That’s a damn good title, isn’t it?
Yes, it may be a little dramatized, but to our digital marketing agency, we take SEO that seriously because we know it works and it’s the direction all businesses will need to shift their marketing efforts to.
In my previous article, “
SEO Today, Industry Leader Tomorrow”, I discussed the importance of SEO and why it’s vital to rank highly in organic search results versus traditional advertising methods. The world of marketing has evolved from newspapers and flyers, to radio and television broadcasts, to billboards and events, and finally to digital advertising.
I used to be the Regional Marketing Manager for one of the nation’s largest powersports dealerships, and I saw the company throw hundreds of thousands of dollars into outdated advertising methods. We would spend an insane amount of money in rapid-speaking 30-second radio spots that had a 15-second disclaimer, plaster billboards around every freeway, contribute countless man hours to working event booths giving away koozies and keychains, and even take out ads in low distribution publications for the sole purpose of “being everywhere”.
While most of the marketing budget went to traditional advertising, only a small fraction, we’re talking a mere few thousand per dealership, went toward online marketing. We had staff spend hours posting on Craigslist and Facebook, and we wondered why we were showing up below the fold on search engine rankings for motorcycle-related searches. Don’t get me wrong, we were thriving, mostly because we had the largest inventory and were really good at saturating the market, not necessarily because we used our marketing budget strategically.
How many of you would agree that marketing methods that get your brand displayed everywhere is the an efficient marketing strategy? It’s okay if you think so. It creates brand awareness right? Businesses always want to remind people of their brand around every corner. But of the $5,000 spent on one billboard for one month, how many people actually came through to make a purchase? You’ll get a report saying your ad had 80,000 impressions but no real proof of return on investment (ROI) by converting impressions to sales.
When people want or need your product or service, they will search for it. Identifying your customer’s needs is the first step in qualifying a potential customer. Sure, of the thousands of people driving to work each morning, one may see a billboard for a carpet cleaner, and think, “hey, my carpets could use a good cleaning.” They will continue about their day, remember that they need a carpet cleaner, forget which company was on the billboard, and simply search the Internet for a nearby, affordable, and reputable service provider. Great job leading your potential customer’s money into someone else’s wallet.
However, IF your company’s website happened to appear in the top related search results on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo! the customer is more inclined to visit your website, engage in your call to action, and become a customer. This type of search ranking does not happen by chance and will only occur when a business takes strategic action to fulfill search engine algorithms and develop a strong online presence.
That’s where Speenz comes in. As experts in SEO and content marketing, we combine the best proven practices to get businesses in any industry on Page 1 of Google, Bing, and Yahoo! Our SEO packages begin with conducting a complete website audit, an industry analysis, and competitor analysis to uncover what your website needs and what keywords are being used to find your product or service. This research must be conducted by experts who dedicate their time to learning about your business. It’s not easily done, nor is it a quick endeavor.
We also found that SEO works best when implementing both on- and off-page strategies. On-page strategies mean that
we optimize your website internally and externally. We include meta tags to tell search engines what your website is about, header tags, image optimization, develop a sitemap, and add internal links. These, along with a number of nerdy website tactics, help search engines read and evaluate the usefulness of your website and relevance to user searches.
Off-page strategies are where we heavily combine SEO and content marketing. By creating, distributing, and linking content to sites other than your website, like local listings, social media, social bookmarking sites, and blog forums, we are spreading your brand across the Internet. All of these methods take consistent effort and a lot of time, which is why businesses opt for digital marketing agencies, like ourselves, to take on this marketing task for them.
So why would I say that SEO is the new world order? Well, it is changing the way businesses connect with customers and the way consumers find businesses. It is forcing businesses to meet consumer needs and become leaders in their industry rather than just exist. The
organic trend has spread to more than groceries and skincare products, but being found organically through searches is the way to gain a trusting audience and essentially succeed in the “be everywhere” method, by being where your customers are when they need you.
Soon, SEO will not be an option; it will be a means for survival amongst businesses. It truly is the digital age. As much as many of us cherish traditions like clipping coupons, flipping through pages of a book, and buying lottery tickets, going digital is the new world order.
