The Evolution Of Small Business SEO
The following is my nutshell breakdown of the evolution of local small business marketing, and in turn, local SEO. I know this because I lived it as it happened, both as a small business owner and as an SEO:
- 20 years ago you could advertise in one or two places (local newspaper, direct mail, and TV or radio) and have as many leads as you could handle…
- Ten years ago you had to advertise in multiple places offline to get enough leads for your small business to grow and thrive…
- Five years ago you could get enough leads by having a top five ranking in Google for your most important keywords, along with implementing all the offline advertising methods as well…
But today, the internet is like offline advertising was ten years ago. There are numerous marketing channels online, and numerous ways to be seen (or found, if you prefer that term) by potential customers.
Now you have search engines, pay-per-click, social networking sites, article marketing sites, press release sites, CPM, blogs, social bookmarking sites, online video, micro-blogging, podcasting, local directories… the list goes on and on.
Only a few of these really matter to the typical small business owner. But the way things tend to work is that the more places you are seen and the greater your internet presence, the greater the likelihood you’ll be found instead of your competitors.
Too Many Choices, Too Much Confusion, Too Little Time
Did you know that Google only accounts for 6% of overall traffic online? However, it receives about 70% of all searches, meaning it’s the undisputed big daddy of online search. But one in four page views online can now be attributed to Facebook, and online video is by far the fastest growing internet application in its class.
This all begs the question: “Where do I advertise online?”
To most small business owners, this is all a huge confusing mess. And the internet does in fact level the playing field somewhat between small business owners and large companies. However, for many small business owners it isn’t the great equalizer we’ve been told it is, because it changes too much, too fast for most small business owners to leverage it effectively.
Think about what it takes just to keep up with your own area of expertise in your business. It takes a significant amount of your time, right? Well, imagine if the nature of your business changed on a monthly, weekly, or even on a daily basis… you’d have a full-time job on your hands just keeping up.
That’s what SEO is like, and that’s what it takes for a good local search consultant to stay up with trends and changes so their clients stay on top. And that’s why you simply don’t have time to do it all yourself (I know, because I did it for my own small business – the learning curve was pretty steep, and it took me years to figure it all out).
And That’s What Search Engine Marketing Consulting Is For…
My job is to know what to do, where, and how much to get your business seen on the internet. The number one goal is still to have your site show up at the top of the search engines, but for multiple searches under multiple search terms and in multiple ways.
It’s not enough to just have your main website show up at the top of the search results anymore. You need to have multiple results in many categories of online media to outpace your competitors.
And that’s what a good small business SEO does for their clients.
The good news is, most of your competitors are slow to adapt. Change is hard for most people, even more so when it comes at today’s breakneck pace, the likes of which society has never seen in the entirety of our existence.
The question is, will you take advantage of that resistance to change and use it to outpace your competitors, or instead fade out due to marketing and advertising obsoletion?
I can’t make that choice for you, but I can tell you one thing – get a good search marketing consultant on your team and you won’t have to worry about it.
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