So, you’ve got a brand new, beautiful business and are ready for the customers to come rolling in. The only thing is, how do they know you’re ready for them? We live in a digital age where everything is available online — advertising in phone books and on TV is costly and won’t reach nearly as many potential customers as you’d think, so you need to pull customers to you through the Internet, usually with the aid of a digital marketing agency.
Winner Takes All in SEO
Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as creating a website and waiting by the phone. Through search engine optimization (SEO), you can take advantage of one of the Internet’s most popular and trafficked sites: Google. Think about it; when you’re searching for “X near me”, you plug it into Google and go from there. Statistics have shown that the top 5 sites in search engine result pages (known as SERPs) get 75% of user clicks — the higher your business is on that list, the more potential consumer leads will come your way. There are a few ways that you can convince Google that your website is worth displaying on the illustrious first page of results:
- Pay Per Click (PPC) Campaigns: You know those ads that pop up ahead of the normal search results? Those are part of a PPC campaign. Companies pay extra to have their website posted right at the very beginning of the very first page, and have to pay a certain fee every time the ad is clicked on. This form of search engine marketing is frequently used by big businesses (like law firms or insurance companies) that have highly competitive keywords.
- On-page SEO: This form of content is what actually shows up on your site. Many companies have a page (or several) dedicated specifically to blogs and articles related to industry news and basic information. The better the content (in terms of length, quality, and style), the more valuable Google will rate your site, thus placing you higher in the SERP.
There are a few more nuanced ways to garner Google’s attention and praise, but these two are the easiest to understand (and this is an article on the basics, after all). If you’re overwhelmed and confused, don’t worry! Finding a digital marketing agency to handle all of your SEO needs is easier than ever.
WRITTEN BY
Rick Hogan, CEO & Co-Founder – Bleevit Interactive Rick possesses over 20 years of digital marketing experience and started Bleevit Interactive with the primary mission of helping local businesses succeed online. When he is not working he can often be found hiking Great Falls, Virginia with his Labradoodle Lily, or sailing the Chesapeake Bay. If you have any comments or suggestions on how we can improve this post or otherwise want to give us a shout, send an email to hello@bleevit.com.
