Tag Archives: businesses
How Important Is Search Engine Optimisation to Online Business?
The internet has completely revolutionised the way people live. Ten years ago music, movies and games were purchased in high street stores. Today they can be downloaded or streamed from anywhere using hand held digital devices such as tablet computers or even mobile phones. We used to rely on phone books and yellow pages to find shops and tradesmen but today it is the internet where we find what we need. Shopping habit is also changing rapidly with internet driving more and more sales every year. People have become very used to buying and selling online through online marketplace and e-commerce portals such as amazon, ebay, taobao, lacartes and many others.
For businesses internet has become an important source of revenue. The running of an online business is not that different to running an offline business. A shop would invest a lot of money and time to get the right location usually a busy location in the right town, where it can be seen by a lot of potential customers with genuine interests in its products and services. Online businesses apply the same principle and invest a lot of money and time to be seen by the right crowd people with genuine interests in its products and services.
When people search for a particular product or service, they are expressing a genuine interest in that product or service so it is highly likely they would commit to a purchase. This makes search engine traffic highly valuable and it is why many online businesses allocate majority of their operating budget to search engine optimisation (also known as SEO) in order to appear at the top of search results for the right search keywords.
Businesses at the top of search results are looked at first so they have the best chance of making a sale. Getting to the top of search engine search results is the holy grail of online advertising. Search engines channel so much traffic every day they can literally drive millions of potential customers to a business. Therefore search engine optimisation or SEO is extremely important to any online business.
SEO refers to methods and techniques that can improve a websites position in search results for the most relevant keywords. There is an entire industry devoted to SEO. They offer their expertise and services to help businesses increase their search engine traffic.
The main advantage of running an online business is the lower cost base because it doesnt require any retail space. This leaves businesses with more money to invest in advertising and marketing. Business owners and webmasters should invest generously in SEO and think of it as the same thing as paying extra for a shop in the right location.
How Important Is Search Engine Optimisation to Online Business?
The internet has completely revolutionised the way people live. Ten years ago music, movies and games were purchased in high street stores. Today they can be downloaded or streamed from anywhere using hand held digital devices such as tablet computers or even mobile phones. We used to rely on phone books and yellow pages to find shops and tradesmen but today it is the internet where we find what we need. Shopping habit is also changing rapidly with internet driving more and more sales every year. People have become very used to buying and selling online through online marketplace and e-commerce portals such as amazon, ebay, taobao, lacartes and many others.
For businesses internet has become an important source of revenue. The running of an online business is not that different to running an offline business. A shop would invest a lot of money and time to get the right location usually a busy location in the right town, where it can be seen by a lot of potential customers with genuine interests in its products and services. Online businesses apply the same principle and invest a lot of money and time to be seen by the right crowd people with genuine interests in its products and services.
When people search for a particular product or service, they are expressing a genuine interest in that product or service so it is highly likely they would commit to a purchase. This makes search engine traffic highly valuable and it is why many online businesses allocate majority of their operating budget to search engine optimisation (also known as SEO) in order to appear at the top of search results for the right search keywords.
Businesses at the top of search results are looked at first so they have the best chance of making a sale. Getting to the top of search engine search results is the holy grail of online advertising. Search engines channel so much traffic every day they can literally drive millions of potential customers to a business. Therefore search engine optimisation or SEO is extremely important to any online business.
SEO refers to methods and techniques that can improve a websites position in search results for the most relevant keywords. There is an entire industry devoted to SEO. They offer their expertise and services to help businesses increase their search engine traffic.
The main advantage of running an online business is the lower cost base because it doesnt require any retail space. This leaves businesses with more money to invest in advertising and marketing. Business owners and webmasters should invest generously in SEO and think of it as the same thing as paying extra for a shop in the right location.
Web design is dead!
Before people become too incredulous with this statement this author believes no. Web design is not dead, neither are the firms who are offering such services dead. It was something I heard recently with regard to the proliferation of blog publishing systems and with many sites offering free templates.With the apparent availability of a cheap instant web presence, is there is any need for anyone to sit down any more and learn how to create a website from scratch and all the programming and design skills that this demands, and subsequently for any business to invest in the people who offer that service? Well obviously this statement is something of an insult to all the talented designers and programmers out there, and the million of students investing time into learning these skills, and fortunately the statements are wide of the mark. Businesses do want to hire web design companies, and personally I think it’s in their interests to do so. The purpose of this article is not to simply knock creators of templates, as they are designers themselves – it is simply to suggest that there is sometimes there is an alternative, that will pay dividends in the long run.
Businesses want to cut corners, the market is tough globally – when faced with the choice of spending $5,000 on a site and less than a $100.00 for some businesses it is an easy choice. There are millions of ready to go websites out there, some are stunning, some are quite frankly not. Some are dated, some are not. But my advice to any business would be not to dive into the ‘cheap end’ immediately.
Having a professional web design company design a bespoke website will enhance your brand, it isn’t a necessarily a question of avoiding duplication, i.e risking choosing a cheap template another company is using, it’s about starting your own perception of your business on a strong footing, giving you the confidence in your brand from the outset. A professional web design company will be able to work with you from the ground up to achieve a brand you can be proud of. If you work with a committed web design team from the start they can grow with your company, understand your goals and react to your changing business goals. In that sense they become a valued extra member of your team.
It’s understandable why many businesses strive to cut costs, especially start-up businesses, but in today’s crowded markets and where your on-line presence has become critical, it’s worth listing your web presence on your list of costs as high as your office IT requirements.