How important is search engine optimization (SEO) to a budding business?
SEO is a key strategy for marketing success, both for online and ‘real world’ businesses. In my seminars, I often say “Search engines are the Yellow Pages of the 21st century.” You wouldn’t traditionally have started a business without listing your phone number in the phone book would you? Online is increasingly where the consumers are, so your business needs to be there as highly ranked as possible to attract as much traffic as possible. Today you can pay for prominent listings, just like in the days of the Yellow Pages’ dominance. But you can also get good search engine display “organically” for free. This means carefully crafting your web pages’ appearance, copy, and keywords to attract a high ranking from Google and Yahoo. Often overlooked is the increasing importance of search engines for “real world” businesses, too. If you have a real world business based on local marketing (like a chiropractor or dry cleaner) you may not need a constantly updated e-commerce web site. But you sh
