subject: Search Engine Optimization: Why Optimize Your Site? [print this page] Search Engine Optimization: Why Optimize Your Site?
Have you heard marketers talking about search engine optimization and wondered what all the fuss was about? Why is it so important to have an easy-to-find presence on search engines? How can it help your business? The truth is, if whether you want to sell products online or attract more customers for your brick and mortar location, obtaining a prominent ranking on search engines is extremely valuable. Here are four reasons you should be actively optimizing your web site for a better ranking today.
First off, the number of people searching the internet each and every day is staggering. Several billion searches are conducted globally each month on the top search engines. Consider the sheer size of that number. Then, realize the fact that the number is growing literally every month! The volume of people searching and the number of average searches per day an individual conducts is growing consistently. Search engines can offer a business far more exposure than they would ever get through a local print or broadcast ad.
And these are not just any consumers viewing your listing either. Think about this: if you place a print ad in a magazine or newspaper, your ad is being exposed to every single person reading it, regardless of their interest in your product or service. So you may be placing an ad in something with a circulation of hundreds of thousands of readers, but it is entirely possible none of them are interested in buying what you are selling.
The internet represents a totally different ballgame. Visitors to websites pre-qualify their interest in goods or services by conducting a search for them. Therefore, if someone sees your listing you know that he or she has at least some level of genuine interest in it, otherwise they never would have conducted the search for it.
So by getting on a top results page that relates to your product offerings, you are assuring yourself of exposure to an audience composed only of potential customers. Contrast that to the example we just looked at with the print ad. Where does it make more sense to be? The answer is clearly a search engine.
So now you understand the volume of consumers conducting searches, and you realize the power of having your listing displayed in front of motivated consumers who have qualified their own interest in your product. Getting exposure on such a platform must cost quite a lot of money, right? Actually, being listed in a search engine is free, and the steps required to optimize your site for prominent placement can either be executed on your own, at no cost, or with the consultation of a reputable agency for a fee. No matter which path you choose, any actual clicks that come to your site as a result come to you free of charge. So in essence, search engines send you free qualified traffic. That's a pretty powerful reason to get on board - who doesn't want more leads and sales, especially at a price tag of "free?"
Finally, if for some reason the aforementioned reasons haven't convinced you that you need to review your web site with search engine optimization best practices in mind, consider this: your competitors are doing it. The concept has been around long enough now that chances are good that most of your competitors have embraced this opportunity and they're probably receiving traffic, leads and sales right now as a reward for their efforts. Can you out-optimize them, improve your ranking, and earn a chance to win their customers away? Or are you content to let them beat you in this growing fountain of targeted sales opportunity? Don't let the chance pass you by; start optimizing your site for better rankings today.
