In this modern world, the influence of technology in our everyday lives seems to be becoming more prevalent as time passes. Things that used to be done on paper (or in person), are now often being done digitally. While you can fight this revolution, it would be an absurd idea to think that things are going to turn around. Social media, internet searches and technology as a whole will continue to develop, leaving you with the decision of either having to adapt to the new way of doing, or desperately trying to hold on to the idea that it’s possible to live in a world where technology will turn around and become a less important part of society moving forward.
Just about everything is changing, and one of the areas where a lot of change can certainly be felt is in marketing. Many Knoxville businesses, especially small businesses, are holding on to the idea of traditional advertising. Business owners often feel like the more usual way of marketing – like handing out flyers or putting up posters – will get them noticed. Some believe that an investment in local search engine optimization is nothing other than a waste of valuable resources. Worse yet, there are many business owners who don’t even have an online presence for their business.
Not having an online presence, and not reinforcing that presence with proper local SEO techniques, is a really big mistake. There are a number of false ideas people have about why they don’t need to invest in SEO.
My Business Is Too Local
If you think that the fact that your business is located only in Knoxville means you don’t need an online presence, think again. Just because you’re not working globally doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from ranking high in local searches. This is especially true if you’re working in an industry where people will be prone to do an internet search to find you, like if you own a wedding venue or a small bed and breakfast. But even if you own a shop or a hair salon, ranking high in local search results can be very beneficial.
Traditional Marketing Delivers Better ROI
This is another area where people tend to get it wrong. The problem here isn’t that investing in local SEO wouldn’t offer a return on your investment, it’s actually more of a psychological trick of the mind. Because more traditional marketing might include receiving a physical, tangible result for your investment (like flyers, posters or advertisements in actual newspapers you can hold in your hands), you’re assuming it’s working. But money spent on marketing really means little if it doesn’t yield results. And just because you have something that feels real, doesn’t mean it’s really making a difference.
If, on the other hand, you were to make your choice based on what’s more likely to bring new customers, you’d employ a much different tactic. Online advertising could help your business somewhat, but the reality is that SEO is really the best way to market yourself online. Statistics have shown that 70% of links people click when they’re doing searches are organic, meaning they’re not paid advertisements, but rank high in the search results because of proper SEO tactics.
Apart from that, it’s also important to realise that most people, especially modern generations, are using internet searches instead of phone books to find local businesses. If your business invested in being found in those searches, you’d be putting yourself in front of the consumers who are already searching for what you offer instead of placing an advertisement in a local newspaper, which will be seen by both those who might be interested and ones who will just ignore it.
SEO Companies Are Only Scammers
This is a bit of a difficult one to deal with, because there are people who have fake SEO companies and are only scamming people. They deliver results that seem to work overnight, but are more damaging to businesses over a longer period of time. In short, they cause search engines to start seeing your website as spam, which is the opposite of what you would hope to achieve.
But just because there are fake companies, doesn’t mean the real ones won’t deliver good results. Real SEO companies are the ones who won’t make false promises about how your website will rank first, second or third in search results within almost no time at all. The cost is likely to be much higher than that of fake companies, but that’s because your actually working with professionals who are delivering their best.
Truth be told, a good SEO company can’t promise that you’ll ever get the number one spot in search results. Where you rank will depend on many things, like the competition within your industry. If you work in an industry where you have a lot of competition for your keywords, it’s going to take a lot more to get on the first page of the search results, let alone the first listing on the first page.
So what’s the point? You may wonder. Why invest in something when you don’t know what the results will be? Quite simply, because your competition is doing it. And if you don’t invest in getting your slice of the SEO pie, you’ll end up losing a lot of customers because of it. While it’s true that the majority of people who do internet searches never go past the first page, about 25% of them do. That means if there are 100,000 people doing a search relevant to your business, even a second page listing in search engines will get your business in front of 25,000 potential customers.