Three Reasons Small Business Owners Fail at Website SEO

Hey everyone, @SERPSniper here. I want to share with you a recent observation. We talk to a lot of small business owners and most have very little knowledge of search optimization and how it relates to their Website SEO. They think its some kind of Voodoo magic that cost an arm and a leg.

I know the reasons small business owners fail at Website SEO. DON’T Worry, I don’t like or accept failure so I won’t leave you hanging. This article includes a list of Free Resources to help you succeed with Website SEO and links to our SEO Foundation Service.

Let’s start with a few questions.

Why do many business owners neglect or outright ignore their website after it’s built?
Can’t small business owners see how important a marketing tool their website is?
Why, why?

Over the past 15 years, as an SEO professional, I have dealt with all kinds of business owners. As a rule, each is an expert in their field and highly qualified to run the business.

Case in point; You try supervising 20 employees, manufacturing a product, covering expenses, making payroll and still have some semblance of a family life. Hopefully, your kids don’t hate you and your wife doesn’t run off with the plumber. It’s extremely hard.

So hard in fact, according to this report from Small Business Association. (SBA)

30% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open, 50% during the first five years and 66% during the first 10.

That’s scary. I have also observed that about 60% of business owners have only a shallow understanding of how the internet works as a marketing tool and even less about why they need ongoing SEO.

The rest are not convinced they even need a website. Some even believe they only need a Facebook page for business. That is wrong on so many fronts.

Why don’t more business owners ‘get educated’ about internet marketing? Granted, content promotion and social media marketing isn’t easy but it’s not that hard.

The answer to WHY is. . . It’s Our Fault

First off, by our fault I mean the SEO Industry as a whole. We have failed to educate the average business owner.

We know that thousands of articles have been written about SEO. Truth is, most of those were written by SEO professionals and addressed to SEO professionals. But has your target client read any of them? I doubt it.

There are lots of great SEO Tools available, but admit it, most are for SEO Professionals. Without a better than basic knowledge their almost useless to the average business owner.

Secondly, somewhere along the way the Big SEO Agencies with their $5 – 15K per month opening bids have scared the hell out of small businesses. No small business can afford that.

Even $1500 per month is out of reach for most of my small business customers.

It’s no wonder small business owners are convinced that SEO is too expensive, to complicated, and frankly not necessary.

Lastly, the biggest problem I see is; We are so focused on getting more clients that we don’t take the time to address their pain points and the knowledge gap. Which in turn creates anxiety and puts up walls between us and makes our jobs that much harder.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”The #SEO Industry has failed to educate the average business owner. SEO Professional are so focused on getting more clients they don’t address their pain points or the obvious knowledge gap enough.” quote=”The SEO Industry has failed to educate the average business owner. SEO Professional are so focused on getting more clients they don’t address their pain points or the obvious knowledge gap”]

Three Reasons Small Business Owners Fail at Website SEO

Without pointing fingers or blame, here are the reasons most small business owners ignore and consequently fail at Website SEO.

• Most small business owners don’t have the knowledge to analysis website data at an actionable level.
• Nor do they have the necessary time to complete the mundane, day to day on page and off page SEO tasks necessary to achieve high rankings in the SERP.
• Lastly, in most cases, industry knowledge notwithstanding, creating search optimized content is not in the wheel house of most executives.

Lets examine those statements. What are the problems and how do we alleviate them?

Problem #1 – The Big Data Haze

Confession, I hate trying to decipher big data. Google analytics can be confusing for a novice and not much better for a seasoned pro. That is why you need to receive monthly reports in common terms, plain language that makes sense. Big Data does’t have to be confusing.

Obstacle #2 – SEO Knowledge

Protect yourself! No one should enter into an SEO contract without first acquiring some modicum of knowledge. Do some research, NOT just to find an SEO Agency but to educate yourself.

Business owners should spend a few hours reading the resources listed below. Be ready to intelligently discuss your SEO options with any SEO Specialist.

Our WordPress Marketing Blog has lots of articles. We have also provided links to some of the internet’s best free SEO/Internet marketing educational resources below.

HINT HINT I also offer a free phone consult.

Problem #3 – Content Creation, the elephant in the room

My SEO expertise coupled with the business owners industry knowledge makes us unstoppable. Batman & Robin separately are no better than Frick & Frack together they are the Dynamic Duo. We must help each other if we are to succeed. No more smoke & mirrors.

Creating Content that is keyword and industry specific, search optimized and social media ready is an art. It’s time consuming, research heavy and sometimes costly. When done right it can reap huge benefits, done wrong it won’t hurt you but it won’t help either.

To create the best content possible we partner with our clients. We combine their subject matter knowledge with our internet and social media knowledge. Some blog post we research and write ourselves, some we get directly from our clients and gently tweak and fine tune to fit the occasion. Existing company brochures and perspectives can be used to create blog posts.

In Conclusion; As stated, “No one should enter into an SEO contract without first acquiring some modicum of knowledge.” We suggest you do some research, NOT to find an SEO Agency but to educate yourself.

Together, you and the content team will create content that ranks well in Google or Bing SERP’s. This in turn creates website traffic, Brand Authority and results in higher ROI.

If you spend a few hours reading the resources listed below you will be ready to intelligently discuss your SEO options with any SEO Specialist. In the long run you win. If I can be of assistance contact me.

Here’s the SEO and Social Media Marketing resource list.

Articles from SERP Sniper SEO Blog

Keyword Targeted Content Marketing – Writing a quality article or blog post that performs well in the SERP Isn’t an accident!

SEO Quick Study – 10 Best Tips to Improve Website Performance and Page Load Speed. There is absolutely no reason for a slow website.

Onpage and Offpage SEO Conversion Rate Optimization Tips – People visit your site because it contains information they’re looking for. Your Onpage SEO code and Offpage SEO efforts were essential elements to get them there. Your keyword optimized content will be what keeps them there.

Advanced Twitter Techniques Using Hashtags and Twitter Lists – Creating an efficient content marketing strategy using Twitter is quite easy if you follow just a few simple rules.

Our Favorite Free Resources to help you succeed with Website SEO.

How to Learn WordPress for Free in a Week (or Less) – WPBeginner