Is SEO Important For Your Small Business?

1. SEO Improves Your Online Visibility

The most obvious reason why SEO is important for small businesses, is to increase your visibility. 

Being highly visible as a trusted resource by Google, or other search engines, can't help but work in your favor. When your site appears on the first page of major search engines, potential customers are much more likely to visit your site. 

And the more people on your site, the more awareness of your company; which in turn, will bring you more customers and revenue.

2. Good SEO Builds Trust

The second important benefit of using SEO, is building people's trust in your brand or business.

People do business with companies they trust. Today, most customers will do lots of online research, even before they visit a store or buy a product.

Having useful, trustworthy content about your products or services on your website, not only will help potential customers learn about their options, but it establishes your site as a credible information source on the topic.

With good SEO, you have the opportunity offer useful information consumers are searching for - and that goes a long way towards building trust and becoming an important part of the research process.

3. SEO Means Better User Experience

User-friendly websites is another important benefit of using SEO.   

SEO optimization will help business owners create beautiful, clean websites, with an effective and positive user experience.

The goal of quality SEO is creating informative valuable content on smooth, uncluttered websites. Using fast, easy-to-navigate websites compels visitors to stay longer, and check out other pages on your site, thereby decreasing bounce rate, and increasing your rankings in the search engines.

4. SEO Is Very Cost-Effective

Search Engine Optimization is one of the most cost-effective and efficient marketing tactics you can utilize today.

Another big plus of employing SEO strategy, is that you don't have to pay for ad space. Yes, the ads have the advantage of being first in search results - but those businesses have to pay extra dollars to get them there.

With SEO you can get to the top without paying extra. Those business that appear at the top of the search results - they don't have to spend a cent to be there. 

While there was probably some money and time invested in a quality SEO website to get them to the top, they are earning traffic without spending a cent - because Google thinks they are valuable to consumers.

Looking at the big picture, SEO is relatively cheap. Sure it costs money, but the payoff will be considerable.

Investing in SEO is near the top in producing long term results at good cost, because it lasts longer than paid ad channels. An optimized website will bring you ongoing results for years to come.

5. SEO Helps You Bypass Competition

If you optimize your site, not only will you be improving your ranking in the search engines, you will also be moving above your competitors.

Your competitors are more than likely using SEO already. Choosing not to invest in this marketing strategy will essentially give competitors free reign to move up the ladder of online ranking - in other words, handing over your customers to competitors. Nobody would want to do that! 

On the other hand, by using business SEO strategy, you will have major advantages over those who aren't using SEO, or don't understand it's importance. 

By investing some patience and money into SEO, you can successfully bypass competition to reach customers in key moments that matter.

There are a few important things to remember when choosing an SEO company.

There are spam and disreputable companies out there, and since SEO is a long term investment, it is important to find the right SEO agency for your marketing needs.

The first thing to look for in an SEO company is realistic offerings. Avoid companies who guarantee overnight success. Instead look for companies that offer realistic results based on your business challenges.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Look at the agency's reviews. Are their customers happy? Do they boast top-notch rating? Ask to see examples of clients that they have been working with for over a year.

Positive testimonials and reviews is a sign they have solid performance and quality work that will help your business achieve significant results.

It is also a good idea to ask your SEO agency what types of strategies they use. Beware of secretive companies who don't share their process, and avoid answering your questions.

Any honest SEO firm will be happy to tell you what strategies they use to achieve results, and explain to you how it works.