If you’re a small business, the notion of working with an SEO firm might seem intimidating, or over-ambitious. In reality, a SEO firm is just what you need to succeed. Search engine optimization campaigns are best run by those with years of experience; while you can attempt one yourself, it’s likely to be costly in both time and money, and is unlikely to produce the results that you’ve hoped for. If you want your small business on the top of every search engine page, earning you valuable customers and potential revenue, read on. Here are 7 big reasons that your small business needs an SEO firm.
Algorithms Change
Google, Bing, and other similar search engines use a variety of complex algorithms to make sure their customers see the right search results at the top of the page. These algorithms are changed extremely frequently. SEO firms are equipped to change their strategies regularly in accordance with the algorithms; if you’re not, you could miss out on a day, a week, or months of potential customers seeing your business in their search results.
Page Ranking Is Not Sales
There’s a difference between getting your site noticed and getting results from customers. Getting customers requires getting your business on the first page of search results, but that’s not enough; lots of people click but don’t buy. An SEO firm with years of experience knows not only how to get your page noticed, but how to translate those clicks into sales.
SEO is Complex
In the modern world, keyword density no longer determines search engine optimization. It takes years of intensive, real-world experience to master SEO techniques. Even SEO software (always expensive) can never take the adaptive, creative outlook to SEO that a well-trained human can.
An SEO Firm Knows Your Market
A good SEO firm has worked with dozens of businesses like yours. They not only know how to make you show up on the first page; they know what customers in your market have responded to in the past, and they know who your competition is. More importantly, they’ve seen small businesses in your niche make mistakes, and they can prevent you from doing the same.
Time Is Money
If you sink your own time and money into learning SEO, it will be a lengthy, stressful, and expensive process that will leave you little time for other ventures (like running your small business). Still worse, any wrong strategy will mean that your time has been wasted. Hiring an SEO firm means hiring a team who will get it right on the first try, saving you time and money and building your customer base.
You Can Get Penalized
When you start trying to teach yourself SEO techniques, you will make mistakes. It’s inevitable; SEO experts have been through extensive training in order to get to where they are now. Unfortunately, the mistakes you make could not only not lead to a lack increased revenue, but could actually result in your website being penalized. Search engines look for techniques like invisible text or the overuse of keywords, and if they find them, they will downgrade your website.
Analytics Matter
SEO firms use a unique blend of software tools and personal experience to create the highest possible likelihood of success for your business. Without the necessary contextual knowledge, you can stare at a page of analytics for hours with no idea what it’s telling you. SEO firms have worked to not only understand analytics but to build strategies based on them.
The right SEO firm will give you visibility on both social media and search engines, growing and then maintaining your popularity so that you can attract thousands of customers. They can do this as a result of years of experience. An SEO firm will give your small business the leg up it needs to succeed in today’s competitive atmosphere.