Creating content you can repurpose
Constant content creation is inherent to good SEO. If you do little else with your SEO other than blog utilizing keywords important to your business, you’ll see significant gains — granted, not as many as you could see if you had a full-time SEO professional working on your business; but you would get some serious lift. So if you’re dedicating time to SEO, you’re probably creating content that is also feeding your other marketing efforts, like lead nurturing, email marketing, lead generation, and yes, even social media.
Long Term Gains That Don't Diminish
SEO content is the gift that keeps on giving. When you create a web page, it’s indexed in search engines and will return as a result in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for years to come. So if you write, say, a blog post — especially if it’s evergreen content (content that remains relevant for a long time) — your few hours of effort writing and optimizing that content can continue to drive traffic and leads for years. That’s some pretty good ROI.
Long-Tail Search Yields Targeted Traffic
Investing in SEO means you’re probably optimizing for long-tail search. Long-tail search is just what it sounds like — a search term that is long, usually containing three or more terms. And the longer a keyword is, the more specific it gets. Think about the difference between the search term, “marketing,” and “marketing analytics consultants in Las Vegas.”
That second search term tells us that the searcher is looking for three things: consultants, who specialize in marketing analytics, and who are located in Las Vegas. That’s way more information than a short-tail keyword, and it drives extremely targeted traffic to your website that you can then convert with very targeted offers — based on the searcher’s problem, their stage in the sales cycle, or even their persona. Plus, long-tail keywords are far less competitive than their short-tail brethren, and as such yield quick traffic wins for your website.
Inbound Links Help Your Website and Your Reputation
Part of a well-rounded SEO program is generating inbound links, and one of the best white-hat ways to get inbound links is by offering your services as a guest blogger. What’s so great about this is that not only do you, well, get inbound links … but you form strong relationships with heavy hitters in your industry while you do it! Essentially, as your website gains clout, so do you.
SEO Gives An Edge to Local Business
If you’re a local business with a brick-and-mortar location, you can capitalize on the growth of the mobile market with SEO, too. Mobile searchers are typically out and about when searching for information about your business. That also means they’re closer to the point of purchase. Focusing on local SEO ensures you’re the first business a lead sees when they’re looking for, say, the closest copy center, or an inexpensive place to go to dinner in their zip code.
SEO is easier than it use to be
Google’s algorithm is getting smarter. Since the first Panda update debuted in February 2011, up until 2012’s first Penguin update, Google’s algorithm has swayed more and more toward rewarding websites in the SERPs that create stellar content for readers, not for search engines.
