SEO is part of the process that takes a website from internet obscurity to the top of a search engine results page for related search terms and keywords. From a business perspective it seems perfectly logical that all businesses should therefore engage in some form of SEO activity. Surely all businesses should be aiming for this, right? As an experienced SEO agency, we believe that SEO isn't for every business and this article will explain why.
Research indicates that over 82% of clicks on Google go to the top 3 websites listed on a search engine results page. That's a significant figure and places a huge emphasis on businesses to market themselves accordingly in order to provide themselves with an opportunity to be found by potential customers who are searching for new products and services. But getting your company organically listed at the top of a search engine isn't a simple, quick or straightforward process. There are many factors that influence how a website will rank (this article helps define these) but the reality is that SEO is a process. Companies that get it right by following best practices and guidelines can create a sustainable presence on the search engines that have the following benefits:
- Increasing traffic to a website
- Increasing new sales leads
- Higher authority / trust from potential new clients
- Higher revenue
As complicated as SEO sounds, the logic is very simple for those who manage to get their websites to the top of a search engine results page:
Ok, So Why Shouldn't Every Business Engage in SEO?
This is where it gets interesting. Despite all of the statistics, the evidence and the potential outcomes, we still strongly believe that SEO only works for some types fo businesses. We normally determine these by asking the following questions to each potential client:
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Does your current website generate any leads?
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Do you have enquiry forms or call to action buttons that are designed for lead generation?
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How much traffic do I need to bring to my website to generate a lead?
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How many leads do I need to generate before I close a deal?
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What is the average value of a deal and how much revenue will this customer provide my business over the next 3 years?
Once you have the answers to these questions, you’ll have a really good idea as to whether SEO is the right approach for your business. Like all types of marketing, SEO should be trackable and demonstrate a clear return on investment. So if you are unsure of the answers to the questions above for your business or whether your website can generate leads, SEO probably shouldn't be what you do next as a business. You should probably look at improving the quality of your website or your tracking metrics or both.
If however, you are sure that driving an extra 100 people to your website each day, week or month will result in say, 5 or 10 new leads, of which 2 or 3 will be clsoed by your sales team, your business is currently better prepared than others to engage in such a strategy.
There are also opportunity costs to consider bearing in mind the cost of engaging in a SEO campaign or strategy. We therefore also ask our prospects to consider the following:
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If you invested the same money into a Pay per Click (PPC) campaign on Google or Facebook, will this generate more leads for your business?
Remember this, effective and sustainable marketing is all about ROI and without this it is tough to justify continuous spend on a project. Therefore always consider the potential outcome before engaging in this sort of activity.
Not sure if your business is ready for SEO? Speak to one of our consultants who will analyse your website, your current online presence and determine how effective SEO can be for your business.
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