|
|
|
|
| The Small Business Think Tank Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts |
| SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | Views: 553 |
| Nov 30, 2008 7:11 pm | | SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Pete Hollier | | I figured the time was right to start blogging. Why now?
Economic times are hard times for both businesses and consumers.
The consumer has less discretionary income creating the flow on effect of fewer customers with less spending power. Not a good business environment.
So back to, why Blog now.
To get the message out:
Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing have the power to keep businesses going and growing.
To keep business flowing in times of economic recession marketing is even more important than in a buoyant economy. Businesses must continue to get the message out to consumers as they become more cautious in their spending and fewer in numbers.
Marketing in - TV Radio Print
Think of the cost of marketing and advertising in other media such as TV, Radio and Print. The cost of marketing in these mediums is expensive and short lived. The TV and Radio commercials last seconds at great cost. The newspaper and magazine advertisements are over when the page is turned and the paper recycled.
Another consideration of traditional media marketing is the difficulties in measuring performance of the marketing initiative. It is difficult to accurately monitor the performance of TV, Radio and Print advertising. Are you getting a reasonable ROI on your marketing budget?
Marketing With SEO and SEM
Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing on the other hand offer numerous benefits to business:
Cost effective offering excellent ROI
SEO and SEM are economical marketing solutions.
Often a one time web site analysis of current Search Engine Marketing and Search Optimization status is all that is necessary to identify economical solutions which can improve long term business online performance.
Long Term SEO Benefits
Embarking on an Organic Search Optimization Program offers long term benefits to business.
The vary nature of Organic SEO creates a web site with lasting benefits. Organic SEO will develop relevant keyword content that will interest both clients and Search Engines not just for an instant but over an extended period of time,
Organic Search Engine Optimization develops user and Search Engine friendly web site navigation encouraging users to return and convert to sales, not just one time but in an ongoing manner.
Short Term SEO Benefits
Pay Per Click is the most effective method for increasing targeted web site traffic. PPC advertising is highly targeted to customer and business needs and once initiated traffic and customers begin to arrive.
Monitoring Search Engine Marketing Performance
Unlike other marketing methods, the performance and ROI of all Search Engine Marketing whether Organic SEO, Pay Per Click or other Optimization technique are easy to monitor.
Web site analytics such as Google Analytics, AW Stats offer business owners the tools to accurately gauge the performance of Online marketing programs. These tools are hard to beat when it comes to identifying what works what doesn’t and how best to achieve ROI for your marketing investment.
Where to Now
We are undoubtedly in a recession, and the general consensus of economists is it will last between 12 and 18 months. Isn’t now the time to consider Search Engine Optimization as a viable marketing alternative to improve your business?
Where to start SEO will have to wait for another day as I have gone on enough for one day, but getting an idea on your current web site performance is affordable and easy. You may like to consider Page Rank Reports at SEO Wizardry’s Page Rank Reportsl as a starting point or investigate further on the Internet as there is a wealth of SEO information available.
I am interested in your views on this topic and encourage you to post commentsPrivate Reply to Pete Hollier |
| Nov 30, 2008 9:58 pm | | re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Marta Costa | | Pete, I think you're absolutely correct. SEO is the most cost effective way to get out there and market your business. The message is getting out, I'm seeing lots of brick and mortar local businesses diving into the internet, creating sites and looking for ways to optimize them and try out other forms of internet marketing.
Marta Costa
Virtual Assistant
www.va-4-hire.comPrivate Reply to Marta Costa |
| Nov 30, 2008 10:15 pm | | re: re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Reg Charie | | Couldn't agree with you more Pete, SEO provides the highest ROI for any marketing medium.
Good times or bad, recession, depression, bear or bull markets you will get the highest return by optimizing your web pages.
Reg - Talk to me in Live Chat. http://regcharie.com/talk-to-me.htm
All You Need is Dotcom-Productions and a Dream. http://dotcom-productions.com
0Grief http://0grief.com/special_hosting_accounts_for_my_ryze_friends.htm
CRELoaded websites http://RegCharie.com Private Reply to Reg Charie |
| Nov 30, 2008 11:18 pm | | re: re: re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
James Booth | | .
Buy GOOG now ! : )
JBPrivate Reply to James Booth |
| Dec 01, 2008 12:35 am | | re: re: re: re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Scott Wolpow | | I would short GOOG for Feb. when it becomes apparent they have had a drop in revenue. Private Reply to Scott Wolpow |
| Dec 02, 2008 6:04 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Jennifer Jarvis | | SEO is a must at all times! You just have to get more clever and start learning how to do things yourself, if all else fails blog, blog, blog, thats the easiest way to get rankings and once you get good PR it brings quality links back to your site...
http://www.VirtualAssistantToHire.comPrivate Reply to Jennifer Jarvis |
| Dec 02, 2008 6:31 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Scott Wolpow | | If everyone blogs blogs blogs, then that makes it all level. Google may know if you use the same language on difefrant sites. I would say they also can tell your writing styles.
Try to write for places that have authority.Private Reply to Scott Wolpow |
| Dec 02, 2008 6:41 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Jennifer Jarvis | | You can blog as much as you want, as long as its relevant to your business and every post is different it doesnt matter. The main point is that google ranks a blog much quicker than it would ever rank a web site, you could easily have a PR of 4 in 6 months with a blog where as a web site it takes much longer. I blog everyday for my clients and it has been successful and has been proven to be the more affordable way to get rankings on your site. Private Reply to Jennifer Jarvis |
| Dec 02, 2008 7:28 pm | | SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Scott Wolpow | | How does google know it is a blog? There is no blog tag that I know of.
