SEO can be used to dramatically increase sales, especially when it comes to local SEO. Local SEO is when a business uses the Internet to target potential customers in their area through search engine optimization. For example, if a bakery in Los Angeles wanted to make sure that their online marketing was specifically targeted to their area, they may hire a Los Angeles SEO company to perform local SEO for them.
Boosting Sales
How SEO boosts sales is very simple. The higher a company’s website or app is ranked in search engines such as Google, the more people will visit, and ultimately make a purchase. This is course is contingent on the efficiency and effectiveness of the company’s sales funnel, but without traffic even the best sales funnel in the world is useless.
What’s more is the fact that SEO driven traffic is “free” once a web property has been optimized. That is to say, businesses don’t have to pay recurring fees when it comes to SEO, aside from maybe an occasional evaluation to ensure that none of Google’s search engine algorithms have drastically changed. In any case, it is in most cases much cheaper than paid advertising, which leads to greater ROI, and profit margins.
Targeted Traffic
Perhaps the real power of SEO is the fact that the traffic it produces and sends to a business’ website is highly targeted, sometimes called “buyer ready.” This is because SEO efforts target people who are already searching for whatever it may be that the business is selling.
For example, a business that sells dog collars would hire an SEO firm to make sure that their web properties are targeting phrases like “buy dog collar,” and “best dog collar,” among others. This way when people search these phrases they will find the business’ web pages, and be drawn into their sales funnel.
This idea applies to local traffic as well. Going back to the bakery example, no bakery would want to target broad terms like “best bakery.” Instead, they’d want to go after terms like “Los Angeles bakery,” or “Los Angeles best bakery.” This will bring in traffic from the specific area that’s specifically looking for their services.
Overcoming the Competition
It is no secret that SEO, and especially local SEO, can get really competitive. How many bakeries are in Los Angeles? Probably quite a few, and most of them are probably jockeying for the number one spot on Google for these kinds of search terms. The good news is that SEO firms can use their expertise to help make sure that a business gets the best exposure possible, and is able to surpass their competition.
It is for this reason that companies who hire SEO firms have a massive advantage of those who don’t. Companies who try to do SEO in house tend to waste a lot of time, money, and manpower, only to get inferior results. In a way it’s almost like a person trying to do their own plumbing: in most cases it’s best to leave it to the pros.
Finding the Best SEO Firm
In most cases a business should hire an SEO firm in their same local area. This allows them to work more closely with the firm, and to take advantage of the fact that the firm likely understands the local area better, making them a great choice for local SEO campaigns. Finding a local SEO company is as easy as typing something like “Los Angeles SEO company” into Google, and checking out the results. Ironically, simply doing this can also give a business a first hand look at how local SEO works.