10 Reasons Why SEO Alone Doesn’t Work For Small Businesses

Small Business owners understandably often select the cheap option (due to budget constraints) rather than the right option. SEO does not have to be ridiculously expensive but it does have to be realistic! SEO is only expensive if it doesn’t work! Find a partner that can do the right things at the best price rather than the cheapest things at the cheapest price.

Google has made more changes to the way it ranks web sites in the past 12 months than it has in almost its entire history.  SEO is an ongoing, evolving process and Google themselves admit they will make over 600 changes this year alone to their ranking software. You cannot do SEO on your site once and hope this will last forever, you need a partner or employee who looks at this every week and adjusts what needs to be done.

There are two ways you can deliver leads and sales from search engines (Google in particular). One is to get to the top of Google for very generic phrases like “Car” or “Mortgage” and generate millions of visitors – the premise being “the more you throw at the wall the more will stick”. 99.9% of small business owners have absolutely no chance whatsoever of achieving this because it costs an absolute fortune, takes a ridiculous amount of time and a huge amount of internal resource. Many small business owners have wasted small fortunes chasing this dream. The second option is to pick more relevant, targeted long tail phrases.

This is the option best suited to most small business owners and recommended by many SEO Companies. These phrases are usually easier to achieve and more realistic from a cost, time and resource perspective. However, what most SEO Companies fail to explain and are incapable of dealing with is the fact that the traffic volumes are fewer (albeit more targeted) and unless you have developed exceptional ways to convert this traffic at every interaction with the customer you will again achieve little or no sales

Link Building is the most important factor when it comes to getting your web site to page one of Google and many Small Business owners fall into the trap of employing cheap solutions for this. Many of the cheap solutions are in fact link farms in India or Russia and now Google has become very good at spotting these so at best they will have no impact and at worst they will have a detrimental effect on your web site. Good quality sustainable Link Building is essential and so you must have a clear strategy from your partner or employee as to how they intend to achieve this.

Small Business Owners Are Scared Of The Medium.

SEO, Digital Marketing or Online Marketing is absolutely no different from traditional marketing. Do not be scared off by the techno babble and the geeks that usually do it (sorry techies!!) – Use all your traditional thoughts, concepts and ideas just do them or find a way to do them online rather than offline.

Social Media

Social Media is often treated as a waste of time by many small business owners and seen as a teenage sensation rather than a worthwhile business opportunity. Not only is Social Media a massive source of leads and sales in its own right without it you will never reach page one of Google for any decent phrase. Google now measure how effective and engaged you are in Social Media.

Website

Many small business owners go through the pain barrier of building their web site and then forget about it for years. When was the last time you really looked at your web site? If your shopfront was looking tired and old with paint falling off the walls how many customers would you attract? If you had old out of date offers in the window how many customers would you attract? The same goes for your web site – update it, keep it current and change your message occasionally. If not Google will see this and not rank your site highly but more importantly your potential customers will lose trust in what you are selling.

Content

In the old world of offline marketing we were always taught to tease customers with enough information to interest them or excite but leave them wanting more so they had to enquire for a brochure, or a price list or request a visit etc.  Many small business owners make the mistake of treating their web site differently and put as much information on there as they possibly can.  There is chapter and verse about the company, products, services, prices, offers, white papers, downloadable brochures etc so that the customer has absolutely no need to enquire.  Even if you reach page one of Google for good phrases you will not generate leads because the customer has no need to enquire?

Data Capture

A simple “Contact Us” button tucked away somewhere in your web site is not Data Capture.  In the old World of offline marketing, you were taught to have a hook or proposition that prompted the customer to enquire.  Does your web site have this?  There should be multiple data capture points all catering for different needs and people who are at different stages of the buying process.  Fixing your onsite conversions and in particular Data Capture can have five times more effect on leads and sales than simply doubling or tripling your traffic from Google.

Input

Employing one person is not enough to generate results online anymore as there are too many disciplines and too much to do.  So you either have to employ two or three good people or find a partner who can deliver everything at an affordable price.  It is however a mistake to think you can employ a third party and they will do everything.  The more you get involved the more results you will achieve.  Help with product knowledge, help with content, react quickly to requests, improve the stuff they ask you to improve – work with a good partner and you will get exceptional results.