Can you show me sites where the page rank has risien and teh key words used to get there?Private Reply to Scott Wolpow |
| Dec 02, 2008 8:54 pm | | re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Pete Hollier | | Hi All
Nice to see some comments happening here.
Hmm where do I start on this blog issue?
It’s not so much the blog as such, the key here is fresh relevant content which is what Google loves to see. Add to this some of your business specific keywords in headers or bold and this will help your content to be better identified as relevant to search engine spiders/crawlers for the specified content.
I believe that SEO is not successful from a single activity such as blogging but a combination of all the different SEO activities such as
Well designed site with logical navigation structure
Fresh relevant content
Inbound links
A big thing also is making sure the web site works no broken links etc, Google sees things like broken links and goes hey they don’t even maintain this site and down go the Search Engine results.
The thing to remember with blogs is to post them on sites where you are allowed to do so and link back to your site in your blog (http://www.zimbio.com) . This will help with your Page Rank and link building strategies.
That’s it in a nutshell
Private Reply to Pete Hollier |
| Dec 02, 2008 11:36 pm | | re: re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Reg Charie | | It really bugs me that people refer to blogging as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) when it is a part of SEM, (Search Engine Marketing).
Optimization refers to the work done on a website to enhance the SERPs the site receives.
Some of the reasons that blogs get fast rankings is that if you are blogging on a site like WP then the search bots check the site daily which can give you a speedier listing.
Blogs also use tags to focus relevance, which the search engines like, and dealing with single topics, can be highly focused. Tags are today's version of the keywords,(meta tag).
A well SEO'd site with IBL (in-bound links) from high PR sites, or with a hig PR on it's own, can achieve listings just as fast as a blog post.
Reg - NEW!! PaintEngine Filter & stand alone shell http://FantasticMachines.com
All You Need is Dotcom-Productions and a Dream. http://dotcom-productions.com
0Grief http://0grief.com/special_hosting_accounts_for_my_ryze_friends.htm
CRELoaded websites http://RegCharie.com Private Reply to Reg Charie |
| Dec 05, 2008 7:16 pm | | re: re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Gary GotVMail | | I think this is a great observation. Another thing I've noticed since the economic downtown is the nature of blogging -- a lot of companies are getting more personal, taking a kind of "times are tough for everyone" tone (ie, the SEO of Sprint appearing in a commercial and talking directly to consumers...not a blog, but a similar ad strategy). I think a lot of consumers (and businesses) are scared, so some are dropping their guard ever-so-slightly to forge a sense of community. Blogging is a good way to do that, to show that there are real human beings behind your company that are working for customers. I think now more than ever that could make a difference. Private Reply to Gary GotVMail |
| Dec 06, 2008 3:51 pm | | re: re: re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Kathy Buck | | WOW - Lookie at all the new members posting!
Welcome to All
I will ask this group if you are sure your entire audience is just online?
Traditional Media can help re-affirm your branding message.
Consistency and Frequency are key to branding.
Even if just a 5 second sponsorship mention to weather, sports, and or traffic at a mid market rate of 30 bucks per - over a ninety run x3 a week, you will see results. Might not be cash in pocket but not all campaigns are geared towards immediate sales. Sales start w/ smart marketing :-)
All of it really depends on your business type and what ROI objective is.
Quit frankly ( as to blogs) I've grown tired of the many who just want to sell me under a premise of being a resource. Short courtship and hand hold to a site then off to bed? No thanks.
Way to much coffee for me this morning!
Private Reply to Kathy Buck |
| Dec 08, 2008 5:30 pm | | re: re: re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Reg,
You say SEO refers solely to one's website, not blog. However, SEM refers to the much bigger picture of one's overall online presence. What are some key tools you would say a small business needs to have for its overall online presence? Would you include microblogging (Twitter)? Would you include a VOIP client (Skype), a desktop-sharing tool (Yugma), a web design resource (Cre-Loaded)? What are your favorite tools?
Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
707-709-8605
Attract more customers! Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 |
| Dec 08, 2008 6:08 pm | | re: re: re: re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Scott Wolpow | | Twitter may just be a great tool to retain clients, but be wary of dilluting your message.
Skype has a few parts. Voice, IM, file sharing and conferancing.
The only part taht may work is using Skype for customer service voice. But that is time consuming.
Yugma is good if you have to demo something.
CreLoaded is not a web design tool. It is a E-commerce system with some Content Management.
Dreamweaver is a web design tool, there are many others.
Howevere none of teh above has anything to do with SEM directly.
As to what tools, it will depend on what your goals are.Private Reply to Scott Wolpow |
| Dec 08, 2008 6:23 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Scott,
I could be mistaken, but I believe Cre-Loaded is all three - web design, CRM and E-commerce.
Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
707-709-8605
Attract more customers! Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 |
| Dec 08, 2008 7:50 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Scott Wolpow | | Cre does not have any CRM to speak of. No webdesign beyond controling what is there in the tempalte.
So yes you are mistaken. :)
I suggest that you start using it, you would add a great skill set. Perhaps you could build a plugin for Twitter to listen for the site owners Tweets.
Start by going into your control panel and installing it.Private Reply to Scott Wolpow |
| Dec 09, 2008 5:57 am | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Scott,
Are you suggesting folks use a program like Dreamweaver and Cre-Loaded together?
Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
707-709-8605
Attract more customers! Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 |
| Dec 09, 2008 12:26 pm | | SEO in Recessionary Economic Times | # |
Scott Wolpow | | If you want to customize CRE, then use Dreamweaver with the server functions enabled so you can see the results. Private Reply to Scott Wolpow |
 |
|
|
