Let’s just get this out of the way – search engine optimization (SEO) is vital to your online success.
Does this mean as a business owner in the digital age you need to be an SEO expert? Absolutely not.
However, it is important to understand the basics. We covered them recently. If you missed it, you can read about them here.
Additionally, it’s vital to recognize how SEO is a part of your overall business strategy. Because a strong SEO presence doesn’t just happen by snapping your fingers. It’s an investment.
These are three facts of which you should be aware as you incorporate SEO into your marketing plan:
SEO is a Long-Term Investment
While we understand the desire to have your website automatically jump to a first-page ranking, SEO isn’t an overnight success. It takes time. Quick result providers are like get-rich-quick schemers – they sound too good to be true.
How long does it take? It can depend. Usually it takes 3-6 months with scheduled check-ups after the campaign. This allows ample time to roll out changes, watch the results, and make adjustments on both your website and offsite citations like local pages, yelp, etc.
Why so long? Because no matter how much you want to fool a search engine, you can’t. Besides, most search engines are not fans of big change, so we need to ease them into it.
SEO Costs Money
SEO is not free. It costs money. Whoever started this crazy tale of no-cost optimization set many a folk up to be disappointed.
SEO requires expertise. You need someone who understands and can implement best practices, research and monitor high ranking terms, and create content that builds a strong history. This kind of knowledge costs money. Whether you use an in-house professional or your hire an outside firm, someone’s going to be getting paid. But instead of an expense, think of SEO as an investment in your brand. How much are new customers worth? Because when well done, SEO will give you new exposure to close new leads.
SEO is Mostly Content Marketing (not fancy tricks)
Yes, the SEO expert your company uses should understand all the technical sitemap.xml and robots.txt tricks. However, if your SEO expert is really going to build a strong presence, the majority of their time will be spent focused on developing content.
Page titles, meta-descriptions, headlines, body text – all of these affect your search ranking and optimize your content for search engines so it can make an impact. However, you also need to ask yourself: Is your content unique and valuable? Is it relevant to what your customers are searching for? Does it make sense for the reading level of your audience?
These questions need to be addressed and answered in tandem with your site’s SEO campaign implementation if you want to achieve maximum success.
Want to be Found By People Looking For Your Services? Curious how your site can found by more people? Send us a message and we’d be happy to take a look.
