5 Reasons Why SEO for Startups is a Must

5 Reasons Why SEO for Startups is a Must SEO for Startups is an often overlooked marketing strategy, but let’s take a look at some key reasons why SEO might just be one of the best ways to grow your startup.

As a new business owner, figuring out how to stay ahead of the competition when it comes to marketing your product or service effectively can be a daunting challenge.

There are so many avenues to consider for your marketing campaign and trying to figure out which ones are best for a brand new business is a bit overwhelming. Most entrepreneurs don’t have an in-depth knowledge of SEO to understand the immense potential it could bring to their website.

That’s ok. You don’t have to know everything…

But you should be aware of some key reasons SEO for Startups can be a great avenue to pursue.

If you have never even considered it, I’m going to give you a brief overview as to why it has Startups should be incorporating SEO into their marketing campaign:

1. SEO Increases Website Traffic

The biggest hurdle for any new website is traffic.

If you’ve recently launched a new website, you’ve probably been trying to figure out how to go about improving the amount of traffic to your website.

SEO integrates keywords and user-friendly tags which have the capability to boost your website higher up within search engine results and allows your company to be discovered.

In fact, here are some important statistics you may want to consider:

1. 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine.

2. Google currently holds 76% of total search engine market share (up from 65.5% in January 2016). Baidu, Bing, and Yahoo! come in at 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place with a combined 21.6% market share.

3. 57% of B2B marketers stated that SEO generates more leads than any other marketing initiative.

4. 81% of people perform some type of online research before making a large purchase.

5. 47% of consumers view 3-5 pieces of content created by a company before talking to a salesman from that company.

6. 72% of online marketers describe content marketing as their most effective SEO tactic.

7. 75% of people never scroll past the first page of search engines.

Unlike ‘outbound’ marketing which aims to reach out to consumers whether they have curiosity in your company or not, SEO is a form of inbound marketing which makes it a lot easier for users to engage with a product or service when they are actively looking for it. SEO increases the quality of your traffic, in the sense that when a user is ready to check out a product, they can find you naturally.

Naturally is the key word here, because this means you’re going to experience a larger amount of qualified leads towards your business.

2. SEO Builds brand awareness

SEO helps build brand awareness in several ways.

Most people think of SEO in terms of ranking for keywords, but ranking strategically has a big impact on how quickly and effectively you can grow your brand.

SEO for Startups is one of the most effective marketing tactics for businesses looking to grow at a fast pace. Battling against established companies is difficult and costly, but using SEO combined with a brand strategy can help your business carve out a nice slice of the pie.

Brand awareness gives businesses advantages such as:

Developing trust:
If potential customers get a sense of the company’s presence, mission and message, they are far more likely to trust the brand and invest their cash into their product.

Targeting their niche:
Although SEO strategies don’t necessarily reach out to customers in the same way as other marketing strategies, owning a brand that has become well-known among a specific demographic should develop natural leads that are of higher quality than forcing users to visit your website.

Distinction:
Once your brand has become successful, the hard work boils down to the fact that you have allowed your branding to stand out among the competition, which should then go on to increase natural leads and eventually, sales.

3. SEO is Cost-effective

As a new start-up, it’s unlikely that you’ll have thousands of dollars to throw at different marketing strategies to see what sticks.

Rest assured, SEO is a proven technique for companies that are both large and small, so your hard-earned cash that has been put towards your marketing budget will be put to good use.

Choosing an a company that provides the right SEO services, however, can be a difficult process.

You’ll see a LOT of companies that make promises they simply can’t fulfill at prices that aren’t realistic. Entrusting your online marketing to the correct agency is a vital decision, and one that needs to be made with as much information and care as possible. This video from Max Your Web is extremely useful in cutting through the waffle, and ensuring you get both what you want and what you pay for:

Unlike other marketing strategies, SEO for startups can be very cost effective and typically ensures a decent return on investment (ROI), especially in the long run. Outbound strategies such as cold calling, buying email lists and leafleting can provide leads, but SEO practices really cannot be competed with when it comes to marketing your products globally.

4. You can beat your competition

Imagine… two companies selling the same product.

One of them has set up an SEO strategy with their website, and the other hasn’t. Providing every other aspect of their business is exactly the same, which company do you think will do better with online sales and grow at a faster rate?

You guessed it – the company with the optimized website has far better chance of being noticed among users who were previously unaware of their existence before they started their search.

How?

By Out-branding and Out-working their competitor.

You can use this strategy in any niche and a great example is Tweedle Farms. Tweedle is an Oregon based hemp farm who totally dominates organic search for just about every hemp, or CBD related search query.

How did they do it?

They focused on their brand and they put a little extra effort into their product descriptions and link building.

5. User-friendly website

Not only will SEO practices encourage users to click on your website once they find it, but should also create a smoother and generally improved experience.

When using SEO within your website, your pages are likely to be neater and more well-organized. A well optimized site will take into consideration every landing page, content, navigation, interlinking and clear calls to action blending SEO keywords organically. If users are presented with an enjoyable experience when browsing through your website, they are far more likely to return in future. Likewise, if the user experience is good, Google is more likely to love your site as well.

A perfect example of this is James Martin Associates, who was able to increase organic traffic by 40% upon the rebrand of their website. The increase in traffic was paired with a substantial increase in organic search rankings simply by taking into consideration user experience and content delivery.

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by Chris London of Pixel Productions Inc. The Everything Design Company