Why “SEO” is So “Yesterday” For Small Business Online Marketing

This week’s Digital Marketing Power Briefing video (below) is about an online marketing subject that is widely understood, and in my opinion, it has become quite passé for businesses looking for immediate results.

In fact, SEO is often the first kind of marketing support that people request after they’ve done a website redesign. The truth is that for lots of businesses, SEO is the only website marketing strategy that they have ever heard of! Sad but true. But SEO is not really a strategy, it’s only one tool among many; and in many ways, it’s out of date… or “so yesterday!” ????

I made this video to explain why:

I’m not saying that SEO is meaningless, but in terms of online marketing strategies that can produce REAL results, in a reasonably short period of time, it has become, well, passé.

I’m passionate about this subject because I’m committed to supporting progressive and forward-thinking organizations to make a difference, and that means implementing digital marketing strategies that produce tangible results (like list-building and opportunities for multiple “touches”). This is important because these “more modern” strategies help build meaningful relationships and offer a respectable ROI.

I don’t think that’s too much to ask from an investment in marketing. Do you?

I explain more about why SEO is so “yesterday” for small business online marketing in this video, OR if you want to hear about the very modern strategy that I call “Relationship Funnels,” please check out my “Your Website is Broken Power Briefing” videos here: http://bit.ly/website-broken 

Thanks for watching and I look forward to hearing from you.

Edited video transcript:

Hi, my name is Jon Leland and I’m a digital marketing strategist. This is another in my new weekly series of digital marketing Power Briefings. Today I’m talking about SEO and why SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is so yesterday in terms of small business online marketing. 

Businesses say they need help with “SEO” when they mean lead generation.

In fact, I get inquiries in my business from small businesses looking for SEO services. (They say:) “We need more SEO on our website.” Really they’re not talking about SEO, they’re talking about we need more traffic, which really means we need more business. And those are really different things! 

SEO is just one way to drive more traffic but just driving more traffic is not a digital marketing strategy. 

Have You Asked “What Happens Next?”

So let’s dig into it. I have four specific reasons to share with you. First of all, I really need to say that when you think about a digital marketing strategy, the question that I always want businesses to think about is “what happens next?” 

That’s a really important question because to me, marketing and business in general is really about relationships. I’m making this video as an invitation for us to have more of a relationship; and relationships happen through multiple touches, through interactions, through ongoing presence in the marketplace… having a real conversation. 

Just getting traffic to your website does not create a conversation. 

If you’re interested in more about how that kind of relationship develops, I want to invite you to the bigger Power Briefing (video) that’s at http://bit.ly/website-broken. That’s where I really delve into Relationship Funnels. 

So sorry for the unabashed little promo there, but that is where I talk about this with more depth.

TIME TO MARKET: What’s Your Time Window to Get Results? 

Let’s talk about the four reasons why SEO is so yesterday in terms of online marketing. 

The first reason that SEO is really kind of “yesterday” has to do with the time frame or the time to market, you know, how long are you willing to wait to get the traffic that you want in order to have the meaningful interactions that you need. 

SEO as a strategy takes at least six months, probably six months to a year, as opposed to Facebook Ads or Google Ads, or what have you. Those can get a more immediate result. 

So, that’s something that a lot of businesses don’t really understand, (and many) don’t really have the patience, or sometimes they need the cash flow quicker, so they need faster results. 

So, thinking about implementing a strategy that’s a long-term commitment like six months to a year to get SEO traffic is has obvious limitations. 

LIMITED TARGETING: What’s Your Targeting Strategy?

The second reason that SEO is pretty “yesterday” is the limited nature of the targeting. When you work an SEO strategy, on the organic side of Search Engine Optimization, you really are looking at building a web page-per-keyword phrase. And that’s really pretty clunky in terms of the ability to get your message out there. 

The targeting, for example, with Google Ads, you have no limit to the number of keyword phrases, as opposed to needing landing pages that are optimized for each keyword phrase that you want to target and bring traffic, attract traffic with. 

So, SEO is also pretty yesterday given the fact that the targeting is so limited. 

RELATIONSHIP BUILDING REQUIRES MULTIPLE TOUCHES

The third reason that I don’t think that SEO is a very viable approach right now is that it doesn’t reflect a marketing strategy. 

A real relationship building, marketing strategy requires multiple touches. When people say they need SEO on their website, they’re only thinking about the need for more traffic. They’re not thinking about a strategic process that involves multiple touches, real engagement, and real relationship building.

And the other reason that SEO is very limited from the point of view of relationship-building is it doesn’t involve any remarketing. When you install the Facebook Pixel on a website, you have the ability to remarket to those people. When you make your email list a custom audience for example, inside Facebook advertising, again you’re having multiple follow-ups and multiple touches.

SEO just doesn’t have that capability. 

FLEXIBILITY & CHOICE

The fourth and final reason is flexibility and choice. I look at digital marketing as a kind of experimentation and you really want to involve lots of different ways to bring traffic to your website and begin the process of engagement, relationship building and multiple touches.

SEO it’s not a strategy. It is a way to bring organic traffic; but it is a very limited one and something that I am saying is “yesterday.”

And again if you’re interested in an approach to real relationship building, I want to invite you to check out my Relationship Funnel Power Briefing at http://bit.ly/website-broken. Most websites are broken because they’re not doing the kind of engagement that I’m talking about. 

So, in summary, SEO is a limited strategy, I want you to get involved in more, real relationship building, with multiple touches, and an ongoing presence in the marketplace. 

I hope that this video was useful and valuable, as that’s what these Power Briefings are all about. 

Please let me know what you want me to cover in future weeks. I’m happy to do that. And thank you so much for your kind attention, I really appreciate it and I look forward to hearing from you!