Let’s face it most of us today spend the vast majority of our time online. Whether we admit it or not most (if not everyone) of us are hooked or even addicted to our phones or tablets and can’t seem to let go.
As a business owner, you have got to think, how can I use this ‘online addiction’ to drive more customers towards my business? That’s where SEO or ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ comes in.
Good SEO ensures that your website ranks highly on a search engine and it has to because the chances of a potential customer actually clicking on the next page of a search are very slim.
To understand why SEO is so effective just think of how TV ads are used for promotional purposes. Just as ads are used for marketing a company or brand on TV, SEO does the exact same job for you online.
Encourages Engagement
Good content in any form, whether it’s a blog post, a social media update or an informative video encourages users to interact with the brand.
Now if the content is of high quality then it will also manage to hold a prospective customer’s attention thus creating a relationship with the brand.
Good content also ensures that all your customers, whether current or prospective understand the brand message better and if they identify with it then they might like, share or comment on the content
Generating New Leads Which Translates To More Sales
Good quality content ensures that more customers are exposed to your brand which then has a potential of generating new leads and greater sales.
Good content is also a more indirect way of advertising your brand. It’s less in your face like advertisements and the better the quality of the content the more engaged your customers will become about your business and the brand.
Quality content ensures that your customers are naturally engaged with your brand rather than having an obvious sales message forced upon them. It’s important to remember that producing a lot of product inspired content can overwhelm your customers and create a negative impact on your brand.
Adds Value to Your Product or Service
Content that adds value in your customer’s life is generally going to be well received as it fills a gap of information in their minds about a product or service and teaches them something new.
This value might not have a direct monetary correlation for your business but it’s vital in strengthening your relationship with the customers and helps your business model. ‘How to’ blog posts or informative videos or info graphics are ideally what you should look for when creating value added content.
Increases Traffic
Original high quality content is a great way to drive more traffic towards your website and also hold users on the site for a longer period of time. A website with limited content, for example, one with just a homepage and contact us page will suffer from high bounce rates, limited page views and very little customer engagement.
On the other hand a website with a regularly updated blog section filled with engaging content leaves a lasting impression on the user. It also encourages your customers to visit multiple pages thus increasing their interaction with the site.
Original content posted regularly with internal links (if possible) to other related content and naturally placed keywords helps a website rank high organically, thus making it ideal for SEO. Also, great original content opens doors in terms of helping you build a glowing back link profile.
This translates to better customer engagement, greater traffic and more sales. It’s precisely for these reasons that content is considered as ‘king’ when it comes to SEO.
