Dewell Marketing

Small business website owners have heard that they have to optimize their websites for the search engines otherwise they will languish on page 50 of Google for ever!

Well, as with everything there is some truth to the need to make sure the search engines find your website. Optimizing your website for that is important, but it is often over emphasized and tends to take site owner’s focus off the real purpose of their websites.

It is easy to think your “online” store is so much different than your offline one. But, that can be a big strategic mistake. You know that in your business location it is not important just to have thousands of people streaming in and out. You want people who are going to buy something!

It is the same thing with your website. You want people to find it, of course, but then you want them to do something specific. It can be something non-committal like signing up for your newsletter: it could be filling out a contact form asking for more information; or, it could be making a purchase. Any of those means the website has done its job.

If you are using a blog as the main format of your website, or as a portion of your site, you have the added advantage of being able to “talk” with your visitors as well. That gives you a chance to see if what you are offering is really what your potential customers want. If you give them that, they will buy.

Remember Field of Dreams? “Build it and he will come!” Well, here it is, “Give them what they want and they will buy!” Your site visitors will give you real time marketing advice for free!

Don’t let the concept of SEO scare you off and don’t get caught in the trap of thinking that it is all about getting tons of traffic to your website. Quality is what you want, not just quantity.

Inspiration for this post comes from Vanessa Fox, an expert in lots of things, including SEO, who writes her own blog at http://www.ninebyblue.com/.