When it comes to marketing small local businesses the main thing business owners faces or get confused with the process. The thing is to survive in the current markets, online marketing is inevitable. I asked Bill Slawski, the head of SEO Research at Go Fish Digital and founder of SEO by the Sea, to put his insight on the following questions concerning Small businesses.

Interview With Bill Slawski About Small Business SEO

Jubayer-  Most small business owners don’t have tons of money to invest in marketing. How important is it to have a digital marketing strategy that is highly focused on the brand?

Bill Slawski- Most businesses understand the importance of having a brand, and using it in signage and advertisements. If they use their website to extend that brand even further, it isn’t like they have to start over again. It is possible to have a presence online without spending too much money. Given the popularity of the Web, and how much services like the yellow pages are declining in usage, having a presence online can increase visits to a business.

Jubayer- What should be the right approach for Small business owners or entrepreneurs with limited resources when starting a new venture?

Bill Slawski- The decision to start a business is one that requires that a founder might have to save money beforehand, or find investors. Marketing and advertising are costs associated with running a business. A website is created once, and may require updating after a year or so, but marketers can be hired, and a business owner can learn how to market their own business, reducing the cost of having to do so. A business owner can invest in himself or herself by learning about marketing online, and becoming capable of doing that. It can take time to do that, what people sometimes refer to as sweat equity.

Jubayer- That sounds great. Wouldn’t it be tricky for the business owner to manage business & handle all these simultaneously? 

Bill Slawski- The amount of time is going to depend upon how much work a business owner might want to try to do themselves, and how quickly they learn, and how successful they might be in attracting investors.

Jubayer- Would you explain a bit more?

Bill Slawski- It can take time to start a brick n mortar business. I know someone who used to insist that 3 years planning was not unusual. If someone is going to start a business, having time to do so adequately may be something they will have to plan upon.

Jubayer- Yeah, I also agree that this is the least they can do. Now, if you have any advice for business owners who don’t have a lot of money to invest.

Bill Slawski- If they have little money, they may try to save some by learning how to build and run a website themselves, and how to do SEO. Spend some time pricing how much a website builder might charge for a site, Either they have no money and time to do some of the work themselves, or they have some money, and can hire people to do some of it for them. But, if they have no money, and no time, they might reconsider the idea of starting a business.

Final Words: 

Now it’s time to take the decision. Whether you want to start an SEO campaign or not. If you have a website and you’re not focusing on online marketing then you’re missing the important part to survive in the market. It’s never too late to start. When you’re thinking about starting SEO your competitors are already doing it. SEO takes time, effort, money, and patience. There’s no time-frame for SEO to work. The key to success is to keep improving the site quality such as information, user-experience based on the users intent along with improving the quality of backlinks constantly. You can hire SEO professionals within your budget. Start small and increase time to time if you can see any improvements with your goals.

Now, you just need to ask yourself a question Is SEO still worth the time, effort and money for you?

Relevant Post: https://seowithclarity.com/blog/how-to-setup-realistic-expectations-for-an-seo-campaign/

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