In times like these with the economy heading in the direction it has been, is there still room in your marketing budget for SEO? Well, it depends how you look at it. I don't believe that right now we can apply the old saying that "it takes money to make money" even though this still may be true. I think during these times of financial uncertainty we need to approach our marketing strategy in general with care. Obviously if your business does not rely heavily on it's web site for generating sales then it would make sense for SEO to be one of the first budgets to be cut. However if your web site generates even one quarter of your revenue does it make sense to put your search engine optimization on hold?

Lets face it, the internet is not going anywhere, and even in times like these it continues to evolve while more primitive forms of advertising become less and less effective. Yet many business owners feel more secure using the old, newspaper or magazine adds, or other less "web friendly" forms of marketing during these difficult times. The fact is your web site has the power to get you through the tough times. People are still searching for products and services with Google, Yahoo!, and MSN in record numbers. Many people ask, how can I afford to keep my budget for SEO when my sales are dropping? The answer is simple. Find new and more creative ways of optimizing your web site. Of course hiring a company has been the easiest method in the past for business owners, where as now maybe reinventing is the way to go.

There are no guarantees in SEO, and likely never will be. What works today, may not tomorrow and thats why there are companies that stay on top it for you allowing you to take care of what you do best, running your business. Patience has always been key with SEO, and if you are looking to find ways to trim your marketing budget, this remains true. Learning search engine optimization is not the same as learning web design. Web design is like building cars for Chevy, whereas SEO is like tuning a Chevy for a NASCAR race. Having said that sometimes the do-it-yourself approach is the way to go when attempting to get more out of less.

One thing you can do is read forums, or blogs to reach people who have experience and explore new ideas of ways to build links, target specific keywords, and find niche markets that have less web sites competing. Talking with SEO companies can help as well. Many offer consultations at more affordable rates than large scale ongoing campaigns. The one thing I would not do is stop your SEO altogether. Not only would this likely have a reverse affect on any previous optimization you have done, it will also take you twice as long in the future to get back on track. If your competitors take their foot of the gas this is even more reason to keep yours firmly pressed to the floor. Take advantage of other slipping web sites and jump in front.

As a business owner myself I have felt the affects the slowed economy and the last thing on my mind is letting up on the SEO of my web site. In fact it's quite the opposite. Now more than ever search engine optimization is keeping thousands of businesses thriving in an otherwise unstable economy.

Labels: budget, do it yourself, economy, seo

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In the vast world of SEO, there is no shortage of opinions on how, why, and when to do what to your site to make it rank better on the search engines. I have been performing SEO for some time now, but in part it's been on my own website and for my own small business. Now that I've started my own SEO company it gives me far more time to research new techniques, try out the latest fads, and above all else discover what the truth is behind this relatively new form of marketing. Yet, there is something to be said for grabbing the bull by the horns and trying the do-it-yourself method for your small business. SEO is not particularly complicated. All you really need is some basic html knowledge, a few commonly used free online SEO tools for keyword research, and most importantly time. This is where I fell short in my do-it-yourself SEO attempts.

In the business world there is one major factor that contributes largely to all others. Sales. Without sales you have little if any operating budget for marketing, but without marketing where are your sales coming from? From my own experience running a small business, I found that my number one problem was having the time to do enough marketing to generate the sales I needed to run my business profitably. If you're a large company with investors, or at least have a large staff and/or marketing department, perhaps the issues of time aren't as dire. However for the small business owner with just a few employee's, or as it was in my case just myself and the volunteer help of a few friends, I found myself wearing lots of different hats. On the one hand I had to run and maintain my business and develop the products I was trying to sell in a very competitive market. This in itself was a full time job and left little time for much else. And yet on the other hand I had to find a way to market my products so potential customers would know about them and know how to buy them.

I began learning about SEO and how it could benefit my bottom line. I talked to people in the industry and discovered that if I had the time I could in fact do it myself. This of course was extremely appealing because I would be saving money on not having to hire a company or staff to do it for me. Pretty simple. The more I learned, the more work piled up and my product development suffered. I wasn't getting the results on the search engines I had hoped for quick enough, and in turn, I wasn't spending enough time working on my product development either. It became a true catch 22 situation. I didn't have the time I needed to spend on product development and marketing at the same time.

My business was in a state of disarray, so I put it on hold and decided to use what I had learned about SEO and offer my marketing services to other small businesses at an affordable rate in an effort to make enough money to save my company. The venture allowed me to spend all of my time learning about SEO and the ins and outs of the Search Engines. I never did go back to my other business. I found that Search Engine Optimization was a better market for me, and I like helping the small businesses compete against the giant corporations. I continue to provide affordable SEO services to small businesses and take a personal approach to each client simply because I know what it's like on that side of the fence too. Business is about one thing. Sales. A slick SEO campaign will generate nothing but sales. The return on investment is exponential and any small based business is a big step ahead of the rest with the right Search Engine Optimization company behind them.

John Simmonds
Affordable SEO Services

Labels: do it yourself, seo, seo company, small business

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