Most small business owners welcome every opportunity to improve a product, service and of course increase the stream of revenue. If you’re one of these people and are on the fence about how to reach the next level, you’re in the right place. The benefits of SEO for small businesses have grown exponentially in a very short period of time. Developing a strong marketing plan for your business has without a doubt come to include SEO as a way to secure a massive opportunity for growth.
What is SEO?
Before we get into the benefits of SEO, it’s important you understand what it is and what it does. SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is the process of improving the quality of web pages and websites so that they appear at the top of the search results.
The results of SEO services
The term “SEO services” is an umbrella term for many different efforts that result in websites that generate targeted traffic. SEO services focus on developing web pages that communicate to search engines the relevance of the page content in relation to keywords, key phrases and topics being used in searches.
Software showing keyword statistics that have value to a roofing company in Plano, Texas
Pages are optimized to target specific keywords and phrases valuable to businesses. These target keywords are the very same search terms that potential clients are using to find the products and services they offer. This equates to a long list of the benefits that SEO offers.
SEO increases the visibility of your business
This year the average US business dropped their marketing budgets down from 11%-6.4% in 2021. It’s recommended that B2B businesses spend between 2-5% of total revenue and B2C businesses a lot between 5-10% on their marketing budgets. Why? Growth! You need to keep new clients coming into your business to maintain growth. SEO increases the visibility of your company so you can maintain steady growth.
Improve your local presence
One of the biggest assets of having a strong SEO strategy is that it works on your local presence. More than 40% of searches performed on Google are made to find information on a local business. Whether that be for products, services, showtimes directions, etc. This makes local SEO extremely valuable for local businesses. A quality SEO campaign will include optimizing your Google My Business profile so that you appear in local searches. The goal is to appear in the “Snack Pack” which is the first three positions in Google maps that are shown on the first page of Google.
Additionally, your site is listed in local directories and citations that are popular or relevant to your business. This not only creates multiple entry points to your website but also improves your ranking in Google maps.
This focus on local presence increases the frequency your website appears for searches in your city or service area. For many businesses, this investment creates an explosion of traffic from the increased visibility of their website.
SEO increases the quality of leads your business generates
Let’s get right to the point. When you invest in a marketing strategy you want it to be effective at generating more clients. SEO dips into one of the biggest sources for leads and quality traffic: Google organic search results.
Think about it.
When someone wants to find a place close to him or her for a product or service what do they do? They whip out their phone and do a search to find it. SEO puts your website on the first page of search results for the people that are looking for your product or service.
SEO targets a specific audience
SEO puts your website in a position to receive traffic from people that are specifically searching for your business. Inbound marketing is proven to have a much higher conversion rate than disruptive marketing (pop-ups, commercials, or any ads that “disrupt” what you’re doing and try to grab your attention). In fact, the average conversion rate of organic search averages somewhere around 13%, which is 6 times higher than disruptive advertising.
Imagine investing in an advertisement that puts your company on a bench at the bus stop. Sure, you’re going to get a lot of people looking at your ad but how many of those people will actually be interested? You’re marketing to a broad, unfocused audience.
An SEO campaign identifies the keywords that your ideal clients are using in searches. The people that land on your site from these keywords are much more likely to become clients because they are already focused on finding EXACTLY what you’re offering.
SEO increases the total revenue of your business
It shouldn’t be a surprise that with more website traffic, comes more leads. The more leads you receive, the more revenue you’re going to generate. SEO is a digital marketing strategy that produces an excellent ROI. The best part is that SEO results have a compounding effect over time.
Compounding results
The content that you produce today will typically continue to gain traction over the course of a period of time. Once your website has reached the first page of results for a keyword, you can target new terms and phrases to continue your growth.
As you continually rank for new keywords, your site gains more authority and credibility with search engines. It generally becomes easier to rank for keywords once you’ve established your business website as an authority in your industry.
You can see the compounding growth time and time again with many of our clients. Here’s an example of a paintless dent repair technician who invested in SEO for one year. The industry is fairly uncompetitive and the results snowballed with year over year gains of over 270% in organic traffic.
This Texas-based waste management company opened in 2017. In 2021 they decided to invest in a new website and SEO program. Here are the results after TWO MONTHS.
SEO makes your business more credible
People trust search engines to filter out the garbage on the first page of results. People rarely get to the second or third page of search results. When you can rank your website to the first page, it boosts the credibility your business has in your industry.
Familiarity breeds trust
In many situations, you’ll find the same websites ranking in the top spots on Google. This is because they obviously are trusted websites and have information that is relevant to your keywords search. If you search for any information that’s health-related, you’re going to find webmd.com somewhere on the first page almost every single time.
It’s fair to say that when your website consistently appears in keyword searches related to your industry, you become more familiar with people. Familiarity builds trust and gives people more confidence in your business.
SEO lowers CPA and increases total ROI
When your website ranks in top positions the flow of traffic never stops. Unlike Google Ads, where the traffic stops as soon as you stop paying, ranking content will continue to drive traffic for as long as it’s relevant. This means that no matter what time it is, no matter where anyone is located, you will always be generating a flow of traffic from the keywords your website ranks for on the first page of search results.
When you have “free” traffic it continually lowers your cost per acquisition. When your initial investment in ranking a specific page ends, the leads will continue to flow indefinitely. This increases your overall ROI, which is one of the reasons SEO is an attractive investment.
Start making more money today with an SEO strategy
If you haven’t developed an SEO strategy, it’s high time you started. Search engines are without a doubt one of the most bountiful sources of lead generation to date. Get your company in a position to take advantage of the benefits of SEO for small businesses.
Schedule your free consultation today. Learn what opportunities for new business are waiting for you just around the corner.
Christian Carere heads the SEO team here at Austin Bryant Consulting. After building an SEO agency in Toronto (Digital Ducats Inc.) Christian was hired by founder Keith Hunn who has created a full-service digital marketing agency in Plano, TX. Christian has been published on Search Engine Watch, Venngage, Small Biz Daily, Grasshopper, Data Box, Socialnomics, and Mention.