Several things have happened in the last few months which
suggest the only way to get ahead online these days is to buy your way
there. Firstly there was the loss of
keyword data in Google analytics last year which means sometime soon there will
be a figure of 100% ‘not provided’ in the keyword reporting section of your
Google Analytics account. This move to
take keyword data away means online marketers are left in the dark in terms of
the specific and long tail phrases that drive traffic towards a site –
encouraging more businesses to instead invest in Adwords where specifics would
be given. Secondly, there was the change
in Facebook’s algorithm at the end of last year which meant even though people
liked your page they might not necessarily see your latest updates in their
news feed.
Google and Facebook are clearly both out to make money so
where does this leave the smaller organisations who cannot afford to spend
thousands on paid advertising? Does
small business SEO still work or will the SME lose out to the big boys with
bottomless pockets?
Well the answer is yes and no. Sorry for not going one way or the other but
there are valid arguments on both side of the fence. Let’s take the pro side of the argument first
and say that SEO still has a place in the marketing budget of small and medium
sized enterprises (SMEs).
Search Engine
Optimisation is not so much a luxury as a mandatory part of small business
marketing. There are still slices of the
pie to be had provided businesses concentrate on optimising for the specific
keywords and phrases that will drive targeted traffic to their website. There is no point wasting money on the
generic, high traffic, ludicrously competitive keywords that the big brands are
optimising for – chances are Google will never give the small, local business
with the new website any authority around these terms so it is better instead
to reach for those specific, local keywords that are actually represented by
the content on the website.
Small business SEO can be successful but only when combined
with the other elements of online marketing that help to build up an increased
presence online. I refer here to
blogging, social media marketing, online PR and email marketing – all of which
can be done within a small business budget if you find the right supplier. By utilising the most important online marketing
channels, small businesses can build their brand online so that when potential
customers are at the point of making a purchasing decision, they will consider
this brand.
So how can this be done successfully? Well first of all the business needs to move
away from reliance on keyword positioning in SERPS – by repeating the mantra
that ‘rankings are vanity, traffic is sanity’.
Page one positioning for very niche specific keywords is nice but in
reality with only tens of people actually searching online using these terms,
these rankings are unlikely to deliver noteworthy traffic. Instead the business needs to build brand
awareness and visibility around a large amount of semantically linked keywords,
focusing their efforts on broadening their reach and maximising brand visibility. They need
to ensure their latest news is publicised both online as well as offline by
utilising the services of online PR specialists who can ensure the organisation’s
latest news is put under the noses of relevant journalists, bloggers, magazine
editors and news wires. By taking advantage of social media channels such as
the visually engaging Facebook, the news-style feed of Twitter and the all-important
Google+ (important because it is owned by Google and thus deemed very worthy),
the online marketing strategy really takes on momentum as great content from
the client’s blog, website and PR can be broadcast across social channels to
further increase brand awareness and encourage engagement.
So SEO for small businesses does work if you can find the
right supplier that can cover all the important digital marketing channels effectively
and within budget, right?
Well, not always and I’ll give you a very good reason. Good coverage online now simply cannot be achieved
without some degree of paid advertising.
If you want to rise to the top without waiting for decades to build your
natural authority you’ll need to pay to get your content, brand and marketing
message in front of a receptive audience.
The powers that be such as Google and Facebook are leaning
increasingly towards paid advertising. Consider
that if you have an Adwords campaign you get full data on the exact keywords
people have used to find your ad and click through to your site – the same can
no longer be said for organic searches.
Consider also that Facebook updates are no longer guaranteed to feature
in the news feeds of those who like your page and at some point businesses will
need to consider paid advertising to reach their target audience.
Whilst SEO for small businesses can help improve organic
presence, it will not be the only factor in driving targeted traffic to a
website and increasing brand awareness.
The internet is simply too big for small businesses to be able to cover
all of the bases on a budget of just a few hundred pounds a month. Therefore, it can be argued that the smaller organisation
is being priced out of the market. Paid
advertising through Google Adwords is becoming more expensive with the costs
per click of even the more obscure and niche keywords increasing continually so
unless businesses can comfortably set aside a four figure sum per month and utilise
a PPC expert to fine tune their campaign and eliminate negative keywords, they
may eat up all of their budget without getting the return they are looking for.
With paid advertising you have the opportunity to refine
marketing strategies to reach a more specific and targeted audience. For example, with Facebook you are able to
choose demographics such as the age range of your audience to focus your
message on those who are more likely to be receptive and actually want the products
or services you provide. Adwords too
gives users the opportunity to choose their exact keywords and the specific
locations or areas that they want to target.
Surely with this level of enhancement the outcome is a better rate of
conversion?
Well it all depends – on a lot of things really. Firstly, on your ability to conduct organic
and paid advertising in house or the suitability and quality of the external
providers you choose. Secondly it
depends on your budget – if you don’t have enough to commit to full scale SEO
and organic content and social marketing you are unlikely to have the budget to
put towards a viable paid advertising campaign.
Yes paid advertising is more guaranteed to deliver results but once you
commit to it you have to keep up the momentum or the leads, visits and sales
will simply dry up.
Finally, as this is often a point that gets overlooked in
online marketing strategies – you need to have something worth converting. If your prices are high, your product inferior
or your website poorly constructed and difficult to navigate it doesn’t matter
how much you spend on driving traffic and raising brand awareness (whether
organic or paid) you will not turn this interest into sales.
Food for thought? If
you want to find out more about paid vs organic online marketing you can visit seo-it-right.co.uk or if you just
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