Why Are Small Business SEO Packages Almost Universally Ineffective?
To Paraphrase Bill Clinton...
It's the economics stupid!
Once Upon a Time...
Maybe 5 years ago, SEO literally meant "Search Engine Optimization and it was all about taking your existing website and ensure the technical aspects of SEO were done correctly for the website overall and for each individual web page.
Those days are over.
Partly because the Internet has gotten more crowded and partly because as Google updates their algorithm they're requiring quality content as a key search signal.
Back in the good old days you could hire an SEO firm to go through your entire website to set and adjust SEO attributes. Then as you added to or modified your website they would go in behind you and reset and or readjust.
These packages were priced between $300 a month and $1,000 a month depending upon how large and active your site was.
But Now...
SEO technical adjustments and tricks are no longer enough. Now you've website has got to be "useful" (per Google, not per me).
Useful means your sites helps people:
- Find things
- Do things
- Learn things
That definition of useful is also from Google, not from me.
Today, you've got to publish.
And Therein Lies the Economic Issue
$1,000 a month or less does not buy you enough content and publishing for your site to rank in any reasonable amount of time (I'm guessing you want this to happen in months rather than years).
So What's a Small Business To Do?
You have four main options:
- Hire a quality agency at $2,500 plus per month.
- Learn to do it in house (someone devotes an hour or two a day).
- Some combination thereof (do it mostly in house and sub out specific tasks).
- Forget about generating business online.
If option 1 and 4 do not work for you (and they don't for most small businesses) you're left with someone in your business taking responsibility to learning this and making it happen.
Digital Marketing Auditor
8 年I agree, SEO has become a cumulation of several services and content writing and distribution is def a huge part of it now more than ever. I'd like to add a #5 to your list. #5 - Hire a digital marketing consultant to devise the monthly strategies, take care of the technical tasks, BUT use the client's internal staff for any sort of blogging or copywriting. Why? From my experience, nobody knows it best than the owner and employees. However, the digital marketing strategist would still determine the content specifics (title, keywords, references) and also revise and edit the content before publishing it and distributing it. Of course, not all companies have time to do the writing, but if they do, this is becoming a new way to increase the quality of the content while creating a new "package" business owners seem to be attracted to.
Principal Consultant at Gwadar Ventures and Investments
9 年I agree with Kevin 100%, Now SEO is not an SEO but utilizing website as pure business portal to help, educate and promote the services. To do completely white hat. it would be more beneficial for the business. Write articles about your services/products, help new comers it would help you out, pick and denote pros/cons. Now SEO is completely meaningful to help you the people only its would be profitable for you.
Technical guru
9 年Well said Kevin -- I've been training people for years that at the end of the day, nothing trumps true quality content. There are some ways to make good content more search friendly... but you cannot optimize enough poor or lacking content.
Owner of a few businesses // Coin Carrier // Best Selling Author // I have helped 100's of business owners grow, scale, and understand their business inside and out.
9 年You hit it right on the head. I have clients complaining that prices are going up so high, well the "easy" way is out. No more black hat... You play by the rules, create content that matters, or don't run your own business where you expect website sales...