Is SEO Still Worth the Time & Effort in 2016?

While there have been massive changes in the digital landscape over the past few years, there is no doubt that Search Engine Optimization is still an incredibly important part of any online marketing strategy.  A great SEO strategy makes it possible for even a small business owner to compete with the top players in his industry, and reach a great number of potential customers, creating great sales, at minimal cost. By getting your SEO done effectively, you can potentially transform your business to the next level. Below are just a few key points to help you better understand why SEO is still completely relevant and beneficial.  

Before going over the importance of having an effective SEO strategy, we’d like to share a word of caution to our readers.  Know that having “No SEO” is always better than hiring “Cheap SEO”.  If you want to hire an SEO agency, please ask what their strategies are and whether it involves adding backlinks to dubious sites (aka spammy tactics), which could hurt your site in a big way so always do your due diligence.

7 Benefits of Doing SEO

#1: Full Value for Your Money

SEO is an inbound marketing strategy that works because it is one of the most effective online marketing strategies that targets potential customers who are actively looking for your "keywords" to search for your product or service with intent to buy. This makes it a far more effective than an outbound marketing strategy such as cold-calling or direct mail and more more efficient than the PPC model (pay-per-click). Indeed, the leads generated by SEO generally cost about 51% less than those compared to most alternatives. This makes SEO a really cost-effective marketing strategy for your business.

#2: Helps Build a Dedicated Fan Base through a Newsletter

An effective application of SEO increases the traffic to your site by a long way, which eventually helps you to build a dedicated fan base by making use of RSS feeds and newsletters. While the exponential increase in the use of Social Media may have overshadowed RSS feeds and newsletters somewhat as effective marketing strategies, they are even today highly effective sources for getting traffic for your business. The most successful bloggers attest to email lists and RSS feeds still being the biggest source of their income than Social Media Marketing.

#3:  Works for Your Business 24×7

SEO always works for your business, bringing a constant stream of internet traffic to your site, no matter how early or how late in the day. With SEO, you are open for business 24/7, 365 days a year. Even when you sleep, SEO always keeps working, and works as a fantastic way to generate qualifed leads and in some cases passive income. Get your SEO strategy right by getting your website to rank higher in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page), and watch the money flow into your bank account, even when you’re on holiday!

If you’d like to leverage any of these strategies, visit Markham SEO, a Toronto SEO Agency, dedicated to bringing businesses massive free traffic and exposure through the power Search Engine Marketing.

#4. Enhances your Social Media visibility

The relationship between SEO and Social Media is mutually beneficial. While getting your Social Media Strategy right is critical for your SEO, getting your SEO right, and having your website rank higher on the SERPs ensures that you get far better social media exposure. Quite simply, your tweets, posts or updates are likely to get far more Retweets on Twitter, Likes on Facebook or  +1s on Google Plus, when your website or blog has a high visibility on the search engine, whether on Google or on Yahoo or Bing.

#5. Helps You Go Toe-to-Toe with the Big Boys

Because an effective SEO campaign is cost-effective, it allows you to compete with the biggest companies in your industry that are spending 10X your Marketing budget on traditional advertising, including PPC. With the help of SEO, as a small business owner, you don’t have to be rich or have vast resources to be successful. SEO helps you reach your potential customers spread over a wide geography far more easily and at a relatively low cost. SEO is also a great way to build your brand and to compete with the more established brands by leveraging a more targeted audience.

#6. Sets You Up for the Long Term

SEO helps you to get a loyal and committed base of buyers who will stay with your business for the long term. Once you get to the higher end of Google’s SERPs because of an effective SEO strategy, you’ll find yourself getting exponentially more traffic online that will generate vast volumes of sales. Often, this is a virtuous cycle, as you use an effective SEO strategy to do well on Google’s SERPs, and once you’re there, the amazing exposure that your business gets becomes an added help to your SEO, which in turn helps you to grow your business even further.

#7. Helps You Keep Up with the Competition

The most important reason for you to hire an SEO firm for your search engine optimization is that everybody else is doing it, including your closest competitors. You certainly wouldn’t want to be left behind when everybody else is taking full advantage of the benefits of SEO. You may be offering the best products and services on your site, but that isn’t likely to be enough if you don’t have a proper SEO strategy in place. Your competitor is likely to get more clicks, and generate more sales because of he has an SEO strategy in place. So, don’t delay and make 2016 your turning point by hiring an SEO agency to help your business reach greater heights. 

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