SEO - Content Writing Advice - Web Design

As an SEO I have worked with many clients who have the misplaced assumption that SEO is a waste of time and money.  They fall for the (wrong) assumption that leads and rankings will come immediately, that leads and rankings are some sort of a magic overnight solution to a problem that has been festering for who knows how long.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.

A Tale of Two Websites

In fact, investing in the technology of SEO can actually save you money in the long run.  Let’s consider a couple of examples and let’s determine how these examples can illustrate such a trend. 

Example 1:  A website that has never been SEO’ed.  It remains and continues to be stagnant (in fact, Google has never included the site in its SERPs).   Let’s call this site garyswidgetsforsale.com for the sake of our example.  This site specializes in selling widgets online, and primarily gets its advertising from such offline methods as magazines, newspapers, advertising signs, and the like.  They don’t do any kind of SEO due to the owner’s misplaced assumptions that SEO is way too expensive and will cost the business too much money.  The offline advertising results in 5-10 customers a month who pay $149.99 for this specific widget.

Example 2:  A website that invests heavily in SEO and the latest marketing strategies.  For the sake of our second example, let’s call this website johnssuperwidgetsforsale.com.  This site specializes in similar widgets to Gary’s, and is a long time competitor of Gary’s.  They advertise aggressively both online and offline, including SEO and SEM.  The owner has no misplaced assumptions and heavily subscribes to the technology first philosophy.  They end up gaining about double the conversion rate of the first example, and over time their continued branding and SEO efforts end up increasing results over time. 

It continues expanding its marketing campaigns to various markets, including heavily saturated and competitive keywords.   Over time, the results of this SEO campaign will end up destroying the results of example 1.  How does this happen?  Let’s take a look at some potential trends that track conversions from month to month:

Example 1 – Jan. – 5, Feb. – 7, March – 4, April – 8, May – 6, June – 5, July – 4, Aug. – 7, Sept. – 6

Example 2 – Jan. – 5, Feb. – 6, March – 5, April – 8, May – 10, June – 14, July – 15, Aug. – 18, Sept. – 22

Example 1 is typical of the average website that does no SEO.  They can get indexed, sure.  They can be supported by offline advertising, and generally don’t necessarily want more than what they’re currently handling.  Example 2, however, is the company that believes heavily in SEO and its benefits to traffic and conversions.  As a result of consistent efforts in gaining rankings in the SERPs, there is a significant contribution to the company’s overall marketplace perception and the increase in success as a result.

Compared to example 2, example 1 is actually LOSING a ton of money and traction in the marketplace due to their hesitation in investing in SEO.  If they had invested in SEO, they would be gaining clients and converted sales as a result.  Without SEO, they remain stagnant and will eventually suffer from the lack of increases to their bottom line.  Now, if they were to actually invest in SEO in August, they would need to end up investing more in order to catch up to example #2, because example #2 has already cornered the market and developed a following of clients as a result.

The Importance of SEO

SEO is so important – both from a business standpoint and a personal one.  With SEO being implemented correctly as it should be, you can gain traction in a market and develop a positive reputation online as well.  You can corner both offline and online strategies and reap the rewards as a result.  While the results with your competitors can remain similar during the first few months, the compounding efforts can help provide a steady stream of conversions that can help the business over the long haul.  SEO is a long term, disciplined activity.  It takes patience, perseverance, and an overall execution method of near perfection that will help deliver results for years to come.  Don’t be left behind – be sure to invest in the future of your website TODAY!