Comparison of the Effectiveness of SEO for Small and Large Businesses
Internet marketing or web marketing is a method of promoting products and services online. According to market Sherpa, small businesses spend about 20% more than large businesses on hiring staff to handle internet marketing and SEO. SEO provides social proof to the customer. According to search engine algorithm, the highest ranked website is the most visited and the most linked. If a website is linked from other sites and it is most visited, it means that the website has valuable information (Testerman, 2008). The client would trust the prospects of other clients more than a salesperson. Given the amount of time spent online, it is necessary to come up with a good strategy to market the business on the internet.
Search Engine Optimization is a way of improving visibility of a website on search engines such as google. When a website is ranked highly, it appears more often on a search engine. The website also appears then among the first suggestions.The importance of Search Engine Optimization can be compared to the importance of location in business. If a business is not located strategically, customer will never know the business exists (Juon, Greiling and Buerkle, 2012). Location is a very crucial factor in business and so is Search Engine Optimization. This is because search engine helps locate a website.
Search Engine Optimization can make use of different kinds of search which include: local search, image search or video search. As a method of enhancing internet marketing, Search Engine Optimization considers how the search engine operates, what is searched most frequently, the search keywords typed, and the search engine most preferred by the target audience.
SEO can be effective both for large businesses as well as for small businesses. Optimizing a website to improve its rank may require editing of the content of the page, editing HTML code to improve the meaning of certain keywords, and editing the HTML code to improve search engine indexing activities. Search optimized site brings overall increase in sales, since customers are able to locate the website.
Examples of companies for which SEO turned out to be effective include BufferApp, whose customer base grew from 0 to 100,000 through SEO and internet marketing. Another good example is Fraiser Cain who grew his monthly traffic from 0 to 3 million visitors through SEO and internet marketing. Some client may misspell search keywords while searching for a product. Therefore, it is very important that the person taking care of the search optimization consider keywords that may be misspelled.
Other examples of internet marketing include marketing through emails and other wireless devices. Search Engine Optimization helps in making a product visible when a search keyword is entered. Other internet marketing strategies such as email can only be utilized in case of already existing customers. Otherwise, it would be very hard to obtain the email addresses of a new customer. SEO can reach many new customers. This is because SEO only requires the customer to search keywords on a search engine (Juon, Greiling and Buerkle, 2012). Compared to other Internet marketing strategies such as emails, internet marketing and SEO is more cost-effective. This can be explained by the fact that SEO only requires initial input in ensuring that the content and HTML code of the website is search optimized.
SEO also has some disadvantages: a business that relies heavily on SEO can suffer a major loss if the search engine changes its algorithm. This will lead to customers not being directed to the company’s website, which may lead to the decrease in sales. Therefore, it is very essential for the business to employ a SEO expert who will be keeping up with the development and advancement of search technology and algorithms (Testerman, 2008). For SEO to succeed in the international market, it is necessary to translate the website pages. It is also necessary to host the business website using top level domain that will provide a local IP address for the site.
The main differences in SEO for smaller businesses and larger businesses are that for smaller businesses, the results will be apparent after a short time. Small localized business may not be well recognized. SEO will serve as a way of contacting a wider range of new customers. For large companies, they may have been well recognized even before the SEO marketing. Therefore, for large companies, the SEO marketing serves as a means of informing customers about the range of products offered that was not familiar to them.
The effectiveness of the SEO marketing will also be influenced by the level of competition in the market. If the completion is very high, and the competitors have also taken up on SEO and internet marketing, then the effect on revenues will be minimal.
In order for Search Engine Optimization to be successful in increasing businesses visibility online, it is important to appoint a professional in SEO marketing to be keeping up with the changes in SEO technology. It is evident that Search Engine Optimization works on the content that is provided on the website. Therefore, it is very essential for managers to make sure that the website content portrays what the business offers. Search Engine Optimization requires the keywords to be used strategically on the website. This ensures that the website is ranked highly.
Conclusion
It is easier to optimize a small business website for search than a large business one. When working on Search Engine Optimization project, large businesses have some additional challenges that they must consider. Large business will require an expert to be employed to take care of search optimization issues. If there is no expert who is dedicated to optimizing search in a large business, the SEO may not serve its purpose. Such a person must be knowledgeable on marketing issues.
