In our previous posts, we have talked about how to Create an SEO strategy in 2022, how to Get on top of your Technical SEO, and how SEO should work together with your web development team.
But we haven’t talked about how SEO can help your sales team improve their performance. And maybe that is where we should have started. So, without further ado, let’s talk about the SEO/sales relationship.
Even though Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, is talked about in all digital marketing meetings, it is an area of online marketing that is often underestimated and underutilised. Maybe that’s because it is shrouded in mystery. Every time you search for anything SEO related you will most likely get results that are more cryptic than sage advice from Master Yoda!
I will try to simplify this and explain how a well-implemented SEO strategy can improve your sales team’s performance.
What does SEO actually do?
At first glance, SEO sounds very complicated. If you have Googled SEO before, I am sure some of these came up.
Google My Business, On-page, off-page, and technical SEO, indexing, canonicals, content silos, and a myriad of other SEO jargon. It all sounds overwhelming.
But in reality, there are only 3 SEO “levers” you can pull:
- Improve current keyword rankings – your website pages show up in the search results for specific keyword (or query) searches. You can check what keywords your site currently ranks for in the Performance tab of Google Search Console.
- Increase the number of keywords your website ranks for – there will likely be keywords relevant to your business, that your website is currently not ranking for, and it should. This is where keyword research comes in. You can use Google Keyword Planner, which is free, or any of the paid tools, like SEMrush for example. Then you can either optimise current pages to rank for these untapped keywords or create brand new ones.
- Improving Click-Through Rates (CTR) – When your pages do appear in the search results, it is not guaranteed the user will click on them and visit your site. But a good SEO can help you improve the CTR.
I find it a lot easier to think about these 3 metrics when it comes to SEO. You can decide which areas you want to focus on, set your objectives, and then start untangling the SEO jargon. Or turn to a digital marketing agency that offers SEO services.
Now that you know the 3 areas SEO focuses on, let’s see how it relates to sales.
How does SEO help sales?
Online visibility
This is the most obvious one. You want as many eyes on your website as possible. The best way to do that is to show your website on page 1 of Google results for as many relevant search queries as possible. 70% of users click on the first 4 results after the ads. Less than 1% of people click on anything on page 2.
Relevant leads
Now, this is where it gets a little bit more interesting for the sales guys. SEO is not only about attracting traffic. It is about attracting the RIGHT traffic.
A well-implemented SEO strategy will attract the correct audience for your products or services and closing sales will be easier. This means a higher conversion rate and even an improvement as small as 1 or 2 % can make a big difference in the annual revenue.
Also, since SEO is a PULL marketing strategy, your sales team can focus on other lead generation areas, such as social selling, or closing sales.
Building Credibility
SEO is all about the quality content on your website. When I say quality content, it means “content useful to your client”. If you can show your clients that you offer a quality product or service and clearly explain what problems you solve, it shows knowledge and credibility. Again, closing sales will be much easier and result in an increased conversion rate.
Shorter sales cycles
The time between the initial enquiry and sale close differs from industry to industry. But a good SEO could potentially shorten the time between the initial enquiry and closing of the sale. If you can get visitors to your website, you can then set up a re-marketing campaign and stay on their minds all the time. I see reMarkable ads on my Facebook all the time, and I know what I want for Christmas!
SEO and e-mail marketing
I personally believe SEO and e-mail are a matchmaker’s dream. If you can identify frequently asked questions relevant to your product or service and answer them on your website, your visitors are likely to sign up for your mailing list.
You can also offer downloadable content in exchange for an e-mail address, but first, you need to make sure people will find it! And then have a good e-mail drip campaign to stay in touch with your leads. On the flip side, e-mailing quality blogs and newsletters to your mailing list is a great way to drive traffic to your site.* A great example of a mailing campaign is Moz blog digital marketing newsletter.
* If you are using mailing campaigns, or any other marketing tools, to drive traffic to your site, make sure you use UTM tags. Kontentino have a good UTM tag builder you can use to add the tags to your links. This way you can monitor which of the marketing efforts work best for your site.
Conclusion
More and more businesses are realising the potential SEO holds and an already competitive marketing arena will soon become a proper dogfight. It is never too late to start SEO for your business, but the sooner you start, the better chance you have to stay ahead of the curve.
At Blue Sword, we help small and medium-sized businesses to improve their digital footprint. Since we are a full-service digital agency, we can advise our clients on web design, SEO, social media and search engine marketing.
Why not get in touch and see if we would be a good fit?