Why SEO is Essential for Your Digital Marketing Strategy

It is, without a doubt, impossible for businesses to stay relevant in the information age without an effective digital marketing strategy. Seeing as Namibians will soon enjoy nationwide Wi-Fi at affordable rates, your business’ potential online reach will be even greater if you have the right strategies in place.

Say you have just taken your business online. You may have invested in designing the most aesthetically pleasing, most user-friendly, UX considered website for your business, but has your digital marketing strategy considered this fact - if Google produces over 40,000 searches per second (some of them are bound to relate to what you offer), how can you make sure that users find your site among the billions of daily searches? It is, as the age old saying goes, like finding a needle in a haystack.

However, with a firm, ongoing SEO strategy, you can beat Google’s algorithm, to make sure your business gets displayed as a top search result. This is why SEO is essential for your business’ online survival.

An SEO digital marketing strategy leads to higher conversions.

SEO In a Nutshell SEO or search engine optimization, is a digital marketing tool used to order information for search engines like Google. Businesses should set up their websites and content according to SEO best practice principles if they would like to see their site ranked highly in search results, which ultimately leads to higher traffic and greater conversions.

Think of Google as a matchmaker between your business and a prospective client. Search engines, like Google, use keywords to understand what someone is looking for on the net. They use this information to display websites that will most likely contain content that answers the question, offers the product or resolves the issue that brought the user online.

If your business is considered by search engines to be an authority on a specific topic, they will rank your website higher in search results. If your website ranks higher in search results, people are more likely to click on them. In other words, search engines help prospective clients find your business! In light of the fact that more than 50% of web traffic comes from clicking on website through organic search results, with an SEO optimized website, you can really hike up conversions for your business.

Advantages of SEO The key to an effective SEO strategy is patience. You won’t necessarily see the results you are looking for overnight. Rather, SEO, as a digital marketing tool, builds on itself over time.

Increase traffic to your website. According to a study by Chitika, websites on the first search engine results page (SERP) get 90% of web traffic and the top three pages get 60%. Consumers want results quickly, meaning all of the time and money spent creating the perfect website doesn’t amount to much if people can’t find it on the first SERP.

More cost effective and more effective. The allure of PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising is that you can nearly guarantee your business a top position on the first SERP but the downside is the price that comes with paying for certain keywords. Studies have shown that for every 1 click on a paid search result, organic search results generate 8.5 clicks and this number increases the higher your page ranks in the SERP. These numbers reveal that focusing on an effective SEO strategy will, in the long run, increase the traffic to your site more so than PPC - without the added cost.

Improve the quality of your leads. As an inbound marketing strategy, SEO targets those who have particular intent, in other words, people who want to find you. 59% of marketers firmly believe that inbound marketing produces higher quality leads than traditional outbound marketing strategies like commercials, billboards, or cold calling. If you place more focus on catering your website to users who are looking for information relating to what your business offers, you are more likely to reach your target audience.

Beat out your competitors. It’s likely that your competitors already have an SEO strategy in place. If you really want to best them, you should implement your own SEO strategy to redirect traffic from their site to your own. Following the correct principles can even allow small businesses to outrank their competitors.

A more user-friendly website. As you make your website easier for search engines to navigate, you will also improve the user experience of your website. SEO is no longer just about optimizing for search engines, now you need improve the user experience too. SEO strategies involve rearranging your website’s structure to make it simpler for search engines to find information and pages on your website, this simultaneously makes the process simpler for users.

An effective digital marketing strategy involves SEO optimisation.

SEO in 2019 SEO is always changing but it is certain to remain an essential feature of any successful digital marketing strategy in 2019. 61% of marketers argue that improving businesses’ SEO and online presence is a top priority. Google does not reveal the precise nature of their algorithm, and it’s not likely that they ever will, which is why it’s important for companies to look into hiring SEO experts to keep their website in line with the latest algorithm updates.

V5 Digital is one of the leading digital marketing agencies in Windhoek, Namibia, we help businesses transform to the Power of Digital. If you would like to start benefiting from an effective SEO strategy, contact V5 Digital for a free assessment.

Is 'cashless' the future of African events?

With the acceleration of Digital, we are heading into an age where it’s becoming pointless to move around with cash and the adoption of cashless systems has increased.

Cashless transactions like online payments, swiping and payment apps are important examples, but more efforts are being made to incorporate such systems at larger entertainment events across Africa.

An article on Business Live(South Africa), mentioned that in the next three to five years, events will no longer accept cash at event, however, more education is necessary to teach people about the benefits of cashless environments, because some will be reluctant to make the switch from traditional cash payments. Those implementing cashless systems need to make sure that their service is robust and user-friendly.

In Namibia, events are starting to experiment with cashless environments or using your smartphone to complete transactions and not having to carry cash or even your bank card around. Using them at events saves one from slow queues, being overcharged by vendors or general theft, it has environmental benefits because we save on paper and insightful consumer behaviour data can be gathered from these cashless transactions — ultimately benefitting the Consumer Experience (CX).

When it comes to events, some companies allow patrons to upload money onto radio- frequency identification (RFI) or Near Field Communication (NFC) wristbands or pay a small fee for cards where they can load their money and use that card to transact at different stalls within the venue. In some cases, events make use of applications as well where one can scan a code and to make a payment or pay the vendor already listed on the application.

With ATMs that tend to not be available or jammed at big events, cashless options allow for a smoother and more secure Customer Experience. If you are worried about money leftover on your card, you can easily cash-out at the venue or have your money transferred to your bank account. Given the fact that ATMS might be hard to come by, cashless top-up stations will allow you to swipe money from your card on to the wristbands or cards, in some cases, top-ups are allowed before the event.

Vendors who implement cashless strategies can gain useful information about their customers and can even find out who their repeat buyers are and do not have to suffer cash being stolen from them.

For event organisers, finding out who the top selling vendors and items for sale are, can suggest how to make improvements for their future events. They can see where they were lacking to make improvements and what to cut back on based on the sales information. Cashless systems can also inform event organisers about consumer behaviour in terms of when attendees are using their wristband or card and when which of the vendors is most busy. Companies and Brands in the Digital Age can use that information to increase consumer loyalty and work towards constantly improving their Customer Experience.

V5 Digital is the official digital cashless partner of the Windhoek Jazz Festival. #WindhoekJazzFestival #whkjazzfest #V5Digital

Contact the V5 Digital Team and turn your next event #cashless.

V5 Digital visited Omar Akhtar in San Francisco and learnt about the Virtual Reality possibilities

We experienced the latest in applied Virtual Reality (VR).

Omar Akhtar is an industry analyst at Altimeter, a Prophet Company where he publishes research and advises companies on digital marketing innovation.

His recent areas of focus include content strategy, data-driven personalization, customer experience technology and multi-channel marketing. He is also researching the new field of augmented and virtual reality.

Armin Wieland, Founder of V5 Digital talking to Omar Akhtar about Virtual Reality.

Click here to read more about Omar.

Get in touch with the V5 Digital Team so that we can help you stand out from the crowd through the Power of Digital.

Would you like to learn more about Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and other fascinating digital topics? Register now for our V5 Africa Webinar series.