Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Over the past few months I have learned a lot about search engine optimization (SEO). Well I learned enough to be dangerous. Truth is, the details of the subject are still as vague to me as how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly.

For those who know even less than I do, search engine optimization is the sum of techniques used in making web sites visible and friendly to Internet search engines such as Google. The theory is that the better a web site is optimized for search engines, the more people will discover and visit your site.

Much of what goes into SEO seems to be technical in nature and must be left to the gurus who know about and how to do such things. However, web site content is equally important. Like any other marketing material, your web site needs to be smartly written with text that clearly describes your product or service and includes “keywords” that will help search engines steer people to your site.

I have learned recently of a free tool that grades the search engine friendliness of web sites. Try it on yours. Just visit www.websitegrader.com and follow the simple instructions. You may be surprised, as I was when I graded my own site, how much work needs to be done to your site to get maximum traffic.

Yesterday I was talking with Andy Halko, president of the Cleveland web-development firm Insivia. He takes SEO one step further. It’s fine, Andy says, to have people visit your site. But what is really important is the conversion rate. Andy defines the conversion rate as the percentage of people visiting your site who take the action you want – such as request a call or literature, or actually buy something.

Your web site may be your best (and perhaps least expensive) marketing tool. It is the great equalizer in that no one should be able to tell by visiting your site how large or small your business is. But unless people find your site, and unless visitors can be converted into prospects or customers, the site is not working for you. That’s where SEO comes into play.

What are your personal goals? What are your goals for your business? So many business owners I talk to are not happy with where they are, but have no specific goals of where they want to be. The vague goals I often hear are: “I want more sales”, “We need better cash flow”, “Our profit needs to improve”.

Goals need to be specific and, just as important, need to be written. Instead of “I want more sales”, the goal should be something like, “My goal is $80,000 in sales for November”. Committing them to paper also commits them to the mind and makes them more real.

Start today by writing a list of your top ten goals. Be specific with each one both in substance and in timeline. The goals can be either personal or business (or both).

Next prioritize the goals.

Take your most important and pressing goal and list the first action item you need to take to achieve the goal. Just one action item. Be specific and create a deadline for that item. Commit the action item to writing. As soon as that action is completed, create the next action item, taking one action at a time.

By working a single action item you will stay focused, and the next action item will just naturally flow from the prior one.

Frequently review your goals. Modify them as needed. Test your progress to the deadlines you have set for them. Be single minded and doggedly determined and you will reach your goals. But you have to have goals in order to reach them.

Multiple Revenue Streams

Many small businesses are “one-horse towns” – they have a single product or service that generates revenue. This may have worked in the start-up phase, but is a dangerous strategy for a growing business, and could prove to be catastrophic in a down economy. Reliance on a just one stream of income can be as risky as to be dependent on a single customer. As needs, fads, and disposable income change, market for the service may dry up.

Most business owners can readily find sources of income that are complementary to existing products and services. Look at the skills, equipment, and disciplines of your organization. How might they be used in different ways? What are the trends in your industry? Brainstorm with your employees on ways to branch out. Ask customers what they need that you aren’t currently providing. Ask customers what related services they are buying from other vendors. The answers might surprise you.

But do enter a new revenue stream with caution and with a sound strategy. Put together a business plan. Just as in starting a new business, determine how much demand there is, consider how you will market the new product or service, and calculate costs and profitability potential.

Buy From Local Businesses

Michael Simon, the Iron Chef, was the first keynote speaker at the COSE Small Business Conference in Cleveland two weeks ago. He is now running two successful upscale restaurants in Cleveland and has great respect not only locally but nationally as well.

In his remarks to the 1200 business owners present, one of his most poignant statements was that local businesses should buy from local businesses. His thesis was this: How can you expect people to buy from your local business, if you are buying from Walmart and Home Depot rather than local privately owned companies? Michael said that when he needs hardware he will drive right by Home Depot and go to the local store, even if it is not as convenient. He said that he hoped he never caught anybody in the room walking into Walmart!

Cleveland is blessed with a wonderful chain of locally owned grocery stores called Heinens. They are competitive with national chains, yet many business people buy from Giant Eagle!

I think Michael is right – whenever you contemplate a purchase ask whether you are benefiting a local business which, today, is struggling for every dollar. Or are you padding the pockets of an anonymous national chain.

Time Management

I attended a wonderful seminar yesterday by Brian Tracy called “Maximum Achievements”. There were many take aways, but one of the simplest, yet profound, was a rule about time management. The rule is this.

“If you would not pay someone else to do something – don’t do it yourself”.

Think about this. If the task is not worth paying for, then you are losing money. For sake of simplicity, assume that your income is $50,000. Doing the math this translates to $25 per hour. If you spend an hour on a non-productive task, you have just blown $25.00. Taking this a step further, if you delegate a needed task to someone else, you have freed up the time for yourself, and can probably pay someone else less than your own hourly rate – you are now ahead.

Several months ago I had lunch with a friend who has a home-based business with no employees. She commented how she hates to file and do routine office tasks. We decided that she should hire a part time person to do the things she dislikes. Not only would she be relieved of drudge work, but she would be money ahead. Her billing rate is about $150 per hour – she could easily hire a part time person for ten percent of that amount.

How are you spending your time?

Will Limkemann

Change is here

Whether or not you agree with, or voted for, Obama, it is comforting to know that there is one fewer uncertainty in our uncertain times – we now know who the next president will be. Change is now inevitable, as the new administration will shed new light on everything from the economy to foreign policy to health care. The long and weary season of campaigning is finally over!

As a colleague and I talked over lunch yesterday we were lamenting the depth to which the stock market has recently sunk and the wide day-to-day swings. We came to the conclusion that after the election the markets should at least stabilize as the uncertainty of the election outcome will no longer be a factor. I hope we are right and that energy can now be focused on doing the right things to bolster the economy. That can only be good for small businesses.

Tight Money

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal talks about a fact known by most small business owners – SBA loans have dried up. Anyone who has tried to get a business loan from a bank recently knows that, even if applying for an SBA backed loan, banks have tightened credit-worthiness standards. Today, more than ever, the old saw holds true – you can only borrow money if you don’t need it.

According to the article, banks are having difficulty in selling SBA-backed loans on the secondary market, and the SBA is doing very little to make SBA lending attractive to banks. It is felt that it will take a long time for the billions of dollars going to banks in the “bail out” to trickle down to small business loans.

So, what can the business owner do? Well, for starters, vote today. Make your voice heard. Tell Washington that you want and need change. Beyond that, reduce waste, and look for alternative funding sources like factoring receivables, or non-bank asset-based lending. There is money available, but it will not be easy to get in the near future.

Will Limkemann

Clone Yourself

How many times have I heard business owners wish they could clone themselves! They believe that if they with another person like themselves they could get more done, have more time, be more profitable, etc. etc.

Trouble is, they often have the opportunity, but fail to do so. Well, not exactly clone. With proper training, procedures, and knowledge transfer, other employees can do what the owner does – many time even better. So many business owners (and other managers) believe, wrongly, that no one else can do what they can do. They often believe, wrongly, that it is not efficient to take time to pass along their information and train other people.

The sad fact is that businesses where the owners do not make the effort and take the time to develop “clones” will never grow and, in all probability, will fail. What happens if the owner gets sick? What will be the value of the business if the owner wants to sell but has not trained others to run every aspect of the business? I often ask prospective clients this question: “If you were to take a three month cruise around the world, would the business be operating as well as, or perhaps better than, it was when you left?” Invariably, the response is no.

Are you developing clones?

Will Limkemann