Why do I need search engines optimization?

Why do I need search engines optimization?
Most companies have a website of some kind, but only about 5% know of or use SearchEngine Optimization (SEO). If they do, they have usually learned about it because they spent thousands of dollars on a top-of-the-line website that no one came to visit. When they realized a nice website wasn't enough, they probably Googled "promoting my website" or "how to market my website.
"Why are some businesses more successful with their website than others? Is there a secret? SEO is now a requirement for any sized business to advertise with a website and be successful it! Especially now that every other previously effective marketing tool has become ineffective or out of reach. In the days before Internet there were a number of ways to successfully advertise. Now, however:
*Code Enforcement is cracking down on signs.
*Radio and TV advertising is getting too expensive and becoming less effective because of the number of stations.
*Newspapers are virtually useless as people turn to the web.
*Trade shows are few in number and most are no longer well-marketed.
*Almost no one uses a telephone book anymore because of the web.
*Bus benches and billboards cost a huge monthly fee and again, how many people look at them now a days?
The Internet is now the telephone book . So as a business you have to adapt and not only adapt well, but do one better than your competitors so your name comes up at the top of the list in any keyword search. No longer can you just buy a full page ad in a telephone book to stand out. You have to do the equivalent on the Internet. Your website has to stand out in the center of 2 billion other sites and out shine all the others in your industry to be successful.
I have a great looking website–isn't that enough?
Looks are one thing, but what's behind the looks is actually more important than what your visitors see when it comes to marketing your website to the search engines. It is so technically complex on how to get your website in the best standings and ranked at the top for the search terms(key words) you want people to find you with, that it is now an exact science which changes from year to year.
The novice should not even attempt it. The old easy methods for marketing your website do not work and can and will get your website domain name banned from many of the major search engines. Getting back in the search engines good graces after being banned is tough and sometimes near impossible.