Quickbooks, Bookkeeping and Accounting Blog

Customers are increasingly choosing and buying products and services over the Web, and their search usually starts on one of the major search engines.  Despite this, few small companies have put significant effort into search engine optimization (SEO).  As a result, SEO offers both a tremendous opportunity for companies to acquire new business and a significant risk to those that don’t pay attention to it.
 
This opportunity is the greatest for those that can sell products or deliver services to non-local customers, as the potential market for these companies is tremendous, but it is also significant for companies that do business only locally. For years the Yellow Pages have served as a primary source of new customers for many small, local businesses. As more and more people go to search engines before the Yellow Pages, showing up at the top for searches like “Tampa Accountant” and “Reno Bookkeeper” becomes increasingly important.

Many companies mistakenly think that because they haven’t gained business from their website yet, they never will. However, it is important to remember that the Internet is still very young, and its impact on people’s buying habits is just beginning. Companies that act quickly have the opportunity to come up at the top for organic searches for their products and, consequently, to gain business over the web. Interestingly, however, the real benefit might not be the business you gain in the next few months.  The real benefit might be the business you gain over the next ten years.

Because the Internet has largely replaced the Yellow Pages for me, I think of the past value of the Yellow Pages to a company as a good, quick indicator of the future value of search engines, and thus of the importance of SEO for companies. Therefore, if the Yellow Pages have been a good source of business for your company, then I recommend you develop an SEO plan for you company’s website.