5 Reasons Why It’s Never Too Late To Start An SEO Strategy

Search engines have evolved from simply focusing on keywords. Many of the authority sites in each industry have years behind them, and bumping them off the top pages can be a real struggle. It’s not surprising so many people wonder if it’s even worth diving into SEO, when the mountain to climb to the top rankings has grown so high. 

If you feel like this, you’re not alone. There are hundreds of business owners that have yet to take their business online or are a new business and wonder how they’re ever going to make an impact online when it seems like their competitors have a monopoly. 

Fortunately, SEOis a large part of that answer, and it is absolutely still worth doing. It’snever too late to start SEO, and if you stick with it and do it right,you can even knock your competitors off the top spot. 

So, why is SEOmore important than ever for your business? 

1.  Search engines are the first stop when they need something 

If you are aftera product or service but don’t have a particular supplier in mind, you arelikely do one of two things: 

1. You make a note to Google itlater, or 
2. You Google it there andthen. 

Either way,you’re going to open your browser at some point to search. Unless you know afriend who can help, you’re going to head online first, especially if you wantto know what’s possible immediately. 

If your businessis online and if you’re not either doing SEO or doing targeted Google ads,you’re not going to even be considered. If you want to increase your onlinecustomer acquisition, then you need to be doing SEO. 

2. We’re living in a different world 

Gone are the daysof calling a friend, a society, or grabbing a yellow pages to look up what youneed. But it goes further than that now, in 2020 and beyond, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. And while we all hope to return to our “normal” world in thenear future, it’s likely a few things are going to stick around. Namely: 

• The ability to make contact with someone online 
• Contactless purchase and pick-up or drop-off 
• Ordering things online wetypically wouldn’t have before. 

We are a societythat thrives on instant gratification and convenience. The pandemic has forcedmany businesses to operate in a way that offers more customers this kind ofservice, and so it’s going to stick around through 2021 and beyond. 

If you’re in an industry that has largely moved to online booking or purchase, you’re going to miss out on sales if you don’t capitalise on the benefits of SEO. 63% of marketers believe SEO is more important during the pandemic, and it’s likely that the remaining 37% think that it’s just as important as it was before. If you can make life easier for your customers before your competitors, even better.

3. People search more honestly that they’ll often share with others 

You solveproblems for other people, and it’s fair to say that your customers are goingto Google their questions more honestly than they’d be willing to share withthose they work with, or perhaps even with you over the phone. If a newcustomer finds you while they’re looking for an answer to a question that makesthem feel vulnerable, you’re going to develop trust much more quickly than youotherwise would. 

SEO gives you theopportunity to be there for your customers when they feel vulnerable and arestruggling. You can pick out the questions and keywords your customers aresearching for answers with, and answer them. We are often alone at home as wework, and many businesses will continue to work from home once the pandemic haspassed. This gives you the opportunity to be there for your customers when theyfeel alone. 

4. SEO doesn’t have to break the bank 

The pandemic hasboosted some businesses, and crippled others. If you’ve had to operate on tightmargins, either because you’ve been directly affected or because the majorityof your clients have, then you’re likely looking for ways to market that fitsinto your budget. 

The good news isthat having an effective SEO strategy doesn’t have to cost the Earth. Paidadvertising certainly has its place, and can be just what you need if you’replanning a targeted campaign, but if you’re new to the online space or plan todo the majority of the work yourself, SEO is where to put your money. With SEO,you’re not going to have to spend money learning how to get it right. Youeither do it yourself and learn as you go, or pay experts who can help you getit right the first time. 

5. You can get invaluable data on your customers 

You can do basicSEO without using analytics tools, but if you’re going to be serious about yourSEO strategy, then using free analytics tools will not only help you see whatyou’re doing right, but it will give you data on your customers which you canuse to better hone your SEO strategy. 

While it’s likelyyou already have an ideal customer profile (ICP), affordable analytics toolsare getting more sophisticated, allowing you to see if the people you’retargeting are the people visiting your site. If everything is aligned, thenyour content is resonating with your audience and if your CTAs(calls-to-action) and offers are right, you’ll have a good stream of leads orproducts. 

However, if yourdata is telling you the people visiting your site aren’t the same as your idealcustomer profile, then you’ll have to consider where things are out ofalignment. Are you writing content your ICP isn’t actually interested in? Or,if you are getting sales and happy customers you love working with, do you needto rethink your ICP? 

Data is bigbusiness nowadays, and this is only going to increase in the years and decadesto come. The sweet spot you should be aiming for (and the one that will helpyou outperform your competition) is to find the intersection between the dataand your human, personalised service. SEO can help you do that from the momentthey see your link in the results on a search engine. 

The important thing to remember if you feel overwhelmed by SEO and getting started is that you aren’t behind, and you don’t have to “catch up”, but you also shouldn’t discount it’s importance. If you need support in moving your business online, or have an existing website that simply isn’t pulling it’s weight, we can help. If you’ve got an existing site, we’ll be happy to provide you with a Free SEO audit, to tell you what you’re doing right and wrong. Start your audit here. We also provide SEO packages for those looking for hands-on help, but if you simply want to learn more, see our blog for more content that will help you start seeing results from your SEO efforts.

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