Searching for You

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is more than a buzzword. Experts say by spending as little as five hours per month on optimization, you can attract more clients and gain exposure for your business.

A lot of companies don’t realize how much business they can generate through search engines, but defining and explaining the benefits of SEO isn’t exactly easy, local experts say. Most businesses know SEO is advisable, but few understand what that means, says Theresa Ayers, co-owner of GSW Consulting Group, a Bonita Springs-based interactive marketing firm. She frequently teaches seminars at Florida Gulf Coast University and through the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce.

SEO is a technique that businesses can use to manipulate how search engines find and list their website, says Zach Katkin, president and co-founder of Atilus, an Estero-based web-development and marketing company. “People do use the search engines to find businesses. The gold standard is Google for companies. You’re there through SEO, or you’re not there.”

Adds Ayers: “If you don’t do SEO, it’s going to be incredibly difficult [for people] to find your website.”

Companies’ SEO efforts have had an impact on her own decisions. When she was searching for a mobile car repairman in Bonita Springs and another time for a Maytag repairman, she Googled those phrases and chose from the companies whose information or websites popped up on the first page of search results. Typically people design a website or have one designed and just park it on the Web, Ayers says. Businesses need to put effort into bringing people to their website.

It takes longer than some other forms of marketing, Katkin says. “You can’t just flip a switch and expect it to come up.”

Katkin and Ayers shared tips for getting started with SEO and making your company website or blog one of the first links people see when searching on Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines.

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