More than a decade ago when the Internet really started to explode it was important for businesses to take advantage of the growing online marketplace. At the time just having a website was all it took to be on the leading edge of online marketing.
Times have changed, almost everyone is on the Internet with a website or blog. Just being online no longer draws the traffic it once did. What can you do to keep that edge over the multitude of one-click options the web user can access? Search Engine Optimization is the short answer.
What is Search Engine Optimization?
It’s important to understand what something is before you describe why it’s important.
Search Engine Optimization, otherwise known as SEO, is the process of optimizing or increasing how easily a search engine such as Google or Yahoo can find your website and it’s content. The easier your site is to find the more traffic your site will collect. If your website is set up properly those extra clicks and bits of traffic will convert into extra business.
How SEO Works for Business
SEO can be a complicated topic if you don’t know industry terminology or popular technical terms. Let’s equate SEO to something everyone can understand. Then we’ll all be on the same page.
Back before the Internet, a business relied largely on it’s storefront for foot traffic. You’ve heard it before – it was all about location, location, location. Positioning a business on the side of a busy street or highway would be a guaranteed recipe for success. Pedestrian and vehicle traffic would eventually stop when they were in the market for your product. Seeing your business on a regular basis increased awareness, and more importantly, sales.
Conversely, a business on a country road had to compete hard for their slice of the pie. How could they ever hope to keep their doors open if no one ever saw their business or if it took longer to get there?
SEO works for your online business in much the same way that a major highway increases foot traffic. The proper SEO tactics get viewers to your website. Good site structure, easy navigation, helpful resources and an online strategy is all you need to convert that traffic into sales.
SEO puts your business on the main search highways of the Internet. ‘Web surfers’ will stop in to see your site, eventually clicking through your online storefront and changing from a prospect to a lead to a sale. On the web it’s not location, location, location but SEO, SEO, SEO!
Canopy Media’s SEO programs can help any business set up shop on the Internet’s busiest highways and traffic lanes. Don’t sell from back alleys. Let Canopy Media put your business on the Internet’s main street.
