Small Business Blog

1. There is no SEO magic wand. SEO is a long-term, ongoing process that requires planning and the ability to adapt. Remember that you are chasing after a moving target: you are building content and links and link bait, while your competitors are doing the same. At the same time, the search engines are tinkering with their algorithms, which always remain top secret. Don’t expect to spend a few hours or a few hundred bucks and be done with SEO. If your business depends on web traffic, then you must have an ongoing SEO strategy and budget.
2. Anyone can call himself an SEM or SEO expert. Not everyone is. The SEO services space today reminds me of the Sears Auto scandal of the 1990s. If you remember, Sears Auto service advisors were recommending repairs that the customers did not need. They got away with it because they were trusted as experts. This is not to say you shouldn’t trust anyone, but don’t accept advice blindly. Check credentials, ask for references, and be skeptical of recommendations that are offered before you even explain what your objective is.
3. Being “on the first page of Google” is not the answer to your business problems. Don’t fall victim to the assumption that first-page ranking will radically change your business. It all depends on the phrases associated with those first-page rankings and the mindset of the users who are searching.
4. SEO is not free. At a minimum, you have to compensate someone for doing the work of writing content, building partnerships, creating buzz, obtaining links, etc. Decide what your search rankings are worth to you and budget accordingly. Understand that you will always have competitors who have deep pockets, and don’t expect miracles on a tiny budget. (continue reading…)

Small business owners and entrepreneurs are increasingly attracted to Web marketing and, in particular, social media marketing. The appeal of online media is their low respective costs. When you own and operate a small, brick-and-mortar business, you face the marketing dilemma constantly: affordable options often lack scale. But the options with sizeable reach aren’t affordable and may be touching consumers who aren’t even viable targets. On top of that, successful ad campaigns these days often take repetition to make an impact. And repetition is expensive.

As an entrepreneur, you may weigh the costs of running print ads in your local newspaper and decide you’d rather take your chances with Twitter and Facebook–options which are free as long you have the available manpower. This decision may make sense from a financial perspective, but don’t make it lightly. Shifting all of your ad dollars to one medium is a mistake, unless you know for certain that that medium can reach all of your existing and target customers. Here’s some food for thought: in 2009, a poll on CNN.com indicated that 94 percent of CNN’s audience wasn’t using Twitter.

Now I know what you’re thinking…if you’ve read some of my previous posts, you know I’m a proponent of Twitter. But I’m not a proponent of putting all your eggs in the Twitter basket, the Facebook basket, or any other ad basket. Even if it may seem like all the world’s gone a-Twitter, there’s still a place for print, for cable, for radio. And actually, one of the most effective ways to use repetition in your advertising is by reaching the same customers through different media.

Of course, these days, you have to be creative with the dollars you direct towards traditional media. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Direct Mail: Find a vendor that does postcard printing and mailing. Print up some loyalty postcards to encourage repeat purchases and send them out. Consider putting a time limit on the card, such as, “make X number of purchases within X number of weeks” or something like that. Use what you know about your customers to set the number and time limit. For example, if you know that your typical customer makes three purchases from you every eight weeks, offer a discount or reward to those who make four purchases within eight weeks. (continue reading…)

It’s not an uncommon situation for B2B service providers: you spend hours consulting with your prospective customer, get that prospect to put his inked pen to the contract, and then it all goes south. Seemingly, at the very moment your prospect will retain your services, his phone rings. On the other end of the line is a slick salesperson who promises the world and plants the seed of doubt. Next thing you know, your prospect is on the fence between the rosy world of dreams and the real world, where your business operates.

The world of Web marketing seems, at times, like auto repair or psychotherapy: the customer is at the mercy of the service provider. When the service provider says you need a new timing belt or six months of biweekly sessions, you may not have the know-how to doubt the diagnosis or the recommendation. In Web marketing, sales people routinely diagnosis your problem as poor search visibility and recommend expensive and unnecessary solutions to get you “to the top of Google.” (continue reading…)

1. Get bloggers to talk about you. Approach bloggers in your niche and ask if they’d be interested in writing about you and your company. This is like pitching a story idea to your local newspaper; make sure you have an angle that would appeal to the blogger’s audience. You could offer to write up the content for the blogger and to link back to the blog. Alternatively, you could buy reviews through SponsoredReviews.com.
2. Pay for pop-unders. Pop-unders, which you can get from VisitorBoost.com, can drive loads of traffic to your site for a very small investment. We’re talking like $50 for 10,000 users in the U.S. The drawback is that you can’t really target this traffic very well, so make sure you are directing visitors to a compelling landing page. Test it out with a small investment first to see if the traffic will result in additional leads or sales.
3. Distribute free press releases. Try OnlinePRNews.com or PRlog.org for free press release distribution.
4. Trade banners. Join a free banner trade program, such as WhamBanners.com. The trick here is that you need to have traffic to get traffic. If you have more than one site, show the banners on your high traffic site to get traffic for your low traffic site. This allows you to broaden your exposure beyond your existing site network.
5. Get active in online communities. Join online communities that are relevant to your business. Put your link in your signature block and start contributing useful and relevant insights to the conversation. Also try searching for questions relevant to your business niche in Yahoo! Questions, and put your link in the resource box.
6. Start tweeting. Twitter can drive traffic to your site if you are patient and respectful of the community etiquette. First, make sure your site link is in your profile. Then start tweeting daily and get proactive about following others. Search profiles and conversations to find people in your industry and follow them. Follow back those who follow you. Tweet free advice and quotes, and retweet interesting stuff published by others.
7. Try uber-targeted Facebook ads. With Facebook pay-per-click advertising, you can get super specific about who gets to see your ad. A more specific audience base means a higher cost-per-click, but it also means fewer clicks. In the end, you aren’t likely to end up paying very much–and what you do pay for should be some nice, prequalified leads.

This week, WebProNews published an article that poses this startling question: does your business really need a website? If you’ve recently put money into your online presence or even thought about putting money into your online presence (and who hasn’t??), this question might catch you off guard. You might find yourself thinking, wait, do I? What am I really getting from my site anyway?

Don’t start second-guessing every web decision you’ve ever made. Because yes, you do need an online presence.

Phew. Glad we resolved that. The real question is, what kind of web presence will best support your business growth? You may not need the conventional brochure site that was the first choice just five years ago. You may find it easier to meet your online objectives with a simple blog, message board or a Facebook page.

The key, of course, is to know what your objectives are. What do you want your Web presence to do for you, specifically? The generic answer is that you want it to make you more money, but how? Do you want the opportunity to engage new and existing customers when they’re not in your store? Do you want to widen the breadth of your reach? Do you want your site to brand you as an expert in your field? Only after you can identify specific objectives are you ready to develop and implement an effective web strategy.

The aforementioned article discusses different strategies available to small businesses and also why it still pays to have a site. Get the full article here.