Search engine optimization (SEO) is a business concept that appears foreign to many business owners. This explains why there’re many incorrect facts on the subject.

However, once it is further researched, many come to realize that SEO should not be ignored. As a matter of fact, it should become a huge part of your marketing strategy. Let’s discuss some of the common reasons why business owners dread using search engine optimization.

It’s Hard to Understand

No one says that understanding SEO is going to be easy. But then again, it isn’t that hard to decipher. Digital marketing is changing every day. However, if your digital marketing strategy works today, this doesn’t mean that it’ll be successful a month or even a week from now.

Unfortunately, there’s plenty of bad info about search engine optimization. The best way to absorb the correct information is to regularly read the latest blogs on the subject. The following are some useful links that can help:

• Latest Search Engine News: SEO Round Table & The SEM Post
• SEO Blogs: Moz & Ahrefs and Search Engine Land
• Marketing: Marketing Land & MarketingProfs
• Conversion Rate Optimization: Conversion XL and Unbounce
• Follow SEO Experts on Twitter: Search Engine Watch’s Editorial List & Most followed SEO Experts

It may take a while for you to understand the basics, but this information will help you learn search engine optimization and explain how how to improve your business brand.

The digital marketing platform is changing every day. Learn how to use SEO and stop fearing it.

It’s a Scammer’s Dream

Unfortunately, there are plenty of scammers in the digital marketing world. They love to scam business owners who know nothing about search engine optimization. Thus, when dealing with SEO firms one of the biggest things to watch out for is one that is offers service guarantees. There aren’t any guarantees within the SEO world.

Google is always changing its algorithms. No one can guarantee that you will be in the top search engine results, and if they do, most likely it’s a scam. SEO fees are not that expensive, but they are not the cheapest either. Don’t be so willing to heavily invest in links during the planning and implementation stages of your SEO campaign.

SEO Campaigns Can Destroy Your Business

Yes, there have been companies that have had bad SEO results due to SEO services. But this will only happen if the business owner does everything that SEO company suggests, all at once. Also, this only happens if the business owner fails to do his own research on the subject.

The smart thing to do is to take baby steps in the beginning. Not only will this help a business owner learn about ROI possibilities, but it also helps you to develop a relationship with the SEO company before making rash decisions that could possibly ruin your business.

SEO Services Aren’t Affordable

The good thing about SEO is that you can take baby steps before making a huge investment. Let’s look at an example with One Thing Marketing.

Imagine that this business just wants to invest $1,000 in SEO services per month. They do a little research and find a couple of keywords that have over 35,000 monthly search results. If they are able to rank on the first page for these keywords, the average click-through rate or CTR is two percent. If the company gets a five percent sales conversion, the average sale equates to $100.

But understand, an investment in SEO should be taken very seriously. If you invest a small or large amount, you’ll probably experience a strong data-driven ROI.

You Can’t Quantify Spending

A lot of business owners believe this in error. It’s easy to use tools to evaluate possible leads and get website traffic. When it comes to tracking, traffic sources, impressions and clicks can be monitored in detail. It doesn’t matter how big or small your business project may be. Using Google Analytics will always provide real time information about your website.

Also, when the analytics are customized, it gives you various demographic info and various metrics about website visitors. This is all info that you can use for future projects.

You Shouldn’t Spend Money on Content Creation

This is not true at all. Content creation is a very vital part of SEO. It’s not enough just to get visitors to your website. Creating quality content is the best way to get visitors to your website and make them stay on the site and also return later. Ascend2 and eMarketer researched and concluded that around 72 percent of business marketers think that quality website content is the most important feature of successful search engine optimization.

Once again, website traffic is fruitless if you can’t keep visitors interested in what you have to say. This is why you hear people say that content is king. When creating content, make sure that your site has original content that can’t be found on other sites.

Getting Good Search Results Takes Too Long

This is not true. But remember if this does happen, a new competitor could take your place at any time. The key is to know how to reach the top spots and continue doing it. Just make sure that your efforts are consistent.

How long do you have to wait until you see good search results? No one can really answer this question. Everyone gets different results. A lot of agencies want you to believe that it may take around four to six months. But 6 month results aren’t going to be the same as those around 12 months.

The trick is to continue doing what you are doing to get the best results. Be persistent and consistent. If you choose to invest in SEO, understand that success won’t happen overnight. You have to stick with it. Your consistency will pay off overall.

Category Search Engine Marketing