Not too long ago, missing the deadline for listing in the phone book was akin to closing your business for the year.
Thankfully these days no such deadline looms, however a more insidious problem lurks.
You’ve got your business website up and running, it looks great – but still the phone isn’t ringing. It could be because your website is ‘invisible’.
According to research by digital marketing service provider, Sensis, many businesses miss out on sales and new customers because they don’t know how to boost the visibility of their website in search results.
Sensis Managing Director John Allan said less than a third of SMBs use Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to drive traffic to their sites.
“Australian SMEs are beginning to realise the importance of making their websites easy to find, with the percentage of businesses utilising SEO up from 21 per cent to 32 per cent in the last three years. However there are still many businesses who fail to tap into its potential,” Allan said.
“The digital marketing landscape in Australia is changing and small businesses in particular need to be at the forefront of this change. There’s a massive perception that this space is dominated by large enterprises, but a full-service SEO product can help small businesses easily implement and manage their digital presence in an increasingly popular search-led world,” he added.
The 2013 Sensis e-business report found:
- The number of Australian consumers accessing the internet via a mobile is at 68 per cent (up from 58 per cent in 2012)
- 50 per cent of consumers are accessing the internet using a tablet (up from 34 per cent in 2012).
- Just 18 per cent of SMBs use the internet to advertise on other websites with only 32 per cent of small businesses actively utilising SEO
