Are your SEO efforts delivering the right results?

What makes your brand stand out from others?

It seems like a simple question to answer, yet probably more businesses than you realize have trouble providing a quick and informative response.

Part of that problem may stem from not using search engine optimization (SEO) to your brand’s benefit.

In the event SEO has not been a staple of your business plan in recent years, take some time to see how it can not only help your brand, but it can also set you apart from the competition.

SEO Can Be a Difference Maker

To begin with, SEO should be looked at as a major component to a formidable marketing plan no matter what the size of the company.

With that in mind, how are you using SEO – or for that matter not using it – to your brand’s advantage?

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SEO, when properly teamed with solid content marketing and noteworthy landing pages, helps your business gain the upper-hand on competitors. In the end, you can prosper from better brand visibility, increased website traffic, and more information when it comes to customer trends, notably spending habits.

Take a look at some of the advantages SEO can offer your company, advantages that you would be silly to neglect.

They include:

• Searching – All the time and effort you put into your brand is essentially for naught if you fail to rank highly in search results. With a sound SEO plan in place (this is where organic SEO agencies can be of great benefit to your brand), you increase the odds of moving up the ranks in search engines, notably Google. For example, if your business sells auto insurance, you want to rank at or near the top when consumers type in searches around auto insurance, cheap auto insurance, buy auto insurance etc. With the right SEO game plan, your brand can do just that, setting you aside as an authoritative source in your respective industry and driving more traffic your way.
• Traffic – Any brand’s goal at the end of the day is to of course to make as many sales as possible. That being the case, you obviously need a steady flow of traffic to your website in order to increase the odds of making sales. SEO’s ability (when done correctly) to place your brand higher up in the search process means more traffic to your website. Once consumers are on your website, however, you need a reason to keep them there, not have them click and visit for a few seconds and then never return. This is where strong content makes a difference.

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• Content –You’ve likely heard the saying that content is king, but do you follow through on having strong content on your website? Unfortunately, too many business owners fail to see the true importance of stellar content on their sites, instead just filling up pages so their site looks healthy. Your site’s content should not only be useful to the reader (more times than not a potential customer), but it also needs to be authoritative. When you stand out in a positive manner from the competition, more consumers are likely to trust you and what you are saying and selling for that matter. The content on your site can (and should) include some guest posts from authoritative figures. Doing so brings more credibility to your site, allowing consumers to see that your site is highly thought of in the business community. Finally, make sure your content is getting plenty of attention on social media. Also make a habit out of sharing and retweeting content from other industry sources. Not only is it good social etiquette, but it will help build more brand awareness for your business.
• Customers – When you put SEO in play, it also helps you better understand customer demographics. With all the data that is out there in today’s information-driven world, it can sometimes seem a little too overwhelming for some in the business sector. The more you can learn about customers – the ways they go about searching, their likes and dislikes, their spending levels, when they’re most likely to buy etc. is invaluable. Know your customers inside and out so they have little or no reason to go elsewhere.

When done correctly and with enthusiasm, SEO can deliver the results you and your brand is in need of.

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and marketing topics on the web.