You’ve probably heard a lot about SEO and how it is necessary for your site, how it will bring in more business, and add rainbows to everything (okay, maybe not that last one).

It seems that SEO is often the answer given by those in marketing when someone asks what is needed on a website…yet they may not allude to what that means or what it specifically does for your site. Tricky, huh?

The Real-Deal with SEO

Here’s the real-deal on what SEO is, how it can help your site, and who may not need SEO. The American Marketing Association defines search engine optimization (SEO) as:

“The process of developing a marketing/technical plan to ensure effective use of search engines as a marketing tool. Typically, consists of two elements. On a technical side, SEO refers to ensuring that a Web site can be indexed properly by the major search engines including keywords, content, and links. On the marketing side, SEO refers to the process of targeting specific keywords where the site should “win” in searches. This can be done by modifying a Web site to score well in the algorithms search engines use to determine rank, or by purchasing placement with individual keywords. Often, SEO programs are a blend of several elements and strategies.”

This also sounds a bit elusive, doesn’t it? Let’s break it down.

• The technical side of SEO is making sure that your website is indexed properly with the correct keywords, content, and links. In other words, making sure that your site has the pieces that it needs and that they’ve put together well.
• The marketing side of SEO is where this gets really interesting since search engines are always, ALWAYS, updating their algorithms to improve how searches are done and how results are retrieved. Think of this as the systems running the search engines are always trying to add more reasoning like humans to better deliver the results that we want.

There are thousands of articles on how to improve your site’s search engine ranking. Google even published this article on how to improve your ranking, and it is surprisingly straight-forward. Here’s the article in case you’d like to check it out: https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091?hl=en.

How This Applies To Your Business

How do you find answers to your questions? There are a number of ways, top of the list is to “Google” it (I love how “Google” is now used as a verb!). If you’re looking at a big purchase or business decision, do you Google it and base your decision on the results? Or do you instead look up recommendations from your peers, reviews from others online, and see what your friends or family are using and loving? That may be how many people find their next big purchase.

Which method would you use to research your next big purchase? It may be all of the above. In marketing, we know that social proof is one of the most compelling pieces in any decision-making process. If you know someone who loves a product or service and they RAVE about it, you may be curious about that product or service. When you’re ready to make a purchase you’re likely to remember if more than one person has given a glowing review of that same product or service.

Making This All Work For You

As someone in marketing, it may be a bit out of the normal to say that SEO marketing isn’t this lovely business-building tool that works for every business, every time. It isn’t. The marketing side of SEO can be an expensive piece of a marketing strategy that doesn’t fit many small businesses and certainly not many entrepreneurs.

The argument for SEO often wins for large businesses with a marketing budget that allows time (and money) to find the 20% of your target clients who respond well to SEO marketing, then push the majority (approximately 80%) of your budget to getting more of them to convert to clients. To see a bit more on the 80/20 rule, which is an application of the Pareto Principle, in business, and how it applies to marketing/sales check out this article on Forbes.com.

Another (Better?) Solution

While some will argue that every business needs SEO marketing, as mentioned earlier, I do not agree. If you’re finding clients as many coaches do by interacting with them in one-to-one conversations online in Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, on Instagram, Twitter, or other social media…then go with that! It may NOT be in your best interest to put your time and marketing dollars toward SEO marketing.

Take it Further

Build your own social proof by doing great work with clients then asking for their feedback so you can improve your programs and services, and then taking that further to ask permission to share their comments on your website. Social proof, as it is often called in sales and marketing, will get your prospects sold faster than anything you can tell them.

What are your tried and true ways to source clients? I’d love to hear from you! Email me directly at kristina@truebluemarketing.co. I personally respond to every email!