We get a lot of companies asking how quickly they’ll see growth in their business from increasing (or finally paying attention to…) search engine optimization (SEO). Of course, it’s a bummer when we have to tell them anything from 6 months to a year.
“We want returns now! Next week!…THIS YEAR! We don’t want to cross our fingers and hope that a large investment in marketing will pay off sometime next year”…(insert crying face emoji)
We hear you! We want that for you too, but this slow creeping towards internet fame we’re doing here is exactly what you need for LONG TERM growth and sustainability, not just a boost in sales for a fiscal quarter or two.
You Should Be Investing In Long-Term, Continuous Web Marketing
When money can be spent on new equipment, purchasing more product, adding to your sales team, attending seminars and continuing education, why should you spend it on SEO services and back end tinkering on your website?
Answer: Because every month you wait to get started, your competition is creeping exponentially further ahead of you in the online market. SEO is a growing and ever evolving marketing technique – the kind that you can’t avoid – and if you do, you’re screwed.
When we first take over a website, we do some serious number crunching and web analytics to see how present your website actually is – meaning, we want to know if Google or other search engines value you or not. If they don’t value you, they won’t recommend you to their clients – internet users.
Think of every time you’ve ever searched for ANYTHING in the Google search bar. According to the web (which I searched on Google), Google processes 3.5 billion search queries every. single. day. When I call my mom for a recipe, you know what she says? “I don’t know, Google it.” My own mother says this.
Now I want you to recall any time you’ve searched through the multiple search page results Google shows you. Can you recall? If you can, I’d bet money that you can count on ONE hand how many times you’ve done it. If you’re like me, you check page 1, then maybe 2, and perhaps even page 3 of the search results only to go back to page 1 and use one of the results near the top.
We all Google what we want to know – recipes, directions, how-to’s, DIY’s, the weird sound your car made earlier, mechanics, flu symptoms, coupons… you name it. SEO is a new and growing channel for marketing. Billboards and radio ads are still super effective, but once someone sees your billboard or hears your radio ad, they’re going to Google you and you better be there.
If you choose to not optimize your website, you will fall behind your competitors who do optimize their site. If your competitor starts optimizing this month and you wait until next year, you will be paying much more to spend a lot more time optimizing so you can catch up.
Guaranteed.
<h2> SEO Starts In The Back End </h2>
When it comes to optimizing your site, the most time and cost effective way to do this is by building your site with SEO in mind from the beginning. We are constantly taking over business’ websites and having to give them the bad news that (though their site looks super pretty) their web developer knew nothing about optimization and they’re better off doing a total rebuild.
Google finds value in your website based on your content. They send out little Google bots that crawl all over the code on your pages, taking notes and categorizing your content so they can quickly refer to you (or not) when someone searches for something related to your niche. For example: If you have a beautiful website that’s clean, crisp, and “minimalist” you’re most likely missing out on opportunities (basic text) to say to Google, “Hey! Look at me! I’m clearly, and very reliably, a great resource for Antiquities and Furniture Restoration!” Whereas your competitor’s site with detailed product descriptions, educational information, resources, and an ever growing blog screams “award-winning website” and money-maker for any search engine.
This is a very, very basic example. SEO gets loads more complex but once you start to get the idea, it all makes a lot of sense why you should have started funneling money here years ago.
Building your website with SEO in mind doesn’t have to take away from the aesthetic appeal of your site. It’s more concerned with the back end and the way you’re labeling all the little bits and pieces. SEO practices help your website to very clearly display to Google what you’re all about so he doesn’t get confused and show your quilting blog to someone looking for a reliable gun safe. Even more than that, SEO helps Google to see your value so he shows you to anyone who may be looking for quilts, quilting tutorials, quilting materials, quilting fairs, or any dang thing remotely related to quilting – because they totally get what you’re all about, thanks to your immaculate use of title tags, linking strategy, and content sharing.
SEO and Digital Marketing Both Require A Daily & Long-Term Time Commitment
It’s not a one-and-done kind of deal. If you stop working at it, it will go away. It’s like exercising, dating, or heck…lawn care. You can’t expect to mow your lawn once and have it look good forever, or even in a month. It’s something you have to put effort into again, and again, and again on a very regular basis. But it’s totally worth it!
Once your back end is all tidy and formatted correctly, your front end needs constant love and attention. Every time you update your website, you give Google another reason to come and take a look at your content. This shows Google that you’re staying current and growing. This is one reason why so many people are adding blogs to their company pages. A blog is an easy way to constantly update your website. Static pages, outreach, social networking and infographic creation are all ways to improve and regularly update your website.
Digital marketing is a really fun and creative business, but it takes large investments of time. This is why we do what we do, because:
1) you don’t have time to
2) this is where we get our jollies
We get excited and have little parties when we get another website to publish our content, when we see an increase in web traffic, when we see encouraging results from months of beta testing… increasing your rankings, and therefore your web traffic, takes time and lots of little tweaks in your game plan.
Search Engines are Smart and They Aren’t Going to Rank You Higher Than Someone With Better Content
The bottom line to all of this is that Google is a business and they provide a service. If you search for a good hairdresser in LA and Google tries to show you a barber in Montana or wig makers in Chicago, you’d switch to a new search engine.
They do an excellent job of showing results you actually want to use. So if you want to rank on page 1 search results – boosting your traffic and increasing your sales – you have to be better than the chumps on page 2.
SEO Agencies Like Voxxy Take Care of The Stuff You Don’t Have Time For…
We have an entire team of writers, marketers, social outreach specialists, account managers, developers, graphic designers and more that do just the SEO and digital marketing side of your business. It takes us hours a day, every day to stay current on trending issues, niche specific keyword research, outreach, and content creation. It has come to a point where outsources this kind of marketing is a necessity to keep up with the rapid evolution of search engine technology.
One of the ways we’ve evolved as a company in the last year has been a gravitation towards Google Adwords (paid marketing campaigns). Ads are everywhere on Google search result pages and they’re a great way to speed up those results you’re itching to see from all your (our) hard SEO work.
We’re constantly evolving with the ever-changing internet marketing game and that’s half of the fun. Our innovative minds work together to produce results for our clients. Our creativity gets put to use and our hands get put to work. If your website isn’t where it should be – like on the first page of Google search results –give us a call.
