Small business owners continue to look at Internet marketing and ask how they can break into it for themselves. New small businesses are launched every month and at the same time somewhat older small businesses hit a brick wall in their growth. There are plenty of articles that explain in tedious step-by-step detail how a small business owner should get onto the Web: buy/register a domain, arrange for Web hosting, design/buy a site, install analytics, etc.
Yada..ya..da?ya?DUH.
Okay, we just lost 90% of all small business owners who are looking for a quick way to get onto the Web. The problem with SEO-driven advice for small business owners is that it is trying to be complete. In fact, I have far more often given small business owners complete Web marketing blueprints than I have seen them execute even the first steps. Other people share similar success rates with me.
It?s really too overwhelming for many otherwise energetic, passionate business people who are working hard to create successful businesses. These small businesses may be operating out of homes, in after-job hours, or on full budgets with some solid investment backing.
The multi-step plan represents an investment of time and effort that cannot be executed or paid for. So here is an alternative strategy that the beleaguered SEO practitioner should consider the next time someone asks for advice on how to get a small business onto the Web.
Create a SINGLE Social Media Account
There are a lot of social media solutions out there. Spend a few hours with your prospect/friend/relative/business associate to get a feel for which social media service is least annoying, or least overwhelming, etc.
Be a match-maker between the small business owner and the social medium. The idea is to help the person move onto the Web gracefully, elegantly, smoothly, and in small steps.
Realistically, you probably won?t be there to help that person take the next step but if you are there for the first step you?ll begin to learn some of the grooming lessons you?ll need to help a small business owner make the transition to the Web.
Find an Emotional Hook That Reels Them In
It?s easy enough to persuade someone to get out the credit card, pay $5 a month for hosting, and watch you set up a 1-click WordPress installation. But then you leave that person with an empty Website.
Instead, they may feel more comfortable adding a few Tweets to the Web, or sharing their thoughts on Facebook, or responding to people on Google+, and uploading images for Pinterest, or participating in discussions on LinkedIn, etc.
The typical small business owner is an expert at something relevant to his or her business, or is working hard to become such an expert. Hence, the social medium that is best suited to help share that expertise and that passion is the one, single, sole, solitary place to help introduce the small business owner to the Web.
It?s About the Transition to the Web, Not About Creating a Successful Website
You can dream about big SEO contracts and sugar plum fairies every December but if you?re helping someone make the transition to an online marketing practice they have to develop the habit of updating whatever ?Website? they have. If it?s just a Tumblr account then help them become an expert at Tumblr. If it?s just a MySpace account then help them become a MySpace expert.
The worst possible approach you can take is to push someone else to become adept at mastering online marketing. That?s not their business model; that?s not their passion. Maybe one day it will be but not today.
The strategy has to accomplish the immediate goal: GET THEM ON TO THE WEB.
The small business person wants to be successful on the Web. It?s your job (regardless of whether you are paid or not) to explain and convince that person that first they need to spend some time just ?being there?. The marketing can develop naturally over time as they become more confident in what they are doing.
The Marketing Is Not Important; This Is Not About SEO
Search engine optimization comes last for many people because they have to grow into the realization that if they take some sort of action there will be a reaction in the search results. Until they believe in that process they won?t have faith in it. You might as well train a chimpanzee in basic engineering; the chimp may show up for every class but won?t be able to build a bridge.
It?s not that small business owners are stupid ? it?s that they do not begin their business life in an evolved state capable of taking on search engine marketing. They don?t even know enough to read the wrong SEO blogs, much less to follow bad SEO advice.
When you help a small business owner move on to the Web your most important priority is to help them establish a comfort zone, a foundation upon which they can build all future knowledge and experience. They will make mistakes, they will make choices you disagree with, but as long as they learn and grow that should be okay.
To the small business owner who is struggling with all this online stuff I offer the following advice: Find a service you think is ?you? and just learn how to use it. Be passionate about your interests. Share with other people. Don?t promote your business; just learn to co-exist with everyone else in a give-and-take environment.
One day you?ll realize you are ready to go a step further. Eventually, in time, you will be ready to work with an SEO practitioner whose comprehensive business strategy will seem like a welcome challenge, not an insurmountable obstacle and drag on your valuable time.
Michael Martinez was previously the Director of Search Strategies for a Seattle area startup and more recently Senior SEO Manager for a Bay Area company. A former moderator at SEO forums such as JimWorld and Spider-food, Michael has been active in search engine optimization since 1998 and Web site design and promotion since 1996.
Michael was a regular contributor to Suite101 (1998-2003) and SEOmoz (2006).
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Michael is accepting clients for SEO Consulting Services, which include strategic link acquisition planning.
Source: http://www.seo-theory.com/2012/09/24/how-to-put-your-small-business-on-the-web/
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