I've been doing a lot of reading lately on liabilities vs. assets lately, as I seek to increase my understanding of finances. As I've been doing that, I realized something absolutely crucial to the existence of Engauge as a tool:
SEO Is an Asset
When I first take a look at any website I create or manage, I immediately expect to see my web analytics skyrocketing! I've done everything right, the site is crawlable (talking about technical SEO), lots of keywords in my headers (my on-page SEO). But, nothing happens immediately. And three days later, the site traffic almost disappears.
But I began to realize: SEO is an asset that you build upon. It isn't the lottery, where you add some structured data to your page and your traffic jumps by 10k hits. It isn't a gamble where you hope you keep your money. It builds value over time, and as you continually invest and care for your site, you begin to reap the rewards.
SEO Is a Long Tail Asset
Do you know where Youtubers make the most money? It isn't on the video that they just released; it's on the one that has been out for months that continually gets traffic over and over, with more and more people click on ads. The person who created the video does the work once, maybe responds to any new comments on there, but then continually reaps the reward.
The same is true of your site SEO: You need to create a long tail. The more content that you have that is findable, the more opportunity to continue to drive a sales funnel!
SEO Is a Long-Term Investment
It doesn't happen overnight. Adding keywords to your titles, changing your CTA, all of these are importants, but the impact may not be felt immediately. Just like a good investment, the rewards begin to grow and grow the more you take care of your SEO. Play the long game!