improves customer engagement

At the core of any SEO plan and strategies implement is the idea of building trust, authority and credibility.  Visibility in the organic search results creates the implication of endorsement by Google and if your business is ranked in the 1 to 5 position on page 1, then you are perceived to have more authority, trust and credibility online. 

But to improve customer engagement, we want to go beyond what is perceived to actually provide high quality content that is valuable to your audience. As a result of doing this, the search engine will understand that people are accessing your content because it is relevant to them and in turn will rank you higher on the results page.  Google is getting smarter and now thanks to BERT, understands conversational language which enables Google to provide more relevant results to users when they search.  You know who your target audience is and now you want to build relationship with them through your content and SEO stratagies.  Once you have them on your website you then want to keep them engaged.  You have a maximum of 8 seconds to impress your potential customer before they leave your website. In this limited period of time you need to assure them that your service or product is useful to them, that you are going to bring value to their life. 

If they start leaving your website within a short period of time, this will increase your bounce rate and decrease your rankings in the SERPs, as well as show search engines that your content isn’t relevant to your visitors search.  The right SEO techniques for both on page and off page look at preventing this from happening and concentrate on improving your customer engagement.

3. SEO brings a higher return on investment

Generating sales or leads are probably the most important objectives of the majority of marketing strategies. Search Engine Optimisation is no different in regards to this objective, it is however more likely to achieve that goal by delivering relevant traffic that has a higher chance of converting. The potential customer is searching with intent for what your business has to offer. This is highly targeted and sort after traffic.

Typically a successful SEO campaign will result in more traffic and increased search rankings.  About 60% of all traffic goes to the top 1 to 3 positions in the organic search results, so one of the first measurable indicators is that you’re getting an increase in traffic if the SEO company you are using is moving your website up the rankings.  You should also receive a monthly report showing you how you are positioned and where you are positioned for the search terms being used.  If you are not receiving this, then you should find a new SEO provider, as these reports should help you to leverage this insight to improve further your visibility in the SERPs and maximise your SEO ROI. 

To achieve a higher ROI, then a large percentage of the traffic being driven to your website needs to be one of the following:

•     Your target audience

•     People who engage with your brand/website by either clicking, commenting, liking, sharing, or by adding to cart if your site is e-commerce

•    Visitors who are ready to buy or take a desired action within moments of interacting with your brand/website

•     Customers who buy more

•     Customers that don’t take a lot of convincing or time to make a buying decision

When you have these goals incorporated into your web design, these types of visitors will naturally increase revenues.  These types of visitors are who you are targeting in your SEO strategies, so it is a good idea to keep these objectives at the forefront of any digital marketing plan.

If you want to calculate your SEO ROI percentage, then use this method.

Gain from Investment – Cost of Investment / Cost of Investment. Then, multiply the resulting number by 100.

It is also important to remember that tracking conversations will look different if you are an e-commerce site as compared to a lead based business that provides a service.  If you are lead based, then give the intended goals (actions) on your website a value.  For example, someone lands on your site and fills out a form for more information, you can assign that action a monetary value.  You’ll have a number actions on your site, so in turn assign each action a monetary value from least to highest.

4. SEO can improve offline conversions

Did you know that over 88% of all mobile searches are people looking for local businesses to visit in store or call within 24 hours?  46% off all Google searches are looking for local information and 97% of people learn about a local business online then anywhere else.  61% of mobile searches are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile friendly site and it its expected that by 2021 (which is in less than 12 months away), that mobile devices will influence more than $1.4 trillion in local sales.  Lastly, “near me” or “close by’ type searches have grown by more than 900% over the last two years.  So, I guess local SEO services Gold Coast are pretty important!  And in case you missed it, we just threw in a local search keyword to help with our own local SEO.

If you are implementing a good local SEO strategy in your marketing and you have consistent listings and business information across the web, then it is much easier for a searcher to transition into becoming a customer, by either visiting your location, sending an email or by giving you a call.  Although we live in a digital world, offline sales still drive the consumer economy.  The vast majority of purchases are still made offline, so to be hyper-competitive in the world of search, your SEO strategy should optimise not only for what is happening online but also for highly valuable offline conversions.  By having a holistic view to your SEO Gold Coast efforts, it will put your business in a better position both in the SERPs and on the street.

Boost your business with SEO today

Assuming you can just skip SEO and maybe just ‘wing-it’ might be keeping you from reaching potential customers who are actively searching for your business online.  If they don’t find you, then you can bet they have found your competitor.  So if you’re not using SEO in your marketing strategy, then now is the time to start.  And if you are unhappy with your current SEO company, then now is the time to do something about it.  SEO doesn’t have to be expensive and is in fact one of the most cost-effective strategies that you can use to market your brand today.

If you want to find out how SEO can help your business, then give us a call on 07 5592 2685 or email info@seoplans.net.au.  We also have a great FREE online SEO tool that can audit your website and provide you with SEO suggestions to help you improve in the SERPs.