Virtually every business needs to attract new customers on an ongoing basis. And while its possible to learn how to do search engine optimization on your own, most business owners rely on staff or outside help in the form of a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) consultant.
Traditional forms or advertising still work in some cases, but for the most part not as well as they once did.
Newspapers are dying.
Television viewership is spread across way more channels, and a significant portion of people Tivo away the commercials.
And if Newspapers are dying, the Yellow Pages are in hospice care. All but dead.
Today you need traffic, and the main way to get it is by being easily found online. And found by the right people.
A billboard advertising season tickets for the Minnesota Vikings in Downtown Green Bay, may get seen by tens of thousands of Packer Fans, but will result in relatively few ticket sales compared to the same billboard in Minneapolis.
And that is why it is essential to target your advertising. And that is what an SEO consultant can do for you and your business.
You see it’s not just about getting the top ranking on Google that matters. It’s getting the top ranking on the specific keywords that matter to active buyers who want your goods or services.
Now it’s one thing to have visitors see your site, it’s another to get them to take action right then and there.
While compelling copy may help, the long term key is to find a way to capture the emails of those who do come to your site, so you can keep in touch with them.
A search engine optimization consultant will help you with each of these tasks. They will help you attract the right viewers by focusing your efforts on the keywords that matter most to your prospects.
Then they will set up your page, including critical elements of the hidden code that operates behind the scenes of your page.
A lot of factors go into the algorithms that the search engines use to decide who goes on top and who follows and in what order. There may be as many as 200+ distinct factors, and they are changing constantly.
A knowledgeable SEO consultant keeps as up to date as possible on the changes in these factors. However, for the most part basic key criteria remain fairly constant. That said, things do change and you need to be prepared to face the fact that Search Engine Optimization is not a one time thing, but an ongoing process.
Your web designer may well have told you that they optimized your site for you, but only part of what is required is based on what is on your page. In addition to off page factors which in some circumstances can trump even the best designed page, you need to be aware that your competitors are also getting calls every day form SEO consultants.
When they start making improvement to their sites, your site loses relative standing. Today’s top ranking can easily become a second page ranking, if you do not keep up with SEO on an ongoing basis.
Now this is not much different that in the old days when you needed to pay for advertising on an ongoing basis. The difference is merely that these days you need to be investing your marketing funds into the features that are most likely to be seen by your prospective customers. That means, you need to invest in your search engine visibility.
That visibility can take on many different forms as the internet continues to evolve. Unless you are in a position to keep up with all the changes yourself, you really have no serious option to developing an ongoing relationship with a qualified search engine optimization consultant.
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Search Engine Optimization Basics