Get Found or… Get Lost!

Get Found or… Get Lost!

Get found.  Potential customers are looking for your business.  How are they searching?  Every day, the percentage of customers searching for businesses online increases while those not using the internet decreases.  If you are content to pursue only those potential customers who are not using internet search engines to find businesses like yours, then you are content with little, or no, or even negative growth.  A well-placed website link on the first page of Google search engine results can work wonders for the bottom line of any business.

There are a variety of internet search engines, but the number 1 search engine is Google.  Your potential customers are using Google to find the services and products you offer.  There is no question about that.  The big question is, “Will they find your business, or will they find a competitor’s?”

The answer to that question might also be the answer to the second question, “Which business will still be around in 5 or 10 years?” Get found or… get lost.

The internet economy has made unlikely winners and unexpected losers.  Solid, stable companies that continued to do business the way they always did in the past have found themselves at a competitive disadvantage. Meanwhile, other companies are scooping up their customers by creating compelling and effective websites and then promoting those websites so that they are found in the first few pages of Google’s search engine results.

While global commerce used to be for large companies in the past, now small businesses can capitalize on the internet economy, bringing in customers from around the country and the world.  But if the internet can bring you customers from around the country, it can also bring competitors from around the country or even around the world as well.  If your main competition was a similar business in the same area as your business location, in the internet economy, your main competition might not even be on the same continent.

How can a business survive this colossal shift?  Get found (in Google) … or get lost amid those companies that are depending on a dwindling supply of customers who do not use the internet to find what they need.

The websites that appear on Google’s page 1 did not land there by accident.  It was a carefully orchestrated effort of specialized technical and marketing tasks that convinced Google and Bing and other search engines that the websites on page 1 belong there.  This process is known as search engine optimization, or “SEO” for short.

SEO requires on-page optimizations as well as off-page optimizations.  This means that the website itself must be adjusted so that Google will associate the intended search terms with the website.  But on-page optimization alone is not enough to land a website on page 1.  In fact, the on-page optimizations are only a part of the effort.

The off-page optimizations involve creating backlinks from strategically selected websites and posting content around the internet that refers back to the website.  As the amount of links and content around the internet increases, Google begins to connect specific keywords with a website.  How Google does this is a proprietary function that few outside of Google understand completely.

Of course, if everyone already knew your company website by name and not by the goods and services you sell, then there would be no need for SEO.  But having a website designed for those who already know your business excludes a large percentage of the market; the number of people who already know about your business by name and website is far exceeded by the number of people and businesses that are not familiar with your company and its offerings.  This is true if your customers are consumers and also if your customers are other businesses.

People under the age of 35 have no memory of life without Google.  When seeking a company to fill a particular need, this demographic goes immediately to Google and not a phone book, almost without fail.  If you ask them about the yellow pages, they will have no idea what you are talking about.  Your customers are looking for your offerings – your goods and services – on the internet.  Why not make it easy for them to find your website and your business?

The problem is that the internet is a big place and there are often hundreds or even thousands of websites offering the same goods and services that you offer.  But, there is only one page 1 when searching.  Is it completely useless to be on page 2 or page 3?  Of course not.  But when was the last time you searched as far as page 10 or beyond when looking for goods and services?  Most people assume that whatever they are looking for will be within the first three pages of the search results pages.  That is where you want your business website to appear.

SEO helps your website rank on or closer to page 1 in any search engine.  You probably use Google or Bing to find things you need.  When you search and find a business that provides what you are seeking, you are likely to contact them or at least review their website to see if they are a good match for you or your business.

The same scenario is at work with your potential customers.  If your business cannot be found in Google’s first three pages, then an increasing number of potential customers are not finding or patronizing your business.

Landau Consulting is a small business in New Jersey that can craft an SEO online marketing strategy for your small business, regardless of its location.  Get found or… get lost… Landau Consulting has an array of SEO online marketing techniques available to help you get found so that you do not get lost.  Contact the SEO team at Landau Consulting (www.landauconsulting.com) for a free consultation to help you get found in Google. Your new customers will be glad they were able to find you.