If you have a business, the answer is yes. In this digital age, there is simply no choice but to actively engage in search engine optimization; it is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.

The vast majority of consumers looking for any type of business begin with an online search. A recent study by the National Association of Realtors found that 43% of buyers began their home buying process by looking for properties online, and 12% used the Internet to look for information about the home buying process. Another study found that 81% of consumers do an online search before purchasing a product. Therefore, ranking in the first page of Google is key for winning traffic. Regardless of what industry you are in, a strong web presence is essential for growth.

If you want to attract new business, SEO is a must. Many people come to us asking whether they can manage SEO themselves. While it’s best to leave it to the professionals, there are certain steps that can be taken to improve rankings:

• Post new content regularly. Blogs are a great way to keep your existing contacts engaged. We recommend a minimum of 300 words of content per blog. It is also beneficial to incorporate keywords (search terms that potential customers might use to find your business) into the first 100-150 words of your blog.
• Maintain an active presence on social media. External links are an important component of SEO rankings, and social media provides an excellent opportunity to link to your site.
• Create local listings on Yelp, Google and Facebook. Most search engines are increasingly interested in returning local results. So if a customer searches for “real estate agents,” search engines are going to return the results that are in that customer’s area. Maintaining listings or business profiles on pages such as Yelp, Google, and Facebook facilitates locating your business.

These are a few of the simplest ways to implement an SEO strategy yourself, but there are countless other ways to improve page rankings. Some of these include: on-page optimization, ongoing keyword research, regular analytics of your site, and back-end edits to ensure a seamless user experience.

It’s vital to note that many of these approaches require a considerable time commitment. Additionally, SEO is a field that is constantly changing, so one has to keep abreast of the new trends. An experienced SEO professional can help you implement these tactics easily and efficiently. If you are interested in learning more about how digital marketing can help increase your business, we’d love to meet.

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