Why would you consider search engines when trying to extend your marketing efforts? Because, the majority of new web site visitors come from people who are using search engines to find products and services. Try to think about how many times you’ve performed a Google search in the past week. Chances are a lot, right? This medium has been proven to be an extremely important part of digital marketing, and SEO can have you in front of the people who are looking for your product.
Search engines are important for a number of reasons:
- The amount of website visits that originate from search engines are significant. On average, there were 4.7 billion Google searches performed each day in 2011. I can only imagine how many of these searches involved products and services...
- Research shows that there are billions of other searches being performed on search sites, such as video sites, map sites, retail sites, and other search engine sites. It’s likely that 2 to 3 searches are performed each day by every man, woman, child, and baby in the United States.
- Search engines give you an inexpensive way to reach people. Sure, you have to spend some dollars on website optimization, but you are getting more bang for your buck by going after free search engine traffic than almost any other form of advertising or marketing.
- For a number of years now, it has been established that search engines have made up a great deal of the consumer research process. People consult Google to answer their questions of: Are there any competitors? What are people saying about this product? How much does it cost?
- A large number of website visits that don’t originate at the search engines are revisits. These are people who already know exactly where they need to go. This is not new business, it’s repeat business. Search engines originate most of new website visits, making them the single most important online source of new visits to a website.
So, why bother with search engines? To be plain and simple, people are looking for products and services like the ones you’re selling. Don’t you want to be part of the action? For the first time, you have the power of getting in front of your customer exactly when they’re looking for what you’re selling. In general, traditional marketing tactics are pushy, unlike search engines that only display your information when people are looking for you.