This is just a quick observation:
Three of my kids (ages 10,11,14) use YouTube for most of their searching online. The oldest (who has sat through several of my SEO classes) uses Google. But all three of the younger ones use YouTube when looking for something online.
Granted, most of their searches are for music/musicians or video game related info.
Still, interesting.
Many business owners see SEO and related services as an expense instead of an investment. This line of short term thinking has long plagued many a SEO business.
So what can the average SEO do about it? Well, we can educate them (assuming they are willing to listen). We can show them case studies. We can simply say ‘trust me’ (which rarely works).
Today, while thinking about this exact thing, I had a great thought.
Let’s say you are a business owner, and you have a building where you sell things. Everyone knows that the first three rules of business are ‘Location, Location, Location’, right?
So let’s say that I came to you and told you that every day I’d come by and move your building an inch closer to a major intersection in your town. I’d spruce up your building, make it attractive and at the same time I’d pick it up and move it closer and closer.
Now, being closer to an intersection means more people will see your signs, right? And once you get to the intersection (an inch at a time might take you a while), you’ll have more traffic, more people will be aware of your business, and your revenues will go up.
So after (whatever amount of time), I say let’s take this to a new level. Let’s move your building toward the local highway. It may cost more, but you’ll see more and more traffic. Your brand awareness will go up. People will see your building from many streets.
Soon you’ve moved past the highway toward the Interstate. Thousands (or more) of people are seeing your building, your sign, your brand every day. Revenues are going up, and you are enjoying success you never thought possible.
Now, let’s take this one step further. What if, the highway that I moved you towards just happened to contain only people that were interested in your products? Nearly every car that drove by was a targeted customer. Your target market, delivered to your door.
To be fair, let’s define an expense. dictionary.com says a cause or occasion of spending. Perfect.
If I were Joe Average Business Owner, you’re probably right, SEO is an expense in the short term scheme of things. There’s going to be a definite amount of time when I’m out spending my return. There will be months of payments gone to the wayside before I will ever see any return on that money, and it may seem like it’s not working.
And SEOs see this a lot. It takes time for the search engines to crawl your site, and it takes even longer for your website (which is competing with thousands, if not millions of others) to creep up the SERPS. That’s why we ask for 6 or 12 month minimum contracts. Our ‘salary’ is performance based. You climb the ranks or we lose our job. Simple as that.
Back to expenses – sure, an SEO campaign is a serious cost for your business. In the short term, it will look like you’re losing money out the wazoo, but long term you’ll see that the money you invested is returning at a rate that has turned it into a nice business asset.
Investment: a devoting, using, or giving of time, talent, emotional energy, etc., as for a purpose or to achieve something
Last night’s seminar titled Marketing Your Business Website was a success. We had a wide variety of attendees, from a real estate agent, to a wildlife removal guy to a landscaper.
I really enjoy teaching at these events, and am now reaching a saturation point where the current venue is too small. Every one of my seminars are now packed – and there’s a waiting list just as long. So I’m looking to expand a bit, as well as perhaps move to a more central area near Kirkwood or West County/Clayton.
I’d love to partner up with a restaurant that could cater an event, perhaps in exchange for a large room with seating for up to 50.
If you can help me with a place (preferably with wireless broadband), I’ll bring the people. Contact me and let’s work out a deal.
Current upcoming seminars (sorry they are full, but you can get on the waiting list in case there are cancellations)
Marketing Your Business Website – Feb 25
Social Media for Business – Feb 26
I have 4 tickets to the Natural Living Expo on February 22. The value of these tickets is $32, and I’d like to give them to you.
Of course, you need to be in St Louis that weekend, so this will only apply to people who can make it.
To win the tickets, simply retweet this message. Your name will be entered and you’ll be notified of the win via Twitter.
Contest ends Monday Feb 16 at midnight. Winner will be notified Tuesday morning.
Often I’m contacted by small businesses without a lot of money who need a website. They are usually put off by the costs associated with building a quality, SEO friendly website. They just want their business online.
While I agree that they are missing most of the potential of being online, I also see that these business owners may simply be getting online because of a knee-jerk reaction to something that happened recently in their life:
There are plenty more, but these are the core reasons that I’ve heard over time which ‘kicked the business owner into gear’.
So what do we (web developers and SEO geeks) do with these customers when they are recognized? Do we simply state a minimum budget and leave them with a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude? Should we simply refer them on to one of our friends that do crappy work on the cheap?
No! We take the gig.
If you have a potential client who wants a website, but really has no clue what they want, it is our duty and our assignment to explain to them what they need – an online presence that creates leads and sales!
Now I’m not saying take every gig that calls. There are some business owners out there who want everything for nothing. They are usually more demanding than serious business owners, and they waste a ton of your time on frivolous things. Those customers you dump off to your web designer friend (or enemy). But those business owners who have a viable and profitable business in an industry that lacks serious SEO competition, and just need a brochure website – take them.
I often take these clients simply because I see the potential. If you can build them a website that won’t take a lot of time and can be easily optimized, why not? When they start seeing leads trickle in, you’ll be in a great position to explain what you do and how you can increase that traffic tremendously. It’s leverage.
So what’s the secret of setting up one of these ‘brochure’ websites without spending a ton of time doing so? WordPress.
Even though it’s main function is blogging, you can still use it as a great foundation for what your business owner needs. Creating pages is extremely simple, and finding a template for them is seriously quick. Within just a few hours you can have them a website up and running – to the tune of whatever you quoted them (I’d say $600 bucks including 1 year of hosting and a domain name would do the trick).
The good news is, if they call you in a few months and need to add things, all you have to do is create a new post/page on the site, and its up. It’s linked. It’s ready to go. No backend coding, no huge amount of time spent doing markup. Copy. Paste. Publish. Done.
And if they turn into a serious SEO customer, you’ve already got a nice foundation to build upon.
Looking for some easy money? Design a logo for a client of mine and win $200 bucks. Easy peasy.
If you’re in the Saint Louis area, or will be in the area around mid February, make sure you sign up for my free seminar on Marketing Your Business Website. This will probably be the last time I do this seminar for free. Seating is limited so don’t wait!
