With all the marketing strategies available to small business owners, how can you ensure that your marketing budget is spent in the most cost-efficient manor? You probably realize that the majority of consumers are looking for information, products and services online. The question is, “will they find you or your competitors when they search?”
Knowing that the first page is the only page the majority of consumers will see, your business must be there. But that doesn’t mean you need to show up for every possible keyword related to your business. Some keywords are more indicative of an actual buyer, and those are the most important ones for you to concentrate your efforts to appear for.
With all the options on the internet – SEO, video marketing, social media marketing, etc. – you could easily turn this into another career for you. Luckily you don’t have to do it all, but an effective search marketing strategy ensures that your business will be seen at the exact moment your prospect wants what you have to offer.
Making your website show up on page one of the search results is simple, but it is far from easy. There are plenty of resources to teach you all you need to know, but basically there are two ways to show up on that first page — 1) spend lots of money and/or effort to convince the search engines your site deserves that position (requires months to see results), or 2) use internet advertising to start generating those phone calls immediately. Both ways are useful for generating the traffic you want, but the complexity has many business owners depending on HOPE as their internet marketing strategy.
Business owners who want to increase their web presence and incorporate search marketing have a few options:
* Continue the “hope” strategy
Try to learn effective search marketing on their own (Google will gladly take your money while you learn!)
* Hire an internet marketing specialist for around $80,000/yr (plus benefits)
Outsource this area of marketing
Search Engines are today’s Yellow Pages and your business cannot afford to ignore this important marketing strategy. The only question remaining is how will you create and implement your own internet marketing strategy? For most business owners, the best use of their time is in doing what they’re best at – running their business – and that means delegating this responsibility to someone else.
Diane Hibbs is an online marketing specialist concentrating on small businesses to assist them triumph in the game of search marketing. Her free Lunch and Learn Webinars are packed with tips and tricks that assist business owners to learn ways to get more website traffic. To register or to learn more cost-effective marketing strategies for your business, visit Page One Marketing today.
