SEO, or ‘search engine optimisation’ is fast becoming one of the most important marketing and lead generation channels for businesses across the UK and the wider world. With more and more businesses recognising the power of the likes of Google, Bing, Yahoo and increasingly, the Chinese equivalent, Baidu, generating leads by way of online search engines in more powerful than ever.
There are more than a few benefits to both marketing your brand or business online via SEO, as well as pushing and optimising your website for products and services you offer and sell online via this incredibly powerful channel. Whether you are selling Juice Cleanses in the UK, furniture or something else, absolutely anything and every service and product has a place online in the world of SEO and search engine marketing.
Targeting What Works
Unlike many forms of traditional advertising, such as TV, Radio and Billboard advertising, featuring your offering, be it a service or product online and via search engines allows you to hone in on your ideal and target audiences. For example, if you are selling car insurance, you will want relevant people, your captive audience to see your offering by way of your website. Hence, you will target keywords and search terms relating to cars, driving and vehicles.
However, not only can you target your intended audience, but you can (to an extent) tailor what the search engine in question actually presents to them. For example, a particular type of product is likely to have its own dedicated ‘landing page,’ which is a page designed to rank for specific terms, targeting precisely who you are looking to present your website’s offering to.
Lower Costs and Greater Return on Investment
It is no secret that advertising in a primetime TV or radio advertising slot can cost you many thousands, sometimes even tens or hundreds of thousands of Pounds. However, when it comes to SEO and search engine marketing, the costs are significantly cheaper. Even in competitive industries such as loans, mortgages and insurance, you will spend far less than you would for an equivalent campaign via another traditional channel. With SEO, you are only likely to need to pay for:
- An SEO consultant (usually charged by the hour)
- Website hosting
- Website design (unless you can do this yourself)
- Any required website development
Moreover, when it comes to SEO, because you are targeting almost precisely who you want to and because you have paid far less to expose yourself to these audiences, your return on investment (ROI) will be much less than for other channels. This in turn means that your cost per acquisition (CPA) per client is significantly lower.
Anyone Can Do It
Unlike many other marketing channels, there is no exclusivity with SEO. This is because who ranks and is found where, is determined by algorithms rather than decision making people in offices. This means that a new business in reality has as much chance of succeeding online with the right work, as a multi-million Pound corporation does.