First of all, just what exactly is SEO? Ever since you’ve created your first website, you’ve been reading and hearing about it; how it can increase traffic and how it can boost page rankings for your site. Surely you’re interested, but you need to know more about it and what can it do for you. After all, being the shrewd businessman, you need to be certain about something before you plunge in, right? Wasting time and company assets on something that may very well be another scam just won’t do at all.

In this particular case, SEO - or Search Engine Optimization - is certainly a great idea. In fact, experienced webmasters will tell you that it is a necessity. More than ever, e-commerce is getting fiercer and more competitive by the minute. Your rivals are doing all they can and are constantly on the lookout for newer and better tools that will help them keep a step ahead of the rest of the pack. Today, it’s not just enough that your company has a website; without enough visitors going to your site, you might as well burn your money and quit. If your website just sits there in a corner of the Web gathering dust, it’s time to make a decision - either pack it up and go home, or tune up the engines and full speed ahead.

But why is SEO that important? Read the numbers. 85% of people looking for any website use search engines. And 90% of those people do not go beyond the first five pages of any search result. If they cannot find what they’re looking for, they simply type something else in the search box. Search queries - those words and phrases that users type into the search box - are now known to have exceptional value. SEO promotes your website by helping it get a higher ranking in the major search engines, using keywords and phrases that are used the most by your targeted audience. For example, if your business involves swimwear, the most important keywords would be swimwear, swimsuit, bikini, beachwear, and swimming, to name just a few.

If you aren’t in the top rankings for your market, you’re very unlikely to get much attention from your targeted audience. And SEO is not just about keywords. The overall design, layout and navigation of your site is also very important. SEO is a process of improving, changing, and cleaning up the code in your site to make it more search engine friendly. It also involves optimizing your links and the way visitors can navigate your website, for a better and faster browsing experience. After all, getting visitors is important, but getting them to stay is decidedly better. Putting it simply, if you want to make your online business more successful, you need an SEO campaign.

So now you are ready to start your own campaign. The next decision for you is whether to do it in-house or outsource it. I recommend outsourcing it. Why? Try to keep in mind the time and the expense it will take for you to set up and maintain a full-fledged SEO campaign. Most companies don’t even know where to start. You’ll need the knowledge, the software, and the people to run and manage it effectively. The IT and marketing departments might be involved in other important projects. If lack of time, knowledge, and resources will affect your campaign in any way, your exposure on the Internet will suffer.

Outsourcing means saving money. Ideally, you can hire SEO professionals in other countries where the cost of labour is relatively low compared to yours. And because writing is such an integral part of search engine optimization, you will be able to hire writers who specialize in this type of work. If you don’t know it yet, writing can be exhaustive, time consuming and tiring work. Most SEO companies also include the whole package - optimal website design (if needed), appropriate SEO solutions, and a thorough website marketing service. This includes analyzing your site’s keywords, links, and meta tags, just to name a few. They will even analyze your competitors’ websites if required.

With most SEO campaigns, the hardest part of the work is during the first four to six weeks. This is the time when your website is studied, taken apart, and then put together again - this time optimized for better search engine rankings. Keep in mind that although the costs may sometimes seem high, still it is much more cost-effective than hiring, training, and employing staff dedicated for the job. You also automatically harness the collective pool of talent and experience that a professional SEO firm has to offer.

Especially for small businesses, SEO can be better than any other advertising option. It allows you to expand your business to the global market even if you’re not able to regularly invest money on media advertisements and other promotions. By outsourcing your SEO campaign, this can become even more cost-effective and worthwhile in the long run.