Do you have a great product or service that customers should be desperate to purchase? Many small business owners feel that they have an enormous amount to offer. Despite this, they’re not making the sort of money that they might expect.
So what’s going wrong? It seems sensible that the businesses with the best products on offer should rise to the very top. These should be the companies that are making money and finding it easy to attract customers. Yet, it’s clear that this is not always the case.
In some circumstances, it may be a question of objectivity. We may look at what we have to offer and feel that it’s better than what our competitors have managed to come up with. But how realistic are we being?
There’s always a danger that an element of subjectivity can interfere with our thinking. We may find ourselves being overly positive about our own ideas. This is a natural human trait.
But it could equally be possible that we really do have something special to offer. The problem may be that we’re having difficulty in making enough people aware of the great deals that we’re making available. This is the timeless problem of gaining enough visibility.
Many small business owners see the Internet as providing many opportunities in this area. It should certainly allow us to attract more potential customers and let them know all about what we’re offering.
But the reality of doing business online has proved disappointing for many. The problem is that the Internet is a competitive space in which to operate. You may already have found this yourself.
You’ll be competing against many larger companies. Some of them are likely to have large advertising and marketing budgets.
It’s no coincidence that they may also be getting impressive SEO results. If your own website is buried in the search engine rankings, then there’s no doubt that you are currently losing the battle for search engine visibility.
So how can you deal with this problem? Unfortunately, there aren’t really any shortcuts in the world of SEO. You may well have read plenty of tips online that suggest that you could have your website at the top of the rankings within a few days. The reality, however, is rather different.
Search engine optimisation is rarely glamorous. It involves a lot of hard work. You’ll probably spend a considerable amount of time contacting other website owners, writing an enormous number of words and trying to keep track of your efforts.
That explains why big companies spend big money hiring the top SEO consultants.
But does this mean that you should be discouraged? Not necessarily. It’s worth remembering that SEO success is often more about quality, rather than quantity.
Concentrate on manual strategies and building great relationships online. These can be the building blocks for a successful online business.
You may need to get help from professionals in some areas. Since projects can be time consuming, it may be cost-effective to seek help from those who already have considerable expertise.
However you approach this task, it’s clear that making your business more visible online will be key to your success. That, surely must be central to your business plan.
12 Comments
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fanatsic sams
March 27, 2011 at 5:09 pm
If any one want to increase the visibility of his site, it is necessary to go for on site as well as off site optimization.
Admin
March 27, 2011 at 7:04 pm
can you elaborate on off site optimization?
Dan
April 4, 2011 at 2:51 pm
On site optimization is when you modify items on your website such as title tags, description, keyword metadata, H1, H2, H3 tags as well as the general wording throughout the site. The site linking structure is also a big thing these days and if done correctly will help your SEO efforts tremendously.
Off site optimization is when you gain reputation to your website through outside channels via backlinks, blogging, commenting, facebook, twitter, digg…
🙂
Admin
April 14, 2011 at 5:34 pm
Thanks for the clarification Dan.
Karen Arbutine
March 28, 2011 at 9:53 am
I agree, internet is a really big place and the competition is very stiff but this also doesn’t mean that small business should stay way from the internet in fact many home based small businesses are flourishing with the help of advertising and selling their stuffs through the internet. However it would also makes less sense for a small business to get into the ring with big companies like Pepsi which is already a full fledged, powerful company. I started from a scratch too and then I didn’t do any SEO works since the concept was very new. I believe working at one’s own pace and knowing the right time to enter the competition are the key to success.
Angela
March 29, 2011 at 12:15 pm
“Concentrate on manual strategies and building great relationships online.”
– Learn how you could reach out to your customers online. You don’t need lots of money so you can attract more customers. You only need to find ways to let people know more about you. Like what most companies do with Facebook.
Francesca StaAna
March 30, 2011 at 12:51 am
“Concentrate on manual strategies and building great relationships online. These can be the building blocks for a successful online business.” –I couldn’t have said it better myself. This, in
my opinion is the core lesson that companies should pick up in terms of social media.
This is why I roll my eyes at gimmicks like buying fans or spamming people with BS, because these things defeat the very purpose of social media. People need to comprehend that genuine engagement is the only key sustainable success in social media.
Dan
April 4, 2011 at 2:41 pm
I work for a company called DKNJ Networks that offers small business SEO services. The problem with small business SEO is that services are not cheap. Plans usually start at $400 per month and this can be a very big expense for a small business that is barely making ends meet. SEO is very time consuming especially if the SEO company is using white hat techniques which is what you want these days. White hat SEO is when the company follows guidelines set forth by search engines to obtain good ranking. Black hat SEO is when the firm takes shortcuts, uses spam and other un-ethical methods to obtain high ranking. Black hat SEO is looked down upon by the industry and if caught, the search engines can ban your site all together so you do not want to be mixed up in this.
I always tell my clients that SEO is not rocket science, anyone can learn and implement these techniques but the main issue is time. If you are a small business owner, time is limited as it is and adding SEO to your plate will drain you.
Tips for increasing traffic can be found anywhere online including our site. Google even has SEO tips available here:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769
The moral of the story is this: If you want to save some money up front and spend a lot of time learning the trade, try to increase traffic on your own – If time is limited and you need more business now, hire a reputable SEO company and get reliable results right from the get go.
johnnile
April 10, 2011 at 8:27 pm
Hi Dan,
in your conclusion you are 100 percent right:
– If you want to save some money up front and spend a lot of time learning the trade, try to increase traffic on your own
I am running a small business in London and surprised how many phone call from diffent “SEO GURUs” I get everyday. The funny thing is that when you ask them any SEO question, they have no idea what I am talking about as they are working on telesale bases. Majority of these “SEO GURUs” business models are built on peoples SEO ignorance.
Many Thank
John
Dan
April 10, 2011 at 9:28 pm
Telemarketing and Spamming is a big part of the business. I never got into cold calling or Spamming to generate business. I guess it can help get you more clients but I’d rather rely on people finding me in search engines which is what companies want for their website in the first place. Businesses that rely on people’s ignorance are the fly-by-night kind and do not last very long. Often times they use black hat SEO techniques which run the risk of banning your web site all together from search engines. I say it’s better to use white hat SEO and have your site “stand the test of time” – as Matt Cutts from Google would say. Thanks for reading and responding to my comment!
Admin
April 14, 2011 at 5:41 pm
Totally agree with you on that one Dan. Unfortunately, those businesses that can’t wait to reap the long term benefits of white hat seo will often waste their money on so-called specialists like the ones mentioned by John.
johnnile
April 17, 2011 at 5:21 pm
Hi,
– Telemarketing and Spamming is a big part of the business.
Yes, definitelly, you are right, it is like having receiving crap in your e-mail box in a form of spamming e-mails it is like a side effect of having e-mail account.
Regards. John