You Know SEO Works, But How Do You Persuade Your Boss To Invest In SEO?
In particular, owners of small to medium sized local businesses can become stuck in their own business bubble. They think they understand how their customers think and the way they act without doing enough in depth research.
Therefore, they can end up making business marketing decisions based on how they expect their customers to behave, as they claim to know their niche inside out.
Is this an effective approach to marketing for 2014, and the future? The simple answer is no.
SEO - for long-term online marketing success
To stay in the competitive race of business you MUST broaden your horizons and look for new, cost-effective ways of growing profit. Online marketing offers a wealth of marketing opportunities for virtually every business, and one of the most valuable is SEO (search engine optimisation).
If understood and implemented correctly, SEO will give you a credible reputation and long-term high rankings on Google’s search engine. This will result in more valuable leads seeing you, clicking on your website and spending money with you.
So if you work for someone who is still in the dark about SEO, but you know it could work wonders for the business, present these case points – and he/she should see the light!
1. Most potential buyers turn to search engines
If your business has a special offer to make or products/services to sell, one question you should ask yourself: How do potential customers find us?
Recent statistics show that 93% of online shopping begins with a search engine – whether buying a product or service. Good SEO will get you to the first page of Google’s search engine results - or even position one - for keyword searches related to your website offer. This is clearly a convenient way to quickly and effectively reach a huge number of new customers and stand out from your billions of competitors.
Discover the best techniques that get your website to the top of Google search, by reading How to Get To Page One Of Google...And How NOT to!.
2. Directly respond to your customers’ needs
Marketing is about understanding how your customers think. Instead of making decisions based on what you think would work and what fits in with your company, turn this around and take the customer perspective.
Find out what keyword searches your target customers are typing into Google search. Then optimise your website content around those keywords; using them in the text, providing helpful, relevant links, additional information and resources.
You now have a website that takes the customer perspective; meeting their needs and making them more likely to purchase. Google will reward this optimisation and relevance by placing you higher in the organic search rankings, so your website is seen and visited more often. And there you have it – great SEO in action!
3. Conducting SEO is low cost
Unlike other forms of online marketing, such as Google Adwords PPC (pay per click), the process of SEO is free. You don’t need to pay Google to be shown in Google’s organic search results, or spend money to get people to click on your page.
Learn more about the implications of SEO and PPC in our helpful article SEO vs. PPC: How do you Know Which Method is Best for Your Business?.
If you let a specialist SEO agency handle your website SEO for you, there will be a charge for their expertise. However, if it is done properly you will reap the reward of a huge return on investment.
The high relevance of top search engine results means that, on average, for every 1000 clicks 4% will convert into sales, whether that’s buying a product, downloading an e-book or signing up for a newsletter. In fact, 40% of SEO campaigns achieve returns on investment of 500% or more! This is something you will be hard-pressed to manage with other forms of marketing.
If you want to find out more on how you could increase your website’s return on investment and profit, download your FREE Profitable Website Guide here.
4. It is a long-term investment
If you hire a good SEO agency to carry out effective SEO marketing, it will prove to be a reliable, long-term investment. Credible, good quality websites - particularly with a specialist products to sell – can significantly improve their long-term presence on organic search results.
Find out how to choose the right SEO agency for your business needs with our article on How to Choose a Good SEO Agency
Although PPC is catching up in terms of clicks, the cost of PPC is also rising. It usually takes 3 months or more to see your rankings go up with SEO, but if you are patient and continuously monitor the optimisation of your content, there’s nothing stopping your business from maintaining high visibility on Google search. The best part is you don’t pay Google every time someone clicks through to your site when you are listed in the organic listings, as a result of SEO.
The figures speak for themselves. In a 2012 study by eMarketer.com, 53% of senior-level marketing executives agreed that SEO is the most effective online marketing tactic.
5. People trust Google search
Despite the introduction of Google ads and other online search engines, Google search has remained a trusted source of information for the majority of Internet users. People know that Google will show the most closely matched web results for their keyword searches, so a website that appears in the top search rankings has greater brand/business credibility. In particular, being in position one of the search rankings will boost your reputation like no other form of online advertising.
Avinash Kaushik (Google consultant) backs this up. He sites that 86% of website clicks come from organic search results, whereas only 14% of clicks come from sponsored ads.
So those are 5 of the key arguments, which should bring the subject of SEO to the attention of any forward-thinking bosses. As an online marketing technique, search engine optimisation is in tune with modern consumer behaviour, gives confidence to internet searchers, is low cost and offers outstanding return on investment in the long-run.
To ensure that your SEO campaign delivers maximum effectiveness on all of these points, we recommend that you use a reputable, reliable SEO agency.
Additional Resources:
http://www.digitalaptitude.com/blog/internet-marketing/how-to-convince-your-boss-to-invest-in-online-marketing
http://rankexecutives.com/benefits-of-seo/
Article by Laura Wootton
