As a Tampa SEO Company, we often get asked why we feel search engine optimization is so important and the answer is simple:
Over 70 percent of the population will turn to a search engine like Google, Yahoo or Bing looking for products and services to fulfill their needs. If your local business is not there when they are ready to buy, then they have no choice but to call your competition.
The Internet has mostly replaced the phone book and, in some cases, even the storefront. Knowing how to reach online consumers and properly meeting their needs is what search engine optimization is all about. Local businesses that mostly cater to a niche market can especially benefit by increasing their customer base using these marketing techniques.
What is Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, is the process of properly configuring a website to make it relevant to search phrases that potential consumers enter into search engines. For instance, if your home air conditioning needed a repair you may turn to a search engine and type in “ac repair”, “air conditioning repair” or “air conditioning contractor”. All phrases mean somewhat the same thing but create different results. Properly optimizing a websites page content and structure can help more consumers find you.
Why SEO Matters For Local Businesses
Simply creating a website is not enough to reach potential customers online. Every month, approximately 3.7 million new domain names are registered. To rise above the pack, businesses must have optimized pages that appeal to the correct keywords and provide fresh regular content to improve their ranking on result pages.
SEO can help local business owners target the proper traffic by appealing to the audience and search phrases most likely to be used by potential consumers. The ability to capture important traffic statistics on who visits their site and how they got there helps business owners develop a strategy for reaching more potential customers.
By identifying the keywords that potential customers use when searching, a local business can create related content that will appeal to customers and help search engines to notice their page as relevant to those search phrases. This is the key to getting more users to click on the company’s link when searching for products and services.
SEO An Affordable Alternative
Some small businesses might not feel that SEO is worth the investment compared to other traditional forms of advertising. However, with more and more people using mobile devices like iPads, iphones, smartphones, and portable laptops with Wi-Fi capabilities, local businesses need to re-think about how to best reach new customers.
A strong web presence can open new avenues of business that owners may not have previously considered. The internet has created worldwide potential for local businesses looking to expand their reach. Unfortunately, local businesses that aren’t growing and innovating will eventually fall to more ambitious competition and those that believe in long-term success will prosper.
