Do You Need an SEO Company?

You need only ask yourself one thing: does your business have a presence on the web? If the answer is yes (and it certainly should be), you will benefit from the services of an established SEO company.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation - this refers to a set of processes by which a web site can be made more visible in search engine results. Many businesses are unaware of the fact that 90% of all search traffic is apportioned amongst web sites on the first page of the search results for a given key term. Whatever the reason, most internet search users never venture past the first or second page of results.

Since your competitors are likely to feature in the list of results for 'buying' terms that cover your industry - for example, "buy digital cameras" for a business that sells photographic equipment - you risk losing a significant competitive advantage if your web site does not feature highly in the results delivered for those terms. In this scenario, search users who have expressed an interest in buying a digital camera will arrive at your competitors' web sites instead of your own. Once they find what they are looking for, they are unlikely to look elsewhere - and your business will have missed an opportunity to make a sale.

Equally importantly, ranking well in search engine results creates the impression that your business is highly relevant to those key terms. This has a knock-on effect on the level of professionalism and authority with which your brand is viewed by the consumer. In other words, all other things being equal, a higher rank in the search engine results will give your business greater status in the minds of your potential consumers. This is important for terms which do not necessarily suggest an immediate desire to buy, such as "digital camera information" in the above example. By driving traffic from people who are interested in digital cameras to your web site, you foster a relationship between the consumer and your brand, creating the impression your business is built upon knowledge and expertise.
SEO is arguably the most powerful tool in the internet marketing arsenal. Greater visibility can be achieved through a professional and prolific SEO campaign than almost any other means. When your business offers a genuinely competitive and attractive product, nothing is more crucial in driving sales than getting your brand noticed by its potential customers. In more ethereal terms, creating a strong association between your brand and its products is instrumental in developing brand identity - as can be seen by the way in which the brand name "Hoover" and the product type "vacuum cleaner" are used interchangeably. Search engine key terms provide marketers with many exciting opportunities to create associations between a brand and certain concepts or material goods.