Web design and development are two highly critical stages of the business process. Without a well-designed website that incorporates responsive website design, custom website design and more, your business could be losing out to thousands of potential clients.
Once you have designed your website and developed it taking into account CRM/CMS development, the creation of mobile applications and more, you then need to establish how people are going to find your website. Effectively, this means knowing how customers happen to stumble onto your site.
What are the Top Ways to be Found?
Although social media management continues to steal the limelight, according to a recent study, online users prefer to find businesses through organic web searches. In 2012, 54% of online users performed web searches to find a website, rather than resorting to social media or other resources to find what they were looking for.
These findings may come as a surprise to many – social media has changed the way that people interact with the internet considerably and most businesses across the globe have acknowledged the power of social media and made changes to their online marketing strategies as a result.
However, the biggest reason why people continue to find businesses through organic searches (e.g. through search engines such as Google or Bing) is that they prefer to do what feels familiar and comfortable. Social media may be enlightening, fascinating and fun, but it isn’t being ideal for achieving a particular purpose.
In a recent survey carried out with 33,000 online users, 54% of those users stated that they prefer to find businesses through online searches. Surprisingly, social networking sites were used by just 32% of respondents. The process of opening up a search engine, typing in your query and browsing through the results is a familiar and reliable one that countless online users remain committed towards.
Other Methods yet to Succeed
Many businesses understand the power of online searches and search engine optimisation, and aim to tackle that power head on by using sponsored links. Sponsored links are links that feature at the top of a web search. Businesses usually pay for those links to be featured at the top of the page; however research also suggests that a large percentage of online users avoid sponsored links, instead opting for organic search results.
What do these Findings Mean for Business?
According to the results of this research, businesses need to maintain their focus on being found through organic searches. As a result, search engine optimization remains essential to the success of a business.
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