So a lot of small business owners, in fact 99% of them have a web page. Of these owners many of them pay a clearing house or some agency for SEO (search engine optimization) to ensure that their page ends up on page 1 of a Google search. Often though when I ask owners about this they have no idea of what is being done for this.
My opinion is that this can be a frivolous expense because most of these owners are not utilizing the the power of social media. In fact, most of these owners either:
- don’t have a social media page
- only have 1 type of page
- don’t know anything about their page
- only posted < 10 things to it.
The image above depicts how Google ranks you in a search. You obviously want to be the yellow or red face. Getting their requires many links though. The problem with a lot of SEO is it is based on random or even blind keyword entries and it is expensive. With social media you open up the infinite possibilities of back links (connecting your content to someone else’s page for visibility).
ALL OF THIS IS FREE!!!
Regularly posting to social media establishes you as an expert and can get you an audience you never thought you had.
91% of data usage on smart phones is used on social media
That’s huge! Take a business like a pet store. Whenever someone comes in to play with a dog or to purchase one you should snap a picture (have releases ready if they are ify about it). Upload the picture to Facebook or Pinterest. If they are on FaceBook they will be tagged in the photo and notified. This gives you a link to their page, a possible friend request, and maybe a Like (more likes mean more rotation in someone’s news feed which also results in a higher search rank). That is a potential gold mine of free marketing!
Don’t forget about Google +. Since Google has the largest market share of searches they also give preference to their profile pages. If you don’t have one then make one. It will be a great way for people to find more about you after they discover you on Google Places.
In short,
I used to only deal with people face to face and didn’t use social media for myself, but I have had success with helping others implement it. It’s a necessity in business and much less of a financial strain than a lot of SEO promises.
I hope these tips help your business grow!
I have to say this is a bit simplistic , social media;s importance is valid but easier said than done to amass a huge following. Social Media is best when it is integrated with a strong mobile and desktop website. I have seen many merchants forgo a website in favor of just a Facebook Webpage and this is a terrible mistake. Putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points. I never said to eliminate their site. I merely said paying for SEO solely can be wasteful in some situations. Having a great site is important but so is generating a following. I believe after that you should look into SEO more.
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