If you’re anything like us, you like to be informed about your marketing. Many customers have questions such as “How many customers will this bring? When can I expect to see results? What will my return on investment be?” You can build the most beautiful website in the world and still be left asking yourself: why is nobody visiting or calling me through my website?
You are not alone. Many website and small business owners find themselves asking this question. The web has become more competitive and is causing many business owners questioning the value of having a website.
Luckily, here’s the simple answer to that first question in 4 little words: nobody can find you.
You can spend a year’s worth of revenue paying a designer to build the most beautiful site on the web and still see no results. One of the best ways to increase your online traffic is through search engine optimization.
(Note: If you want more on this topic be sure to keep an eye out for our next blog entries where we’ll dive a little deeper into SEO and how design should revolve around application and utility.)
People find businesses by searching on google. Those people are your future clients and you want your name to pop up not only in their heads when they need something, but also on their internet browser when they’re looking for you. Obviously the best way you can achieve the first “pop” is to do great business and take care of your customers. The second “pop” can be a little more challenging. As people realize the benefits of online marketing, more and more set out to stake their claim on the web. Most companies that can afford traditional advertising can afford to optimize their web presence with an advanced SEO (search engine optimization) campaign. Put simply: your site now needs some energy behind it to make sure you stay visible, as you can be sure someone else in your industry is pushing their site up as well.
Ask yourself this: “Where does my site rank on Google?” If you are reading this, there is a good chance you might not know. Search Engine Optimization is a valuable part of inbound marketing and it has even caused businesses to double in size. Visibility is everything and inbound marketing is taking over. Instead of advertising to random people hoping that some will hear your message, you make it easier for the people who are looking for you to find you.
Google typically has three areas of the search results: The paid ads, the local listings, and the traditional search results. The paid section requires you to pay every time someone clicks on your ad, which can get expensive. After the paid ads come the organic search results. Here you can work to increase your ranking so that you never have to pay for another ad again. Ideally you want to come up on both the local listings and the regular search results, which will increase the changes of getting clicked on.
While ranking is important, it is also important that you optimize your meta tags properly. This is the title and text that users first see on Google when deciding what site to click on. It is important to think of a message that will get people to click. The percentage of people who click on your site is called your Click-Through-Rate (CTR). Optimizing your Meta Description is just as important as ranking when it comes to increasing traffic. You have to put yourself in your customers’ shoes to see what will attract them.
This is a basic overview of what you can do to increase your traffic. Web Chimpy can help with your SEO campaign and optimize your site. To learn more about Search Engine Optimization, keep checking our blog for new information!
