If you are in business you probably hear the term SEO, or Search Engine Optimization quite a bit. While there are some technical pieces and parts to SEO services for small business, the fact is that anytime you do anything related to your website to try to help it rank better, you are engaging in SEO. Getting found by search engines is the single goal of any type of SEO work. Whether you are changing the title tag on your website home page so it ranks better, or you are writing blogs to create new content, you are engaging in SEO.
With the constantly changing world of Google people have been arguing about the value of SEO and whether SEO is alive or dead. There are even lots of people using the phrase SEO is dead in order to boost their own rankings because it is such a popular term. I am choosing not to use it in my header so I can avoid being “that marketer.”
SEO Matters
While there have been a lot of “snake oil” companies and approaches to SEO services for small business that have caused a lot of skepticism over the years, the reality is that as long as there is a search engine of one sort or another (Google, Bing, Yahoo or whatever else comes along) then SEO will continue to matter for all businesses, small and large. The more people go to the internet for their shopping, searching, validation of choices in their brands etc., the more businesses will have to work out how to keep their sites “findable.”
There are a lot of strategies out there and the biggest challenge for small businesses is that the best strategy is often a longer term strategy, not a quick fix. Building solid content over time that is useful to your audience is a great long term strategy, but it won’t get you on page one of Google in a week, or a month, or maybe even a year.
An SEO Strategy is Crucial
A solid SEO strategy is all about building traffic to your site using the various tools you have at your disposal. The cost for this can vary depending on how much you can do in-house, and how much you need to hire external help. Of course, we want you to hire external help since that is how we make our living, but the thing that is most important is that you recognize that you have to be involved in the SEO services for small business at some level, and that you begin to develop a strategy that can work for your company.
SEO is Here to Stay
Below is a pretty involved infographic that I found in my research for this blog post which goes into the myths and legends of the “death of SEO” and exposes the proponents of this view point and why they say what they say. If you are under the impression at any level that SEO is a fad that is passing and will soon be gone, I encourage you to download this and try to work your way through it.
Bottom line is that in its simplest form, SEO is not going anywhere at all so if you haven’t looked at how SEO services for small business fits into your larger online marketing strategy, or if you don’t have an online marketing strategy, then it is time to invest in solving that. The future of your small business may depend on it.
“Death of SEO” infographic provided by SEO Book (see below).
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