Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the best business investments you can make. SEO is a set of techniques which makes your business and your website show up on the search results at exactly the right time- when someone is looking for the information, product or services you sell. This is target marketing at its finest.

Search Engine Optimization is Better Than Advertising.

Why is SEO better than advertising? I will give you a few reasons why I believe this is true, and then I’ll explain.

• SEO brings the right people to your website.
• SEO helps you sell what you want to sell so you can focus on your favorite and/or most profitable products or services.
• SEO lasts longer than advertising (and often improves with age).
• SEO fundamentals can be learned and applied by just about anyone, and even if you pay someone else to do it for you, the long-term payoff is well worth the investment.

Let me explain:

I’ve been selling merchandise online since 2001. But it doesn’t matter if you’re selling merchandise, services, or food, SEO works.

Examples of How Search Engine Optimization Works

Let’s go point-by-point:

• SEO brings the right people to your website. Contrary to most forms of advertising, where it’s only a matter of luck if you get your message in front of the right people, SEO delivers ONLY the people who are specifically looking for what you’re selling.

SEO Example #1. I sell Heavy Duty Contractor Bags, Wholesale. I don’t sell them one box at a time. I sell them by the pallet (3000 bags per pallet). If you go to Google the term: Wholesale Contractor Bags, you’ll find my company, Mazer Wholesale, on the first page of the search results. We’re right up there with Home Depot, Lowe’s and other big-name sources. We usually have 2 or 3 impressions on the same page.

There are 1000’s of companies and stores who sell contractor bags, but what makes OUR company move up to the top of the search engines are the words we use on our website. The word, Wholesale makes our website show up when a potential buyer is using the word Wholesale in his or her search. Simple!

So how could you use this technique if you’re not a wholesaler?

• SEO helps you sell what you want to sell. Every business owner has their favorite product or service. It may be because it’s the most profitable, the easiest to delegate to employees, or it just very enjoyable in some way. Optimizing your website can help you sell more of what you want to sell and this makes your life and your business much more enjoyable.

SEO Example #2. Let’s say you’re an electrician and one of your favorite jobs to get in replacing the electric panel in older homes. To get your business and your website to show up on the first page of Google, you need at least one page on your website detailing that particular service you provide. So, in this case you want to make a page called Electric Panels and on that page, you want to have at least one photo of an electric panel, and as much detail on the subject as is practical.

Since this electrician services a certain geographical region (let’s say a 3-county radius), you’ll want to mention those counties on the page as well as some of the specific towns in those counties.

In this case, this electrician is getting his website in front of exactly the right people who are in his specific service area looking for this specific service, at exactly the right time.

We don’t sell Blueberry Pie at Small Business U, but this demonstrates how website content can help a business gain page 1 search results on Google. This page is ranking on page one since 2016 and it’s now 2019.

Want a professional opinion on SEO opportunities you may be missing? There’s no fee or sales pitch. Just ask! CLICK HERE!

Example #3. This example demonstrates how SEO lasts longer than advertising. I pulled this image of the Google search results TODAY, March 1, 2019 and as you can see, the website content was posted in September, 2016. This is simply a post on our website. NOT an ad.

It’s also another demonstration of how to sell what you want to sell AND how to get your business on the first page of Google.

It’s common for people to go online to search for a specific type of food. They may search, “The best sushi place near me,” or “The best pizza in[name of town]”, or “The best blueberry pie in Cherry Hill.” In this case, the search term include “the best* [product or service]” and “[place”]. When you intentionally create a page on your website with these search terms, your business and website are going to have a strong chance of occupying a spot on the 1st page.

In an experiment to test my theory on this particular subject, I created a search engine optimized post in the Small Business U. blog. As I began writing this “example #3,” I decided to Google search the specific search term: The Best Blueberry Pie in Cherry Hill (where I work and live), and sure enough, the post I created back in September, 2016 still occupies a page 1 result on Google. This is ABOVE places who really DO make and sell blueberry pie!

*I used the phrase “the best” in this example, but this is just an example. The larger point is to make a page on your website for everything you want to sell. If I owned a restaurant, I would take a photo of every item on the menu and describe it in full detail JUST as I do with every item I sell on my website, mazerwholesale.com.

• SEO can be learned and applied by almost anyone. 

The examples provided here in this article provide the core framework of how content (the words on the web page) help to get your website ranked high on the search results. There are a few other skills which require a bit more knowledge but it’s not something which requires any formal study.

I don’t recommend business owners learn all this stuff, you have a business to run. BUT, I DO recommend that you have a basic understanding of the fundamentals. With an understanding of the fundamentals, you’ll be better at thinking about marketing strategy and you’ll also be a better and smarter consumer of marketing services.

If you want to get some professional advice about how YOUR business and website can leverage the power of Search Engine Optimization, all you have to do is ask. An evaluation and analysis is free. CLICK HERE.