"Does Your Site Deserve To Be Seen Onilne?"

"What Does Your Company Really Deserve?"

A pat on the back or a shoe to the pants?
Thats pretty blunt but we're used to straight talk in the city of Chicago. Unfortunately a lot of companies fall into the 'shoe to the pants' category when it comes to Search Engine Optimization. There is really no sense in playing - Hide and Seek - when you are running a business online.

Here is some rather disheartening information on the matter....

"Search engines are fast replacing the yellow pages as a place for consumers to find businesses. People Google everything – from a business name to find the phone number, to product names to find companies that sell a certain model, to types of services to find companies offering them. But when you’re not selling online and you don’t have locations across the country, does it make sense to be found in search engines like Google? Let’s look at offline buying and how location matters."

Source:
http://www.bigoakinc.com/seo-articles/should-be-found-search-engines.php

The article doesn't really go off into the price gambit which in reality reaches startling heights. Running full page ads, quarter page ads and even double full page ads can be extremely costly. How costly? You can put your business in the Yellow Pages for 17k a month. The smaller ads will only run you 4k depending on what market you are in.

Its a scary proposition. But its one that needs to be addressed. So lets start thinking about the following scenario. What does it take to get your business noticed?

* Val Pak Ads - $4,000 depending on area
* Full Page Ads - $3,000
* Crains List Online - $2,500 - $5,000
* Postcard Mailers - 20,000 deployment on .29 cent stamps

These types of marketing forget to mention on critical factor. You will need to hit the marketplace at least three times before there is any visual stickiness going on. They will have to get comfortable seeing you and be able to recognize who you are as a marketer. This is going to be a real hard pill to swallow if you are on a very tight budget.

Its hard to get "familiar" when you are on limited funding. You need to be tenacious and look for a back door. There is a little more on this at:
http://911copywriters.blogspot.com

( I talk a bit about building online Blogging Uber Networks - with RSS and Social networking. )

Are People Really Reading The Yellow Books?
What are people picking up to find your company - a phone book or a mouse? These ads are very expensive to start and maintain. The popularity of phone books and ads that are found in them are declining.

More and more people are going online to get their informtion on different topics and subjects. There is a very good reason for this......

• People can get services explained
• Customers can read online and look for advantages vs disadvantages
• It takes your company out of the "price game"
• You can run consumer reports right off the sites
  

The most important reason for adding search engine optimization then becomes a different ball of wax altogether. Its NOT about getting to the top of the search engines - although that CAN happen. But however, it is more about getting the right type of clientele to get into contact with you and making deals.

It reverses the lead funnel approach. It makes you the center of attention who is reaching out to the customer base and extending an offer for free information exchange. And the best part is that your people can subscribe to you directly while making a decision on whether or not they want to buy your product or service.

Anonymously.

Ted Cantu posted this on May 11, 2007 at 7:29 am. He can be found at http://www.1seomichigan.com