Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 1 Whether you run an e-commerce business or you have a brick and mortar location, the importance of internet marketing in the world of business today is pivotal. To put it quite simply if you’re not making an effort to reach your target consumers online, chances are you won’t obtain their business. Sure, there are the small few that still rely on traditional forms of marketing; however, more than 90% of all consumers make their purchasing decisions based on information found on the internet. Okay, so maybe you do have an internet marketing campaign in place, but are you getting the results you’d hoped for? Are your website visitors increasing? Has your social media following expanded? Is your business seeing a return on your investment? If not, you could be missing one very important component to your internet marketing strategy – search engine optimization. What is SEO? If you’ve done any research on internet marketing strategies, you’ve likely come across the phrase search engine optimization or SEO for short. Ideally it is a set of rules put together by search engines designed to help website owners improve their search engine rankings. With the use of keywords and phrases, companies can optimize their social media pages and websites to increase their chances of being seen my consumers looking for their products or services. When used effectively, SEO can improve your company’s online presence and increase your search engine rankings, which in turn can improve website traffic and your customer base. Why is SEO So Important? As stated above, utilizing SEO strategies can improve your search engine results. Instead of being on the 20th page of Google, Yahoo, or Bing, you can find yourself in the first few pages. This essentially increases your chances of being selected over your competitors. Here are some more reasons that SEO should be an intricate part of your internet marketing campaign: SEO puts you ahead of the competition. According to SEO Utah company SearchBloom, approximately 97% of all online consumers conduct research before deciding to make a purchase from a particular company. SEO helps to improve the chances that you’ll be at the top of their search result list. SEO pays for itself. While you may need to work with a company that specializes in SEO techniques to optimize your website, blog, or social media pages, it essentially pays for itself. As you climb in search engine rankings, you’re essentially receiving free advertising every time a potential consumer uses keywords or phrases related to your company. SEO influences social sharing. As social media users search for various products, services, or information, they utilize keywords and phrases. If your company happens to come up when these phrases are searched for, it makes it easier for them to find you and ultimately share this information with others. SEO improves your potential to make a sale. If consumers don’t know you exist (which they won’t if you’re on the 10th page of search engine results), they can’t possibly know about your website and what you have to offer. SEO on the other hand enhances your website visibility giving you a fair chance at earning the business of potential customers. Tips for Incorporating SEO Into Your Internet Marketing Campaign Hopefully the above benefits have influenced you to start incorporating more SEO into your internet marketing efforts. Below are some suggestions on where to start: Conduct keyword research. You need to know exactly what keywords your target audience is searching for as it relates to your business. Knowing this will help you to determine which words should be included in your content, on your website and through your social media pages to improve search engine results. Utilize keywords frequently (without going overboard). There is essentially a science to keyword placement and you want to be careful to follow all the rules. You don’t want every sentence on your website to be the same keywords and phrases over and over again (or you’ll risk being marked as spam). However, you also don’t want to use keywords so infrequently that it doesn’t register to search engines. Keywords should be used sparingly on your website, content, and social media pages to generate impressive results. Content is ideal. Content is essentially necessary to utilizing SEO properly. Whether you have a company blog, or have content on your website that is relevant to your products/services it is important to create quality content that is keyword rich. It goes without saying that search engine optimization and internet marketing should go hand in hand. They are both very important concepts to master for businesses of all sizes and industries. It is the new form of reaching target consumers. Whether you have just begun the planning of your marketing or you’ve been doing it for a while if you want to gain results, increase revenue, and reach the masses it is imperative that you evaluate your SEO strategies and adjust them as the trends change. If internet marketing or SEO don’t happen to be your strong suit, working with a SEO company is ideal. Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article originally appeared on BusinessVibes and has been republished with permission.Find out how to syndicate your content with B2C Author: BusinessVibes Follow @businessvibes BusinessVibes is a free B2B social media network built for global trade professionals. Our goal is to connect like-minded businesses from all over the world. Our app allows users to connect with companies all over the world and instant message them directly and lets you create your own online product gallery… View full profile ›More by this author:5 Essential Steps for the Perfect Networking MeetingProtect Your Customer’s Private Data and Their TrustHow to Get the Most Out of Conventions and Trade Shows