Search engine optimisation (SEO), can provide many benefits for SME businesses looking for a cost-effective way of gaining increased enquiries and sales.
SEO is about balancing improved search engine ranking results with an enhanced website user experience. If the people who visit your website find it easy to find right information, services or products that they are looking for then search engines such as Google will recognise this and will be more favourable towards your website when determining where it should appear in its search results. This means that a great-looking, user-friendly website that’s backed-up by a good-quality SEO strategy is a really effective way to increase your market share.
Websites that have been designed with usability in-mind will be also be fast to load, easy to navigate and mobile-friendly so they can be viewed on anything from a smart phone, tablet or desk-top computer. By doing everything you can to encourage potential customers to visit your site and stay on your website for longer and this will, in turn, translate into higher conversion rates – in other words visitors becoming actual customers.
A carefully considered SEO strategy will work hard to help to raise your brand awareness. Potential consumers are more likely to trust a brand or company name that they find at the top of search engine results – no matter how good your products or services, customers are less likely to do business with you if your website is buried way down on page five on Google.
If you’re not investing in good quality SEO there’s a strong chance that your business could end up losing business to the competition. Whilst this might sound alarmist, there’s no doubt that professional SEO strategy can offer a whole range of marketing benefits to your small or medium sized business.
Whether you want to expand your national market or are simply keen to strengthen a local customer base, your business should be using SEO as a significant part of your online marketing to maximise return on investment.
Article by Gareth Lisle
Gareth runs Bluehoop Digital and is an expert in website development and search engine marketing. Visit www.bluehoop.co.uk to find out more
