So what does SEO mean anyways? It means Search Engine Optimization or in simple terms, online marketing geared towards “organic" search results for sites like Google. More specifically, getting your company or product to show up on the first page of sites like Google when customers are searching for businesses or products in your field or subject area.
Why is SEO important for your business or organization? This is because it translates marketing into paying customers more effectively than almost any other marketing technique. Inbound leads like SEO cost 61% less, and have a 14.6% closing rate versus a 1.7% closing rate for outbound leads like telemarketing and direct mail campaigns. And being on this first page of the search results for a given subject area seems like a priority when the statistics show, 75% of search engine users never scroll past the first page. And earlier I used the term “organic”, in this case the word means the search results that come up in the center of the page, not the paid ads on the top or side of the search engine page. And as you might of guessed, potential customers are more likely, 75% more likely, to click on the “organic” results than the paid ones. So now you have a bit of understanding of what SEO is and why it is important, now let us get into how it works.
-70% of the links search users click on are organic.
-70-80% of users ignore the paid ads, focusing on the organic results.
-75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results.
-Companies that blog have 434% more indexed pages. And companies with more indexed pages get far more leads.
-Inbound leads cost 61% lower than outbound leads. An example of an inbound lead might be from search engine optimization. An outbound lead might be from a cold call.
-SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising) have a 1.7% close rate.
Google is one of the top companies in the world and has some of the best minds working for them, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that their algorithm that ranks web pages when you search for something is well, complicated. There are over 400 different factors that go into creating their algorithm and it changes every 3 or so months. Now some people out there, who claim to be SEO experts, will “claim" to know all of the Google tricks and be ahead of the curve whenever the new algorithm comes out each quarter, but I am not one of those people. I look at SEO from a much more basic standpoint, I look at it as simple marketing and business logic.
Simply put, Google and companies alike, want to have the best product possible for their customers. Their product is, when you search for something on the internet, that the most relevant sites will show up in ascending order. So, it is then your goal to become relevant in the eyes of Google, and the question is how do you do that. First you want to have as much content (blogs, articles, web pages) focused on what you do and your subject area as possible, the more information you put out there explaining what you do and how it relates to it’s specific field being searched for the better. Second, you want other websites talking about your site, making it more relevant and important, like they say “any press is good press.” Third, you want to have at least one YouTube video on your site discussing what you do, because a few years ago Google bought Youtube and common knowledge would lead us to understanding they want to promote their new investment. Next we want your website to be keyword optimized, meaning we want all the words that best describe what you do and where or who your customer are to be consistent and in multiple places. And the last areas of main focus, are making sure you are listed on every search engine database, and have a solid social media campaign for your business or organization. There are other areas of focus, but these are the main ones I focus and stress on.
Now I want to let you in on my secret and what makes me different from most other SEO experts out there, I do not do any work that you could not do yourself. Most SEO experts will make you feel like their work is so complex and difficult, that only they and thousand of dollars can make results happen for you, but my goal is to show you that you can do this work and understand it, and that the only reason you may need me is because you are busy running your business and may not have the proper time needed.
So what I do as an SEO expert and business is create the content for my clients. I do this by writing blogs and articles about your business or product(s), linking you to other relevant websites, create a social media campaign, optimizing your website, entering you into search engine databases, and helping you create a YouTube video on what you do. I can do all of this packaged together, a mix of any or just one of the above options. My goal is to become your online marketer and help bring you customers even while you are asleep! All of our online work is viewable 24/7 to a potential audience of over 1 billion…SEO work is important to your business and so is selecting your SEO expert, I hope I have aided you in that journey.
I am Cody Adams with White Rabbit SEO, “no tricks, just marketing magic!”
Thank you for your time and watch out for more videos as I go more in depth for those of you wanting to do this work on your own.