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I’ve had my share of victories and failures in the world of business over the last 10 years. Over those years I learned some important lessons during my journey. A question that comes up frequently is, “what does it take to be successful in ‘my’ business?” It’s not your product, it’s not website address, it’s not the packaging design, and it’s not the cost of your product. Those are relevant but not the deciding ingredient.
The number one ingredient that determines a business’s long-term success and success is its ability to spawn a steady stream of new customers and repeat customers that visit and their website or storefront. Seems pretty clear as a bell, but it is often neglected. Business owners focus on everything else except getting traffic to their products/services. This is why so many businesseshit bottom within 3-5 years of starting.
80% of your time should be spent acquiring new blood for your business. Well how? Marketing, marketing, marketing!
Marketing your products and services is the most important thing you as a business owner should be focused on. It’s what brings leads to your website/storefront and converts them into hungry paying client. You can have the best product/service in the world but if no one knows about it, then how great is it really?
Some business owners “get it” but they waste their time, energy, and $$ with archaic and inadequate types of marketing – newspapers, radio, tv, flyers, billboards. These forms of marketing are fading. People have become detached to the bombardment of these bland forms of advertising and marketing.
Less and less individuals are listening to the radio, watching traditional tv, reading the newspaper, and paying attention to stupid billboards that they passdaily. You can probably relate.
People are actively searching out “specifics.” What do I mean by this? With things like Netflix,Spotify, satellite radio, and the internet, people are watching specific shows, music, and news with a few keystrokes on their laptop, phone, or tablet.
When they want to want to hear to “Eric Clapton” or “Katy Perry” or watch an episode of “The Walking Dead” they are simply searching for it, they are not waiting for it to come to them.
The same goes for a product or service!
When someone needs a “dentist in St. Petersburg, Florida” or “AC repair in Tampa, Florida” that’s what they type into the Google search engine. They aren’t waiting to see your billboard or your “throw away” flyer to arrive in the mail.
According to Google data, over 50% of web users are actively seeking LOCAL services – dry cleaners, mechanics, doctors, restaurants , etc…
If you are not appearing in the first page of those results, you are missing out on 1000s of dollars of lost profits (depending on your niche) because those clients are going to your competition who is on the first page of Google, Yahoo, or Bing search engines.
It gets even better, of those potential clients that find the local services/product/business in their search results; they are five to seven times more likely to make a purchase, a 1000% more effective than any other form of advertising. Not pay-per-view}, not display ads, not Facebook, and not print advertising can touch those type of results.
So how do you get in the top search results for your niche?
You get there through SEO or search engine optimization. Basically meaning, getting your website and/or business listings to the first page of Google, Yahoo, or Bing search engines so your product gets the best exposure naturally.
People are actively searching out your product, if you are at the top of those results, there is no need to convince or sell them. You are automatically seen as a leader/authority by being at the top of the search results and you will more than likely get the sale just by being there.
You can work with an SEO consultant to help you get better SEO rankings or do-it-yourself. I won’t into specifics of how to do SEM for your business given its intricacy. That is separate article on its own!
If you want to have a long-term business, produce ongoing customers, and profit for your business you should be doing search engine optimization or at the very least consider it in the near future. As we move ahead, it will only become more important to do {SEO| search engine marketing for your business as the old forms of advertising/marketing die off.
If you are looking to start search engine optimization for your business, Badger Marketing is an SEO company in St Petersburg FL that can help your business gain online exsposure.