Search Engine Optimization, commonly referred to as SEO, is the way you can influence how easy it is for your leads and your customers to find your business via search engines. Put simply, SEO is a marketing strategy for the internet age, yet it is often overlooked by business owners. Why? Many business owners view SEO mainly from a tactical point of view. It is shrouded in a web of jargon that can be down right frustrating and thus easy to discount by saying, "It's not for me." Granted there is a technical side to SEO, but more importantly, SEO is a marketing strategy that when neglected or ignored can cause you to lose out on leads and revenues.
Before looking at where to start implementing SEO in your business let's look at how the three personalities-the technician, manager, and entrepreneur-that Michael Gerber describes in The E-Myth Revisited view SEO. In doing so you will begin to see the three points of view that your business needs to hold and where your business needs to start its SEO strategy.
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Technician - If you are looking at SEO from the technician point of view you tend to see it as the actual work that needs to be completed. Starting with this point of view is what causes business owner's to get frustrated with SEO. It's about technical skills that you might not have. It's about working in the business and not on the business. Does it matter? Absolutely. The tactical work will eventually need to be done, but it is not where you should start. Do you think Walt Disney or Ray Kroc knew exactly "HOW" they were going to build their business when they first had the vision for Disneyland or McDonalds?
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Manager - SEO from the manager point of view is about the plan. It is about taking the Entrepreneur's SEO result statement (which we don't have just yet) and turning it into a to-do list for the technician. It is being able to quantify your results. A manager looks at SEO as you would look at any lead generating activity, which means you need to have a baseline of where you are, a systemized way of creating the lead campaign, and a way of monitoring the results.
- Entrepreneur - This much overlooked point of view is the first place you should start when thinking about SEO in your business. For now, forget about how and when you will implement SEO strategies. Instead focus on the result you want from SEO. A short sample result statement might read: "Using the key word x, 50 new visitors will come to our website from search engines each week driving internet sales that represent 10% of our revenue."
- To create your SEO result statement - Imagine that a lead is sitting in front of a search engine and typing in a few key words related to your business....
- Identify the results you want your business to get.
- What product or services would they be looking for?
- What keywords would they type?
- Where do you want your business showing up in the results?
- How many leads do you want visiting your website from search results each week?
- What percentage of your revenue will come from your internet leads?
- To create your SEO result statement - Imagine that a lead is sitting in front of a search engine and typing in a few key words related to your business....
Do not get lost in details as you create your result statement. This is not about what you know or how to get there; it is about what you want to create. The "how you get" from result statement to results will be covered in the rest of this month's SEO articles.
Michael Small wrote, "SEO is about trying to get your site in front of the eyes of your target audience by way of search engines." This week we challenge you to spend time looking at SEO with your Entrepreneur hat in place. Create a result statement of what implementing SEO practices should do for your business. Then follow this month's SEO posts as we continue to explore the resources and knowledge your business needs to look at SEO from the Technician, Manager and Entrepreneur points of view.