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SEO (Search engine
optimization), is one of the vital
aspects of any website, but it is often
overlooked or neglected. A website may look
beautiful, the systems may be flawless, but
with no visitors, it is a waste. SEO is the
process of getting visitors, traffic and
ultimately business to your website,
primarily through achieving high rankings
for your web site on search terms with high
volume.
Studies have
shown that Internet searchers are a
notoriously impatient bunch. Almost 82% of
all searchers do not go beyond the first 30
results. More than 60% don't go beyond the
first 10 results. If your website is not in
the top ten, you are missing out on over 60%
of your potential clients. This can prove to
be a very costly exercise. Even if you are
happy with the traffic you get to your
website, and let's say it's 40%. You can get
an extra one and a half times that quantity
of visitors and business or more as the
result of an effective SEO campaign.
There is
always advertising available as an option,
but that is substantially less effective and
more costly. On Google, 70% of searchers
prefer the natural results to
advertisements. Say the term your site is
optimized for has 100 searches a day, and
you are in position 12. You'll only get 40%
of your potential visitors. If you're in
position 21, you'll get about 25%. Position
31 and you'll get less than 19%. If you are
number 1, you'll get 100 of them. If you buy
an advertisement, you'll get 30% and you pay
for each visitor. The moment you stop
paying, you stop getting visitors. An SEO
campaign on the other hand lasts for years.
Once you are at the top, it takes a lot to
move you down the results. As such, SEO is
the most cost-effective and efficient method
of marketing your website.
You also need
your site to rank well for the correct
keyword or search phrase. One of my favorite
examples comes from research I have
conducted into the job industry as part of
an SEO campaign. The term "search jobs" has
21 searches a day. The term "job search" has
over 6000. Number 1 for "search jobs" will
give you 21 visitors. Number 1 for "job
search" though will give you 6000. Choosing
the right keywords is an important part of
any SEO campaign.
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