Small Business SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) provides small businesses the realistic opportunity to effectively compete online with businesses of all sizes.  This includes businesses that have a physical, so-called, brick and mortar presence and / or those who have just an online presence.  It also includes businesses that seek to be found only by those in a local or regional geographic area as well as those that seek new business nationally or even globally.

The opportunity that SEO offers to small businesses becomes clearer by understanding a few basic facts / factoids:

SEO rankings cannot be “bought.”  While SEO costs serious money, the numbers are not out of reach for many small businesses.  Also large businesses with substantially larger budgets have no real advantage because SEO results are earned; they are driven by great processes, commitment, patience and persistence.  In other words, sweat equity can really make all of the difference online through a well executed SEO Strategy.
Organic Search Engine Results are exactly what searchers are clicking.  85% of all searches result in an organic click vs. a paid click; paid clicks refer to clicks on the paid ads in the advertising section of the first page.  Searchers recognize more and more that organic rankings are not ads and are on page 1 because Google et al ranks the most relevant results on the first page; the ads are simply paid for by advertisers to be on the same page as the organic results.
SEO can be readily outsourced so that the small business can focus on the core business without having to spend years learning and staying abreast of trends and new developments online.  It also alleviates the headache of hiring internal personnel to cover all of the specialties within Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing in general.
SEO is completely customizable.  This means that if you are seeking a niche audience, a niche product line or niche geography or other demographic, the SEO execution plan can fully reflect and ultimately target and attract the defined market or audience.

Small businesses that are unfamiliar with SEO and Internet Marketing must also understand some of the basic truths of SEO:

It’s expensive – SEO for local business strategies should range between ,000 and ,000 for the first 12 months.  SEO for national and global business strategies range from ,000 to ,000+ depending on the relative competitiveness of the target audience.
It takes significant time – SEO results, that is, significant SEO results don’t happen in days or weeks.  It can take 6 months or more before significant visibility is achieved.
68% of all searchers don’t go past the first page; 98% don’t go past the 3rd page.  If you are not on the top 3 pages for your important keywords, you are not functionally on the internet.
SEO never ends … it’s a never ending competitive marathon.  Just as all effective marketing before the internet, if you stop you will drop in the rankings, thereby losing visibility, traffic and business.
SEO depends on the consistent generation of CONTENT just as a car depends on fuel to perform.  There is no such thing as an SEO program that can be successful without a massive commitment to a continuous stream of new content.
There are no shortcuts to SEO and any representation to the contrary should be rejected because it is a waste of time.
There are no guarantees with SEO in terms of specific rankings or specific amounts of relevant traffic; no one can predict the future actions of your competition and the future economic client.

Small businesses have a great opportunity through small business SEO.  The internet offers the opportunity of a level playing to actually compete on virtually any stage commercially.  SEO is the tool small businesses have available to seize the opportunity.

If you are a small business and seek to develop or expand your horizons online, contact us for an initial consultation.  There is no obligation.