When people ask me what I do, and I tell them “I do SEO or Search Engine Optimization”, I often get baffled looks on people’s faces. I can’t blame them… after all, the SEO industry is still fairly new in comparison.
SEO has a simple concept. It’s the process of improving the rankings of a website on the search engines. The purpose of SEO is not only to increase organic traffic, but also to increase conversions while improving ROI. In the long-run, SEO is a cost-effective way to promote your website online.
What is Organic Traffic?
Organic traffic (also known as Natural Traffic) is essentially free traffic that flows in from the search engines as a result of people searching for stuff on Google or any other search engine. This is the best kind of website traffic you can get because you don’t have to pay for the visitors to your site and the traffic is usually very relevant.
How does SEO save money?
Like any other type of online advertising, SEO costs money – whether you do it yourself or if you hire an SEO firm. However, there is a benefit of SEO that can’t be matched by any other type of online advertising. SEO offers lasting residual benefits. In other words, you may reap the benefits of top rankings for a long time for SEO work you do today. This could mean high profit margins for your business if most of your traffic is coming from organic search engine rankings.
How long does SEO take?
The goal of SEO is to obtain a first page ranking for your website, preferably in position 1. It can be done, but the time it takes will depend on how competitive the industry is, and how competitive the keyword you’re trying to target is. SEO won’t produce results overnight. SEO is a process. SEO needs to be thought of as an investment for your business. Invest your money today, and multiply your income in the following months and years.
For those looking for immediate results (as in hours or days), PPC (pay-per-click), display media, or affiliate marketing may be the answer for you.
Why you need to consider SEO
It is estimated that more than 2 billion searches are performed on Google every single day. And, out of that, less than 90% of those searchers don’t go past the 1st page of the search results. Even worse, the vast number of searchers only browse through the 1st few listings of the first page. This means that if you’re not ranking on the 1st page for “your” keywords, you could be missing out on a lot of potential customers.