Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Why SEO is essential for small businesses

“The best place to hide a dead body is on the second page of Google."

Why? Because people rarely look there. When someone needs to find something or gather information online, they’ll open their browser on their phone or computer and head straight to a search engine like Google. They’ll type in specific keywords to find what they’re looking for, and select from the first few results. Hardly anyone scrolls to page 2, including your customers. To be seen where you want to be seen (on the first page of Google), your website must be Search Engine Optimized.

Does my business really need SEO?

Bottom line: SEO helps to get more eyes on you, more business awareness, more business, and more money coming in.

With consumers doing so much of their own research, you’re essentially losing business when you’re not in front of them. If you’re in business to grow and gain customers, you must engage with search engines.

Key reasons that SEO is valuable:

1) More people will find you. Being known is the first step in gaining business.

2) 24/7 opportunities for business. People can access your website 24/7. It doesn’t need to eat or sleep and it doesn’t get tired. Your website will work for you around the clock.

3) Online market share. Most people make decisions and interact socially online. You can have a piece of the market where people are always at.

4) Your competitors are doing it. To gain exposure and traction with your market and your share of business, you need to be doing it too, otherwise you’re essentially sending business to your competitors.

If search engines like Google don’t know you exist and you haven’t proven your value and relevancy to them, customers will never know that you exist. You’ll be stuck far behind your competitors on pages that no one goes to. For your competitors who can be found, they’ll absorb your market share. There are plenty of great businesses that people aren’t aware of, because they’re buried in the back pages of search engines!

Get found online by your customers

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Frequently Asked Questions

Average Search Engine Optimization costs are $100-$250 an hour. An SEO expert or agency will often range from $2,500 – $10,000 per month and the average SEO plan costs $2,819 per month.

Most SEO strategies should give you a good boost in leads and sales by the end of the first year, regardless of your industry. Typically, most businesses can expect to see results by the sixth month.

How quickly you’ll see results, and the type of results you can expect, will vary from project to project. The key points to consider:

  1. How competitive your market is
  2. How optimized or “search engine friendly” your website is already
  3. Type of optimization you are carrying out (or plan to)

Typically 6 months to 1 year. Keep in mind that SEO results grow over time.