Business Has Changes

Ten years ago, a company spent their marketing money pushing their message across a variety of channels. TV, radio, print ads and direct sales were the solution to the perennial question "how do we get more business". Business has changed.

Consumers have changed. With the unparalleled growth of the internet people know they can find anything at anytime on their terms. What used to be direct marketing has become spam, and we have developed an uncanny ability to avoid it. DVR, MP3, RSS and dozens of other technologies allow us to pick and choose the messages we receive. The result has been nothing short of disastrous for companies that haven't evolved.

One thing that hasn’t changed is that consumers still buy. In fact, they are spending more than ever - just not the way they used to. More than half of consumers considering a purchase start their buying cycle online. What's more, over 90% of all consumers use the internet at some point before making that purchase. The good news is that your customers are still buying what you have to offer. The bad news is they are probably getting somewhere else.

The solution is Organic Search Marketing.

Organic, or natural, search engine marketing provides the highest long-term return on investment of all online marketing methods. Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing place sites that contain the most relevant, trustworthy information at the top of the search results page, where everyone looks first. The "secret" to success in the 21st century is getting on what we call "the short list". Topping that short list means visibility, authority and reputation.

Whether it is someone looking for legal service or lawn care, a local auto repair center or a flat screen television, the internet provides the answer to their question. Moving your website to the top of Google and other major search engines will transform it into a referral based lead generation machine. Our clients know that organic search marketing is the most effective form of advertising available.

While pay-per-click, social media and traditional marketing have their place, the modern consumer prefers to avoid the busy noise and seek answers rather than advertising. When searchers ask their question, are you the answer?

Read: What Is Organic Search ?

Organic Search Engine Marketing for Small Business

Small business owners have to take advantage of every low cost (but effective) marketing opportunity they can get their hands on. Now they have an even better chance to increase search engine rankings for their business with Google Caffeine.

This significant change in the dominant search engine's methods for delivering organic search results, also known as SERP's, favors specialization. Long tail keywords go hand-in-hand with that specialization.

An obvious example of this sort of keyword is "organic search marketing for small business." This phrase is made up of five separate words but is, nevertheless, referred to in the singular as a keyword. Because it does consist of more than one or two words it can be called a long tail keyword Chris Anderson popularized the "long tail" concept is in his book by the same name. (See Wikipedia article.)

A few years ago it would have been enough to focus on "marketing" or "small business" but as searchers become more and more sophisticated they are learning to add additional modifiers. These extra modifiers make it easier for Google to offer more relevant search results thus making searchers much happier.

What this means is that a small business who is willing to make the extra effort can compete with much larger businesses by being more strategic with their copy writing. Smart use of these long tail keywords in the content on their website, blogs, and other social media sites will greatly increase the liklihood of a steady stream of visitors. Of course, do the research to insure that you aren't using completely irrelevant keywords to begin with. Doesn't do much good to rank #1 for something no one is searching.

SEO Audit For Websites

On page SEO factors are only a small percentage of the factors that influence where a web page ranks in a search engine. Bottom line is that lots of diverse links have the most effect. However, there are critical technical issues that are virtually deal breakers. Get these things right the first time or get them fixed so that the link garden bears much (and better) fruit.

Here's a great article on SEO Technical audits.