Your OTT business depends on one thing only: You must generate a steady stream of sales to thrive.
This doesn’t change whether you’re a SaaS-based OTT video solutions provider or a streaming service like Amazon Prime, Disney+, or Netflix.
The key to success will always include generating enough traffic to your website and honing down the sales conversion rate it produces.
In this article, you’ll learn how B2B OTT Solutions providers can attract qualified leads and revenue with your sales team’s secret weapon: SEO.
SEO and the Sales Process
Customers don’t typically make up their minds to buy simply by talking to your salespeople. Instead, they want to research to make sure they’re making an educated decision.
Nearly 50% of people research online to identify potential solutions before booking a call with your sales team. In addition, over 70% of B2B buyers work to understand their specific needs before talking with sales representatives.
Consider these facts as you work to combine SaaS SEO methods with your sales team’s closing skills:
- You can attract almost 70% more monthly leads by using a blog for your B2B brand.
- Close to 80% of B2B buyers won’t talk to your sales team until they look up details online first.
- A web search begins the decision-making process for over 60% of B2B purchases.
7 reasons Why Your OTT Business Needs SEO
Let’s look at seven specific reasons why you need to employ SaaS SEO strategies in your business.
1. Most Website Traffic Comes from Organic Search
While you can invest in paid search traffic, it’s organic search that drives most results for the bulk of websites. This is because users trust websites that appear in the organic search results to give them quality research information.
That’s why you want to invest time and money playing by Google’s search engine optimization guidelines. Google dwarfs other search engines, owning over 90% of the search engine market.
Google also owns YouTube. The video search engine is second only to Google’s regular search results. If you can master what Google and YouTube want to see when ranking websites, then you have an opportunity to outrank your competitors.
2. Many OTT Companies are Not Investing in SEO, Providing Opportunity to be a First Mover
One of the most significant benefits of being a SaaS-based OTT video solutions provider is that you’re playing in a newer industry.
This means you have an opportunity to be a first-mover with tried and true marketing initiatives like SEO. Here are some meaningful metrics to push you over the edge:
- Only 11% of SaaS companies invest in content marketing
- According to another reputable study, Google is the best source of traffic and leads for SaaS businesses
Based on my many years doing consulting and working within the OTT industry, I’d say even less than 11% of companies are investing in SEO. Their problem (if I had to make an educated guess)? They are too comfortable with referrals and enjoying the benefits of consistent growth without long-term plans in place.
Don’t be a last-mover. Start the process to invest in SEO now as it can take months to kick in.
3. If You’re Not on Page One, You’re Giving Leads Away
The key to winning at SEO is showing up on the first page of search results. Digging deeper, you must work to show up within the first three results on page one.
Not surprisingly, more than 50% of all clicks go to the top three spots on page one for any search query. 25% of those clicks go to the top spot.
You won’t generate much organic SEO traffic if you can’t get your website into those top spots for several search terms.
A newer Google trend is the zero-click SERP (search engine results page) listings, where searchers get their answers to questions at the top of the page. Since many searchers won’t need to click through to a website, it’s even more critical now to appear within the first three positions.
4. Boost the Value of Your Content
B2B buyers go online to find out who the experts are that they can trust. You should work on SaaS SEO to boost the value of each content piece you and your team produce.
You can’t write a blog post and expect it to appear at the top of Google like it’s still 2009. Instead, you must think about what Google and your audience want.
User intent is a huge Google ranking factor. Conduct keyword research and ask yourself which search terms indicate users in the buying or education mode. Google won’t rank an article that tries to close into sales when the user intent of its search query reflects that searchers want research information to appear.
It’s important to understand the needs of your audience as well. For example, does your target market want their immediate buying decisions made more simple, or would they respond better to a lead magnet that educates first?
Use a combination of market research, user intent, and keyword research to produce timely and effective content.
5. Build Trust and Credibility
Your job when using SEO is to establish brand trust and credibility. It takes time and care to establish enough trust with users to get them to feel comfortable with buying from you.
Google gives you clues into how to build trust and credibility via its EAT concept:
- Expertise
- Authoritativeness
- Trustworthiness
Use these website and content factors to create authority, expertise, and trust:
- Winning website design
- Strong About Us page
- Positive user experience
- Natural link strategies
- Testimonials
- On-page SEO tactics
6. Understand the Voice of Your Customer
Look at what types of content already appear for any search query you decide to use within your SaaS SEO plan. This strategy represents one of the simplest ways to match your content to your target market’s needs. If videos show up for a query, you found a clue that Google’s data revealed video as the best content type for that search term.
Use these additional methods to match content to the voice of customers:
- AI and analytics data: Analytics can tell you when, where, and how searchers look for information. Artificial intelligence technology will help you uncover ways to match content to revenue goals.
- Search query data: Pay attention to whether your audience uses typed or spoken search queries.
- Content marketing data: Use real-time user responses to content as clues about what type of content your target audience wants most.
7. Build Long-Term Equity for Your Brand
Combine PR with SEO for the best brand equity. Google wants to rank recognizable brands over those that haven’t worked hard to become known to the overall market.
Use PR on popular industry sites or in magazines to generate the quality links Google looks for.
Get featured on well-known websites and then post those wins prominently for further brand recognition.
How Long Until I See Results?
It can take up to a year to see an impact when working on SaaS SEO. However, those benefits are long-lasting. Two or three quality posts can generate hundreds or thousands of monthly page views for five or ten years (or longer).
Although different from paid ad analytics, SEO provides quantifiable metrics that tell you what’s working and what requires improvement.
The key is getting your SEO plan started now, tracking results, and continuously improving for long-term revenue results.
Conclusion
There’s no doubt that people trust Google and other search engines when researching brands or looking for a solutions provider. Using 43Twenty’s SEO solutions can help your OTT business get found in Google’s organic listings exactly when your customers need what you offer.
Drop us a line to schedule a free consultation and learn more about how we can leverage SEO to enable your sales team and help generate more qualified leads and revenue.