If you are the business owner and you are also “The Marketing Team”, it is time to Fire Your Marketing Team! Many small business owners where too many hats to be effective. There is no reason why you can’t oversee the marketing activities and help write the strategy. Getting the attention new customers and nurturing existing clients is a full time gig.

Today, these folks are all using technology to find information when they need it and they are looking

1. On Google, Bing or their favorite search engine
2. On their own C Drive, Company Network files or a Document Management System
3. Industry blogs, trade related websites and social communities like Linked-in

So that means your website, authoritative white papers and informational posts must be findable. Yes of course building strong relationships are important but it might be more important to be at your prospects fingertips when it matters most, when they need your expertise. Therefore, optimizing your content and website for the digital world means using keywords for everything. So the big question is, are you talking “Keywords” with your marketing team?

SEO for Small Business Is Different

Think of your own behavior, when you need a document that you or someone on your team saved to a company laptop or network location somewhere, you conduct a search using a Keyword, file name, date, some form of relevant retrieval phrase you think might help find it. Perhaps you read a news article or blog post a couple weeks ago and NOW you have some time to act on the ideas you found in the article. Chances are you will use keywords in Google to retrieve that post.

Just like you, your prospects are searching for what they need with Google, Bing or their favorite search engine. That means the words and phrases you use in page titles, headings, file names, web addresses and the first 100 words must be optimized for search. Who in your organization is writing these key search elements? Is your agency using keyword phrases that will help the searcher find things easily? Don’t assume it is getting done automatically. I find 8 out of 10 times that keywords are not being used by most traditional and so called “Digital Agencies”.

It is important to make every word count, especially if you are doing internet marketing for smaller businesses that are limited in resources. Indexable content means someone will hopefully be retrieving your content at some point and for your sake, hopefully often. To get your content in front of the right person at the right time starts with understanding the keywords used by your future clients when they need answers. It is also important to understand where they go to get answers.

B2B Internet Marketing – More Than Thomasnet.com

Your business to business internet marketing strategy must go beyond the more traditional online directories. YouTube and popular industry specific blogs are extremely powerful resources for you to publish content. The goal of the B2B marketing person should be to think beyond old standbys like Thomas Register. It is important for you to extend your reach to other authoritative websites. Seek guest blogging opportunities and perhaps offer to do an interview with a popular blogger. Whenever possible, link back to a relevant piece of content on your own website or blog. Backlinks are still very important and will be for a very long time.

Marketing for Small Business Relies on Keywords and Backlinks

So if your small business marketing agency is not asking you about keywords and authoritative websites in your industry, they are probably not thinking much about SEO. Don’t waste time and money producing content if it will struggle to be found at a later date. If your agency can’t produce a list of your most valuable keywords, it is time to schedule a meeting with them and start optimizing all of your digital assets.

Marketing is a contest for people’s attention. -Seth Godin