What is SEO, and Why Should Your Business Care?

Over the years, millions of companies, startups, and small businesses have found success thanks to the implementation of various SEO strategies. Therefore, it is compulsory for any individual trying to promote a company to know the core concepts of SEO.

In the past, we’ve posted about various SEO tactics and strategies, assuming all readers would be familiar with the concept. But some commented that they didn’t understand its value. So, here’s a brief introduction to SEO and why you should care about it.

What is SEO and Why is it So Important for Your Business?

In simple terms, SEO is the process of making your website accessible for the consumer by using different techniques to earn high ranking placements on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

The good news for your business is that people are out there right now searching for your products and services. The tough part is making your business stand out above your many competitors. The bad news is that you’re not just competing with other small businesses like yours, as even the big established brands are also vying for the top spots of SERPs.

Without SEO, you can never get leads, because your site won’t be accessible, which means no traffic and no profits.

SEO 101 – Key Terms you Need To Know

At Fueled, we strongly believe that understanding SEO requires years of practical work. Nevertheless, a little tech info can at least give you an idea as to the ins and outs of what SEO actually is.

• Search Engine Submissions, Crawling, and Indexing: When a website is launched, you need to submit it to search engines – Google, Bing and Yahoo being the currently leading platforms. Once your site is submitted, it is indexed in the search engine’s directory. Now, whenever a user searches for a particular word, the search engine will use “spiders” or “bots” to trawl your website searching for relevant results.
• Keywords: The root of SEO, keywords, are a set of words your audience types in a search engine to find a particular service or product. Upon the typing of a keyword, the search engine delivers relevant results after scanning through its index. Almost all marketing activities are based on the set of derived keywords, because these are the precise words and sentences your audience are looking for. Therefore, if you want to attract leads, your website must contain keywords that people in your niche are already searching for.
• Analytics: A platform to help you analyze competitors and keyword trends. You can also get to know the dollar value associated with each keyword. This is usually important for sites that earn via Adsense or for businesses that advertise via PPC (pay per click).
• On/Off Page Optimization: Ensuring your website structure meets requirements set by search engines is called on-page optimization, and making sure your business reaches the target audience through marketing is off-page optimization. And, of course, to both there are a set of strategies and tools used to derive desired results. Companies that need promotion often employ a number of off-page tactics such as email marketing, content marketing and social marketing.
• Linking: Submitting your website link to different sites via guest blogging, directory submission, networking, or by other methods, brings more exposure to your site – leading to higher traffic.

The 3 Step SEO Process

1. Research – Keywords, Competitors, Target Audience

SEO starts off with research on your product or service, from which a certain set of keywords are derived. For example, your business could be, “wholesale dealers”, and it is from here that all relevant analysis and research is conducted pertaining to the particular industry. Along with this, competitors are also researched, so that a clear picture of your market standing may be formed. Strategies employed by your competitors are also studied in-depth and a list of keywords, ideas, and processes are formed. Not to mention, the tastes, preferences and usage habits of the target audience are also analyzed to get a complete picture of the business. Once the basic framework has been completed, you’re ready to go on to the next phrase.

2. Goal Setting – Driving Traffic, Gaining Exposure, Building Revenue

Like every other business, goal setting is important in SEO. However unique your business objective may be, there are three essential goals that almost every online entrepreneur wants to achieve: traffic, exposure and revenue. When SEO tactics are used properly, those first two goals are fairly easily achievable. Then, if your product or service is deemed good enough, that traffic and exposure will lead to the final goal: revenue.

People often expect increased revenue through SEO alone, failing to understand that SEO simply brings traffic. How you convert that traffic into sales is dependent on multiple variables, including the nature of your business, product demand and effective web design.

3. Marketing – Optimization, Link Building, Networking

From on-page optimization to content marketing, link building and networking, SEO has a crucial role to play. You should write content that utilizes keywords, and build links with other networks based on your keywords to get rich backlinks. You might want to network with people online via forums (again based on relevant industry keywords). For every online marketing activity, SEO is the underlying driving factor.

The end objective for all businesses is to be in top 10 results on SERPs, but it doesn’t come easy. SEO still holds a world of secrets and, with every passing day, professionals across the globe spend endless hours trying to understand them.

Here’s a great overview of SEOs key points: