Yes.
Oh, you wanted an explanation?
Am I untrustworthy? Do I look like a liar to you?
No, I get it. Due diligence and all that. If we believed everything we read on the internet the world would be one questionable place. Thankfully, the cold, hard facts back me up on this opinion. Let’s take a look at the benefits of a solid search engine optimization (SEO) regime.
The Reality of Googlers
There’s one thing you need to know about people who use search engines (i.e. everyone) – they’re a fickle bunch.
FUN FACT: Academic research tells us that 91 percent of people don’t get to the second page of their Google results. If you’re not right there on that first page, you’re left with only nine percent of your potential business who will keep on looking for you. And that number is ever decreasing the further back in the results you sit.
What’s more, over 50 percent of these lazy so-and-so’s don’t even scroll down on the first page. That’s right. They only see the first three results to any query they throw Google’s way.
The Reality of Your Situation
So you’re a contractor. Try this – type in your field of expertise and your location into a search engine (e.g. Carpenter Penrith). Do you rank in those first three results? Do you rank on that first page? If not, you’re missing out on a huge amount of business.
The reality of the situation is this; no matter who a contractor’s customer is – a Mum and Dad homeowner or a multi-national business – one of the first ports of call for anyone looking for goods and services is the internet. The Yellow Pages is dead and buried in the minds of anyone born after the invention of the wheel, and nothing is better than the internet at getting your name out there.
To keep your business growing, search engine optimization is a must.
Versus Pay-Per-Click
SEO allows you to position yourself naturally in front of the faces of those who need you. The use of the word naturally here is very important. There is a cheat way of getting atop the search engine rankings. By paying for it. Google Adwords, along with other services offered by Yahoo and Bing, offer search rank topping pay-per-click services that appear super reasonably priced.
But are they really? The problem with these services is who in their right mind clicks on an ad before an actual result? They might get you in front of people’s faces, but the click-through rates are dire. The better investment? Paying for the backroom work that gets you up the rankings under your own steam.
Cautionary Tales
SEO can be a process with a very slow turnaround. Search engines put more emphasis on sites that have been optimized long-term than they do on those that have been recently – this process of building up a history as a search engine optimized site can take anywhere up to a year. SEO is a complicated and lengthy process anyway, and one that is constantly in flux thanks to new algorithms constantly introduced by Google, Yahoo and Bing to keep people on their toes. Unless you’re a part-time computing genius with a spare 40 hours in your week, you’ll need the help of an SEO specialist.
With the length and the complicatedness of the project in mind, it’s important to choose an SEO specialist that has a proven track record of success. While you’re not directly paying for advertising, that is certainly the end goal of optimising of your site. A wise investment in the right firm is key.
A Wise Move
By investing in SEO as a contractor, you’re doing your best to future-proof your business. But it needs to be remembered that getting people to your site is just half the battle. Turning them into customers is an entirely different kettle of fish.
But that’s a story for another time.