Forget all the buzzwords going around – I want to be real with you.
People all over the world rely on popular search engines like Google and Bing to find the information they need. Whether they’re looking to stock up on cat food, want to hire a new plumber, or are just arguing over whether an actor was in “that movie”… the value of search engines is undeniable. Equally as undeniable is the huge demand for businesses to rank for some of these keywords.
The Overwhelming Benefits of SEO
Having your website appear for common keywords your potential customers are likely to use means free, high-quality lead generation.
Naturally, this lucrative digital real estate will be sought after… and as with anything else, businesses look for shortcuts to cut costs.
This heavy competition (and the impact from businesses using shortcuts) forces Google to implement changes to their algorithms to ensure their users are finding the information they’re looking for. This creates a never-ending cycle of Google and websites adapting to each other.
But I’ll be honest… SEO isn’t for everyone. But it is for most businesses.
The first thing you’ll want to consider is whether or not you think your business can largely benefit from SEO. And if that answer is yes…
Why Wait?
If you’ve determined that SEO is right for your business, you’re only hurting yourself by waiting. Every month you neglect your SEO efforts, your competitors are getting ahead, which will make catching up even more difficult by the month.
If that sounds dramatic, let me break down a few things for you.
Developing a Keyword Strategy
This is where many SEO strategies stem from… but it’s anything from being a “one and done” kind of thing. This is because keyword strategies are always evolving to best conform to search algorithm updates.
But that’s far from the only thing to consider because aside from pivoting your strategy, you’ll also want to expand the strategic keywords you’re going after over time. The longer you do this, the more potential keywords your website can rank for, thus creating more possibilities for new business.
Creating Valuable Content
As part of ranking for new keywords comes ways to… rank for those keywords. You can’t pull great, relevant content out of a hat (and if you can we may have a job for you). But seriously, Google has prioritized quality content for a long time now, trying to ensure that people using their search engine are finding valuable information they’re looking for in the form of quality content.
Building Link Equity
Another vital part of SEO is your website’s Domain Authority. This is how Google determines your “authority” or credibility in your respective area of expertise. To understand how this works, let me introduce you to what a backlink is and does. A backlink is a clickable string of words that brings you from one web page to another. In Google’s eyes, one website linking to another website is like an endorsement. After all, would you link to a website whose word you don’t trust?
Google takes this information to determine your website’s online credibility. The amount of websites linking to you, as well as (and more importantly) the quality of the websites linking to you determines just how credible your website will be seen.
I’ll be frank with you. People don’t just serve out links like they grow on trees. Think of it like this, if websites just threw links around like nothing, would they be valuable? Of course not! So considering the scarcity of quality links, understand that it takes a bit of time to build a solid backlink profile (your collection of inbound backlinks). Naturally, this means that the sooner you start building quality backlinks, the better your website and search rankings will be!
Wrapping Up
What does this all mean?
SEO isn’t necessarily for all kinds of businesses, but it is for most and if you’re considering leveraging it for growth, you’re only hurting yourself by waiting. The truth is, everything from keyword strategy to content development and, link building, and everything in between are tedious, long-term investments that require lots of time. So the longer you wait on investing in SEO, the more of a “head start” you’re giving to your competitors.
Are you ready to finally put your website on a one-way track to online prosperity?
Then contact the experts at Active Web Group! With decades of combined experience getting our clients to the top of the SERPs, it’s no wonder why we’re seen as a top Long Island SEO company! We have an in-house team chock full of strategists, writers, and builders who can get your website to rank for the keywords your future customers will be searching for. If you can’t wait, give us a call today at 631-846-2063.
