What Is SEO & Why Is It So Important?

SEO a.k.a. Search Engine Optimization is an important asset to any business and it is something that business owners all over the world are looking into doing for their websites. Not only is it helpful to get more business now during this economy, but it is almost necessary nowadays to have an online presence just to survive as a business! Although SEO can be a confusing subject at first, it is still crucial to educate yourself about it now and jump on the bandwagon now because it is an asset that no business should ignore.

What is SEO?

SEO is the term used for optimizing a website so that it shows up on the search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, Etc) when someone searches for a keyword phrase that is related to their website. If you have a website that is for a Chinese Restaurant in Chicago, you would certainly want your site to show up when people search for “Chinese restaurants in Chicago” or anything related, right?

If your website isn’t there, then your competitors’ websites will surely be there and then you can lose out on the traffic and therefore lose money. Why leave money on the table when such a HUGE share of the market is searching the internet to find practically everything they need? And why hand over the targeted traffic to your competitor?

There are a couple of ways to show up on the first several pages of Google, Yahoo, etc. One of those ways is to do “Pay Per Click” advertising where the business owner pays Google every time someone clicks on their websites listing. This allows them to show up on the first page (depending on how much they’re willing to spend) but it can be extraordinarily expensive and in many cases not profitable. Also, many people prefer to not click on the results that they know are “paid for” and “sponsored” ads.

The more desirable way to rank in the search engines is to rank “organically” or naturally, without paying for any clicks and without paying a dime anytime someone clicks on your search result. This results in a long term stream of “laser targeted” traffic to your website (since the only people who find your site are searching for something related to it) which will turn into leads and eventually customers. Remember: Traffic = Money!

This is accomplished by optimizing your website for certain keyword phrases that have been proven to have a decent search volume, building incoming links to your website, formulating the proper META tags and making sure you have clean HTML code, etc. It will take hiring an SEO specialist to come and give you a consultation as to what your site needs and what it already has, as well as if there is anything you may be doing wrong that is penalizing you or preventing you from showing up on Google, Yahoo, etc.

SEO is a long term investment with astonishing results and ROI’s. It is also necessary for any business — large or small — to invest in having a presence on the internet as well as other internet marketing services including SEO, article marketing, link building, social media marketing, blogging and more. Simply look up a local SEO person in your town or city and ask them to give you a consultation or a basic rundown of what you need to do to your website to make it work for you and make you more money.

By making your website more search engine friendly you will be ensuring long term success for your business.