Nicole McCullumSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most cost effective ways to reach a large percentage of your audience at a time when they are ready to buy. However, many small business owners become frustrated with the lack of results that they see when they invest in SEO, and give up. The fact is when you give up on SEO, you give up on competing for the business of your target audience online. This costs you traffic, leads and sales. The bottom line is, if you’re not showing up online, you’re not an option for your target audience to consider.
Pulling Keywords Out of a Hat – Each page on your website should be optimized for a focus keyword that helps search engines determine what your website is about and how relevant your web page is to the search of a potential user. Often what you think your target audience is searching for online is off base. Finding the right keywords to get in front of your target audience requires taking the time to conduct keyword research using a tool such as Google Keyword Planner to identify if there is sufficient search volume for your keywords, how high the competition is and if it is a viable keyword to target. For example singular and plural keywords have different search volumes.
Thinking That All You Need to Do is Add Your Keywords to the Page – Understanding that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) requires both an on-site strategy and off-site strategy to be successful is important. Many times businesses will optimize their website pages and then do nothing else. This may be enough to get you ranked in search engines but because of competitiveness it will not be enough to get you to the first page. You need an off-site strategy that involves link building on an ongoing basis to climb to the top of the first page. Without it your website will be lost deep down in the search results pages.
Not Giving SEO Time to See Results – Search Engine Optimization is a long-term strategy; it takes time because you’re starting from nowhere, meanwhile your competitors have been going at it for months or even years. To get to the top of the search engines takes anywhere from two to three months, and even then you have to continue working to maintain your position. However, the rewards far exceed the risks. It has been proven that 85% of users prefer to click on SEO organic results compared to pay per click. In addition, once you are ranked and you maintain your position, your cost per lead is a lot lower and you are able to enjoy the benefits of a consistent flow of leads.
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