Now that most businesses have staked out their online territory, the task shifts from establishing a web presence to building on that foundation. The next phase of the digital marketing revolution will be defined by advances in SEO friendly web design and content marketing.

In our increasingly noisy online world, businesses are predicted to invest serious resources to connect with their customers. A new report underscores just how important SEO services are today and why they’ll continue to be important tomorrow.

From $65 Billion to $80 Billion in SEO Services in 5 Years

A new digital marketing services white paper takes on the colossal task of quantifying digital marketing services. In a half-trillion-dollar industry, that’s no small task.

Borrell, a local-media data firm, expects U.S. small businesses will shell out $613 billion in digital marketing support spending this year. It’s a budget that dwarfs what the same companies will budget for ad spending (somewhere between $200-300 billion). But more important is where Borrell sees that budget growing over the next several years.

Nearly 11 percent of that $613 billion total will go to SEO services in 2016. That’s more than spending for online consulting and research services or online public relations. What’s more, Borrell forecasts this year’s $65 billion in SEO services will grow to $80 billion by 2020.

Why SEO Is So Important for Small Businesses  

Small businesses first step in the digital revolution was getting their businesses online. Hosting, site design, and ad-management expenditures took precedence. But 2016 is a different world from those early days.

SEO services have grown to where they are today because of the constant evolution of the web.

Just as a brick-and-mortar store can’t set up merchandise and sales signs and call it a day, a website can’t be built, launched, and then forgotten about. Too much changes. Both the goals of a business and the needs of its customers evolve.

How customers use the infrastructure of the web to find product solutions. How businesses use that same web infrastructure to position their solutions to customers. Both change.

Google, Bing, Facebook, and the rest change their algorithms to keep up with these changing times. The result is that the website, the content marketing, and the SEO that worked last year won’t necessarily work next year.

How an Investment in SEO Will Help Your Business Grow  

As businesses look for ways to grow, they find out just how important investment in SEO is. It’s at the heart of any winning strategy. Businesses that see these SEO services as in investment in growth — and not just a business expense — will be the ones to come out ahead in the next phase of online business growth.

Whether you want to launch a new service or product successfully, target a new profitable niche, or boost the effectiveness of your next marketing campaign, great SEO is essential.

SEO friendly web design is the first step. It will let you take advantage of Google’s growing preference for mobile-friendly websites, localization features, and individualized search results. Pairing SEO and content marketing will take your business to the next level. Customers don’t just want more content, they need great content — engaging blog posts, helpful FAQs, and reviews and testimonials.

To be sure, these are big dollar figures and predicting what the future holds comes with its share of uncertainty. But when the options are to be lost in the digital noise or evolve and stay top-of-mind, the choice is clear. It’s why so many businesses are investing in SEO for today and the expectation of that to grow in the future.

Ready to invest in your business’s future with SEO, web design, or content marketing services? Call us at 313-338-9515 or email hello@kaleidico.com to learn how we can help.