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The Heuristic Traps of Website Rankings: Do I Really Need SEO?
The Heuristic Traps of Website Rankings: Do I Really Need SEO?
Our ever-evolving digital landscape has led businesses to believe that bigger budgets are essential to achieve any form of marketing success. From video marketing across social media to costly influencer or e-mail campaigns, while these channels can deliver valuable results, they come at a cost that is unachievable for most. So, what if I told you that there’s a low-budget marketing tactic you can try that’s affordable, efficient and grows with your brand? Welcome to the world of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
If you’ve heard of SEO then it’s likely for one of two reasons. The first is that it’s an invaluable asset for any business, the second is the opposite; that SEO is a ‘heruristic trap’, a marketing strategy that provides a grossly misleading result. The simple truth is that SEO can offer value to all businesses, but it isn’t a magic button that transforms your business after months of optimisations. It’s a long-term strategy that grows with your brand, and the results can be lasting.
With a variety of campaigns on the market for SEO, from low-budget to large retainers, the price-range is in your hands. So, if you’re keen to learn more about the assets of SEO and how this digital marketing campaign can organically grow your business, simply keep reading…
What is SEO, and why is it so important?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, which describes the process that gets your website ranking on Google. This doesn’t just imply that people search your brand name and your website shows up in the search results, it means that when potential customers search for any relevant products or services that you offer, your website will appear.
Through extensive keyword strategies, technical fixes and backlink campaigns, SEO professionals work to ensure that the end result of your campaign delivers growth in your brand awareness, an increase in organic traffic and a boost in your conversions. For this reason, the importance of SEO lies within the results it can deliver.
In a climate where advertisements rule the world, you’re probably wondering “what’s the point in SEO when I can just pay to feature on the first-page of Google?”. Unlike PPC or other ad campaigns, SEO focuses on an organic, project-orientated route. This means that the results are long-lasting, and your traffic and keyword rankings don’t disappear overnight if your budget runs out.
Using a well-rounded strategy, your organic search campaign will see that your website is optimised with high-quality content and improvements that targets a range of different keywords. While SEO does not deliver the same instant achievements as ads, it does contribute towards growing and maintaining your business conversions for the long-term.
Can a business survive without SEO?
The simple answer is no. If you’re not ranking for your businesses leading transactional keywords, products or services, then you can guarantee that your competitors are. Without SEO, you’re quite literally giving your competitors the advantage to attract new customers, make more money, and grow their brand awareness as the industry leaders, meaning that your company will fall behind.
“My customers pick up the phone, they don’t go online to find us…”
One of the most common concerns that SEO professionals face is concept from business owners that their customers ‘are not online’. It’s true that some industries can benefit from business SEO more than others, but where there’s even a small keyword volume, there’s potential.
Take the Building Industry, for example. For large projects or orders, customers will typically contact the business directly and send over design drawings for a quote, before proceeding with an order. When these companies are on the hunt for new enquiries, their main marketing method is using software to discover new projects and contacting the relevant person by phone to offer their services. But what if SEO could offer the convenience of generating new enquiries on their website for those in the industry who are actively searching online for the services you offer?
This is what digital marketing professionals can deliver as the end result, even for those industries where the search volume appears low. The simple truth is that the internet is used primarily for searching, or finding information, quickly and conveniently. There will always be someone looking for what your business has to offer, and it’s important that your listing appears first.
At Vivid Creative, our SEO experts will provide you with a detailed proposal that specifies the search volume of your relevant keywords. While all websites can benefit from SEO, our professionals can agree that you might not need a vigorous SEO campaign. In some cases, a small-budget campaign can suffice and still successfully achieve results for your business.
When is the right time to begin investing in website SEO services?
So, if you’re considering a marketing budget to get your website ranking on search engines, how do you know when the time is right? The digital marketing experts at Vivid Creative insist that you can never invest in SEO too early, but you can begin investing in SEO when it’s too late. The answer depends entirely on whether your business is ready to make a long-term investment to focus on growth. The sooner your website begins the optimisation process, the sooner you will see results and eventually generate a Return on Investment (ROI) from your organic performance.
However, if your business is struggling and you’re looking for a quick-fix to generate conversions and increase revenue, then SEO is not the answer. In this case, using a small budget to focus on a PPC (Pay per Clicks) campaign would be more valuable. Here, you can quickly elevate your brands standing by paying for the first, second or third ranking position on Google for a short amount of time.
Do you need SEO every month?
For your SEO campaign to succeed, your website needs to be continuously optimised each month. A professional SEO campaign includes monthly plans that details high-priority tasks to help your website gain those valuable ranking positions sooner. With over 200 ranking factors and ever-changing algorithm updates to compete with, ranking in the top-spot is not an easy or quick task. It’s one that takes time and continuous work to deliver improvements on your website.
The myth that SEO is a ‘heuristic trap’ stems from businesses paying for an SEO service every month and not being delivered the results that they expected. Often, this is the effect of a poor or over-sold SEO strategy, technical issues on the website that need the extended budget of a web developer to fix, or an extremely low domain authority that takes time to increase.
While it’s impossible to predict an exact timeline of when you can expect to see results from your SEO campaign, a professional will always be able to detail their scope of work and what value that adds to your overall strategy. Through monthly reports, the professionals at Vivid Creative guarantee transparency in your campaigns that provides you with a clear overview of your SEO achievements and goals for the long-term.
Learn more about how Vivid Creative can get your website ranking through our SEO services
Curious to learn more about how your website could perform with SEO? Get in touch with one of our experienced team members today to discover how our SEO services can deliver valuable results for your business. With data-led strategies, we source the most effective keywords for your website and plan out high-impact tasks over each quarter to deliver results.
With a sharp focus on increasing all your organic metrics, your SEO package with Vivid Creative doesn’t only include optimisations. Our experts work with you to provide continuous website improvements to ensure that users are provided with engaging sessions that encourage conversions.
Discover the power of SEO for your business by getting in touch with our experts today.
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