Search engine programming is changing every few days and it’s impossible to keep up unless all you do is search engine optimization (SEO).
Even with all of the changes on the web, quality SEO strategies continue to produce a great return on business investment. In this article, I will give you the top 3 reasons why it is in your best interest to increase your marketing budget to include even more SEO in 2014.
1. Top Content Marketing Strategies Turn Customers into Champions
You’ve heard for years that content is king. Moving forward, marketing is all about quality content and the search engines have gotten even smarter at deciphering between fluff content and those pieces of content that truly engage with human beings.
Google, Yahoo!, and Bing are moving from the short articles to favoring content that is longer and more detailed. You can expect to see that the longer the content, the more it is consumed by your target market and the higher your search engine rankings. According to Google, “Users often turn to Google to answer a quick questions, but research suggests that up to 10% of users’ daily information needs involve learning about a broad topic”. This statement alone ultimately shows that the search engines are partial to more in-depth articles that not only answer your customer’s most pressing question but also makes them smarter.
“The way to Google’s heart is through quality content marketing.” (Tweet Quote)
This is why it is essential that your SEO provider or consultant also provide your business with content marketing services. In 2014, quality content marketing will play a huge role in building your brand, generating traffic and turning that traffic into leads and conversions. Become an authority leader in your field and you will help increase your search engine rankings.
2. Cheap Backlinks Will Get You into Google Jail with a High Set Bail
You may have been able to buy your way up the search engine ranking ladders before but Google has made it clear that they will not tolerate websites that continue to try and game the system.
With each new algorithm released the search engines aim to reduce the number of cheap methods website owners have been using to create backlinks. If you are found article spinning, excessively using social bookmarks, using paid links (other than legitimate PPC campaigns), duplicating content, and keyword stuffing, then there is a SEO jail just for you.
“In SEO, never upset the Penguin or Panda. They may just eat you for breakfast.” (Tweet Quote)
Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird are the alias given to some of Google’s search engine algorithm updates. The first rule of SEO is never make the animals angry or you could find yourself blacklisted from the search engine.
Recovering from a small drop in the search engine rankings pages (SERPs), due to an algorithm, can become very expensive. Once the damage is done, it can take weeks, months, or even years to fully recover any page rank that was lost.
A complete professional SEO audit of your website is not cheap when it comes to repairing any black hat SEO problems. Also, you will have to take into account the amount of money that your business website or blog will lose when your website drops off the face of the search engine. Some companies can lose more than $10,000 a day if a customer cannot find that product they’ve been searching for on Google.
Ensure that a quality SEO provider is in the budget to fix any problems that may already exist and save you from potential lost revenue. You need a backlink strategy.
3. Outsource Your Social Media to Stand Out and Get Found
Google has already announced that social media signals (social influences) are a growing influence on search engine rankings. It is a certainty that social media will continue to become an even greater factor for building successful business brands and driving website traffic in 2014.
Although the proof is in social media, that doesn’t mean that your time is best spent doing social media.
“When done wrong, social media can destroy brands instead of build them up.” (Tweet Quote)
When you spend a lot of time on social media, it takes your focus away from those parts of your business that only you can do. Just because you are a business owner, does not mean it is valuable part of your day to devote it to social media.
The simplest and most cost effective way to handle social media for success is to outsource it to a company that excels in social media engagement and online brand building.
How to Choose a SEO Firm or Consultant
SEO “experts” are a dime a dozen today and will be more prevalent in 2014 as more people start their own websites and begin blogging.
“Most SEO professionals are self-proclaimed “experts” who only got into the field to make money.” (Tweet Quote)
When choosing a SEO firm, it is important that you make sure they have a long-term vision of your marketing needs. When done correctly, SEO incorporates a long-term strategy with strong content marketing, social media, and inbound (backlink) links.
Quality SEO specialists and agencies will come at a price because they have many years of experience, numerous case studies (success stories), highly recommendable client testimonials, and are on the pulse of all search engine and social media changes.
With such quality SEO comes the expense. Your business or brand must be willing to include this cost in your 2014 to help you clarify your goals and design a search and social media marketing strategy that not only achieves these goals but also helps you rise above them.
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