Getting Found on the Internet

It used to be (just a few years ago) that you could put a website, add the name to Yahoo and be able to be found pretty easily. 

Not any more.  Now you have to know how to be found using search engine optimization techniques.  "Search Engine Optimization" and the folks who now make a pretty nice living off of just that are skilled at being able to make your site visible to those you want to see you (your target market). 

I've found costs range anywhere from about $1000 for 'setup' and $100/mo to tens of thousands for upfront and $5000/mo for larger corporations.  If you don't have the time to do it on your own, I suggest that you find a good search engine partner to help you bring prospects to your site.

The bottom line is that search engine optimization is getting to be a more and more important for small businesses.  After the work is completed, it still takes a little while for the directories to accept the changes.  Even then, there's no guarantee that you'll see the traffic you desire.  (Although at this moment, there is a good opportunity at the local level to be seen and be found.)

For those that have more time or have an internal resource, there are a couple of great books on the subject.  One is by Dan Thies called the Search Engine Marketing Kit for $197.  Another is Aaron Wall's SEO Book for $79.  Additionally, there are online training courses that are a little more pricey such as Robin Nobles and John Alexander's Search Engine Workshops that range from $995-$1295 and Kalena Jordan's Search Engine College.

Whatever you choose, I encourage you to invest in this because just having a site up without driving traffic to it minimizes your reach greatly.   There's no way around optimizing your site.

Comments

[Small Business SEO]

I accidentally discovered your blog and found this post. It is nice to see a marketer who has a favorable opinion of SEOs.

Unfortunately, many of those in the SEO industry are not actually experienced at SEO and do injustice to those of us who have a history in SEO. The best SEO is one who can prove their skills from recent work while providing valuable advice to those needing the service. The examples you list are excellent examples and some of the better SEOs in the industry. Their information and advice is top notch.

[Todd Miechiels]

Great post. As someone who has owned a search engine optimization agency I can attest that most of what you need to know is in fact available in the resources listed here. It is by no means rocket science and I encourage anyone with resources and time to give it a go before spending a bunch of money with anyone.

That being said, I always recommend to my clients before you spend a lot of time and resources trying to get up on the search rankings with natural search, first demonstrate that you can convert and monetize search traffic at all. This is easily accomplished doing a small AdWords campaign with Google where you can buy by the click. It's great in that you get to 'sample' a variety of phrases to find out if and, which ones actually bring in targeted traffic. Too many companies get enamored with the promise of 'free traffic' via natural search engines. They opt not to do pay-per-click thinking it will be too expensive or risky. Having lived on both sides of the fence for many years now, I believe it is much more risky to go down an uncertain path of natural search first. No doubt do them both, but plan your natural search strategy based on what you learned using pay-per-click. My 2 cents!

[Robert Gerace]

I agree with Todd. However, great care must be taken when using AdWords. I've known many people who have spent tens-of-thousands of dollars and never monetize any traffic.

To implement AdWords correctly is a full time job, a science, and a discipline. Setting low daily budgets, watching over the campaign daily, and much time invested in ongoing education will accomplish Todd's goals and avoid a huge loss. Help is available from sites like www.roirevolution.com ('done for you') and www.adgooroo.com ('do it yourself').

In any event, nothing much good is going to happen without A/B and multivariate testing; but that takes basic web programming skills even with the free (and easy to use) Google Website Optimizer. I think the deeper message in Todd's post is that your traffic probably will NOT monetize until you test different landing pages (and parts of landing pages) to find the message that resonates with your potential client base.

I feel strongly that this is not a do-it-yourself project for the average business owner (who has neither the resources nor the time).

[Ken Partain]

I agree with Robert. For the average business owner, SEO is not something that they typically have the time or know-how to manage on their own. It's not something you can "set it and forget it". SEO is a moving target and the more content you put online, either through your web site, blog or social media sites such as Facebook, the better your chances of being found online. With a formal content creation strategy, you can write articles and blog posts about all of the major topics and sub-topics in your industry over time. This not only helps to drive search traffic, but also can help to establish you and your business as the expert in your field.

[Kalena Jordan]

Hi Scott

Thanks for the link love for Search Engine College. We have students in 35 countries worldwide and are very proud of the quality of our graduates. Many go on to top flight jobs in the SEO/SEM industry as a result of completing our certification. Thanks again for the mention!