Well I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon and criticize Robert Scoble for his post “2010: The Year SEO Isn’t Important Anymore” but if he would have taken more time to think it through it could have been an excellent blog post.
SEO Is Always The Most Important - Wrong!
Early in my career I was so passionate about SEO it was the only solution for every business. I know better today but I still don’t believe that SEO is less important in 2010 only because there were always businesses that were not a fit for SEO. I’ve been doing this long enough that I recognize the cost of technology, the consumers’ online habits, and the marketing requirements that drive those online consumers need to be a good fit for the business, or the SEO will fail (many agencies sold SEO to any business with an open wallet and that’s one reason SEO received such a negative label over the past decade).
For Many SEO Was Never Important
I know in my home town of about 2000 residents the small businesses generate revenue from the local residents, so am I going to sell them on SEO? I don’t think so. Or how about the local clothing manufacturer whose business is wholesale and strictly regionally based? Maybe a need for SEO but he probably can’t afford an SEO program with fees in the range of $25,000 per year and higher. The same goes for the local greenhouse, landscaping company and window installer. SEO is not important to them because it’s not a relevant marketing strategy and certainly not financially viable. Yes, a lot has changed in the SEO industry over the past few years with universal search, natural links, and personalized search but some things remain the same, such as relavance and cost.
So you could argue the point that search engine optimization can be scaled down for those small businesses, and maybe you’re right. But what good would it do in a small town that has seen better times. Now if I were designing a Website for one of these local businesses I’d include the basic onsite optimization and include in a few inbound links, and submit to Google Local Business Center with a few coupons if possible, but I would never recommend an actual long-term SEO campaign because how dishonest would that be? Reminds me of the time early in my career when the president of our agency asked me to write a SEO proposal for the local school district. I would have laughed at him if I weren’t so pissed at him for treating my career as a snake oil sales opportunity.
For Many SEO Is Very Important
So search engine optimization isn’t important to the average small business in my hometown but let’s look at the nearby city of Altoona. With a population of about 50k the small city of Altoona actually shows a presence in Google’s keyword research tool, and a Google search for “Altoona Restaurants” reveals several Altoona restaurants rank on the first page of Google, and given Altoona’s population and certain regional distinctions I’m certain these restaurants do attain business through Google searches. So the take-away is that for many small local businesses of a certain profile SEO is important and should be “considered” in the marketing plan. How do you know if your business fits the profile? You need to have an experienced and trusted online marketing consultant research the potential for you.
I think most Internet marketers understand the importance of SEO hasn’t diminished but we definitely need to recognize the game has changed. The importance and relevancy of SEO needs to be determined on each individual case because there are often better options, especially true to the small business.
Often with SEO the challenge is to increase online visibility and measure results; that’s why SEO can be so difficult to sell. So what affordable online marketing solutions can the local restaurants, amusement parks, chocolate manufacturers, home remodelers, bakers and hair stylists’ adopt and are they actually viable?
The consumers’ habits are changing and the Internet marketing strategy will continue to evolve. Here are some online marketing solutions I’ve used on large and medium sized businesses but they can be a good fit for the small business too.
1. Social media. I’m really talking about Facebook here and it’s an easy one. I see so many small business owners making the effort to socialize on Facebook with regularity but they don’t recognize the opportunity to promote their own business on Facebook. Why not use the opportunity to present those FB friends with the occasional coupon offer or upcoming promotion? It’s not going to mean the difference between success and failure but with the right approach it could give your business a boost. It’s the perfect online marketing tool for the small business with local clientele.
2. Email marketing. It’s been around for a while and for good reason. It’s less expensive and more accountable than most other forms of marketing and often produces results when other marketing strategies fail. The first step is to begin developing your email list (don’t buy a list), then market to your list via email with coupons, sales promotions, monthly newsletters and even mobile coupons.
3. Affiliate marketing can sometimes provide better ROI than other forms of Internet marketing, including SEO. To fit the basic profile of an affiliate merchant you must have an e-commerce website, you must sell your products or services on that ecommerce Website and you must have some pricing power or the ability to offer buying incentives like coupons or rebate offers. If you have those things you can then recruit your affiliates to act as your online sales force. Affiliate marketing management is a huge step for most businesses but it is a logical solution for the business that is ready to expand their e-commerce reach.
4. Customized Blog – I made the statement that SEO is not always a viable solution for small businesses, but a search engine friendly blog might be the perfect solution. A customized blog is a good choice for a small business Website for several reasons:
- They are generally cheaper to implement than a customized Website.
- The built-in content management features allow for easy content updating.
- They are easily expandable through downloadable plug-ins including newsletter and email management tools.
- Blogs can be easily customized with search engine friendly attributes that allow users to SEO their own content with very little SEO knowledge.
5. Sponsored Search (Pay-Per-Click) – it sounds old school but the technology that drives sponsored search is constantly evolving, so it’s never old school. The great advantage of sponsored search is that you can micromanage the account by limiting your budget, scheduling your ads, and shutting ads off whenever you want. Combine it with Google analytics and it becomes very accountable. With sponsored search small businesses can advertise online for a few dollars per week.
So now you have five marketing tactics that I have used successfully and most of them can be easily adopted by a small business without throwing money away, which is sometimes the case with SEO. If you are serious about adopting Internet marketing solutions for your small business I can help you get started.
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