The Basics of Search Engine Marketing for Small Business Owners

This is the start of a series on Search Engine Marketing for small business owners.

“Search engine marketing (SEM) is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) primarily through paid advertising.[1] SEM may incorporate search engine optimization (SEO), which adjusts or rewrites website content and site architecture to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results pages to enhance pay per click (PPC) listings.[2]”

Wikipedia

SEO takes more time than money and PPC takes more money than time. Each business owner must decide which asset — time or money — is more valuable to them and decide the appropriate mix. SEM takes longer to ‘kick in’ but longer to taper off while PPC starts immediately when you start paying and stops immediately when you stop paying.

Time and money for small business owners

If you think of SEO and PPC as an investment portfolio, this classic strategy may apply: “Here is an imperfect but workable rule of thumb: If you are investing mainly for retirement, you should “own your age” in bonds. So for example, a 30-year-old would have 30% of her portfolio in bonds, and 70% in stocks.” The lesson I extract? Have more SEO than PPC.

My standard advice to small business owners is to focus on SEO which tends to work better over time and perhaps add a little PPC to get a campaign going until SEO starts to kick in. If that makes sense to you as a small business owner, the single most important thing to do is establish a Google My Business entry for your location.

Quick, flashy marketing overview

If you still need help, please use the contact form below to ask questions or connect.

Supplemental reading

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The Civil War Animated Map

See the entire Civil War unfold, from Fort Sumter to Appomattox and beyond, on our animated map, produced by Wide Awake Films in partnership with the American Battlefield Trust.

Source: The Civil War Animated Map

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Convert Your Audio and Video to Text with Rev

Need transcriptions? Watch this…

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Priority Matrix for Outlook

At last! An Eisenhower/Covey Matrix tool that works seamlessly with Outlook! Best? It’s freemium…

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The Red Bead Experiment

Are you setting your employees up for failure by putting them into a bad system and expecting them to produce good results?

Cameron MacKenzie, an assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, gives an interactive demonstration to students in IE 561: Total Quality Management. The demonstration – dubbed “The Red Bead Experiment” – is based on work by Dr. Edwards Deming and focuses on variability in processes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=geiC4UgpDyw

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Through not observing what is in the mind of another, a man has rarely been seen to be unhappy; but those who do not observe the movements of their own minds must of necessity be unhappy.

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations: Adapted for the Contemporary Reader (Harris Classics) (p. 22). Kindle Edition.

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I watched this woman be lowered into the ground yesterday. Follow the link for her story…

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The coming death of just about every rock legend

“On top of the icons who died horribly young decades ago — Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley, John Lennon — there’s the litany of legends felled by illness, drugs, and just plain old age in more recent years: George Harrison, Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Glenn Frey, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty.

Those losses have been painful. But it’s nothing compared with the tidal wave of obituaries to come. The grief and nostalgia will wash over us all. Yes, the Boomers left alive will take it hardest — these were their heroes and generational compatriots. But rock remained the biggest game in town through the 1990s, which implicates GenXers like myself, no less than plenty of millennials. All of which means there’s going to be an awful lot of mourning going on.

Behold the killing fields that lie before us: Bob Dylan (78 years old); Paul McCartney (77); Paul Simon (77) and Art Garfunkel (77); Carole King (77); Brian Wilson (77); Mick Jagger (76) and Keith Richards (75); Joni Mitchell (75); Jimmy Page (75) and Robert Plant (71); Ray Davies (75); Roger Daltrey (75) and Pete Townshend (74); Roger Waters (75) and David Gilmour (73); Rod Stewart (74); Eric Clapton (74); Debbie Harry (74); Neil Young (73); Van Morrison (73); Bryan Ferry (73); Elton John (72); Don Henley (72); James Taylor (71); Jackson Browne (70); Billy Joel (70); and Bruce Springsteen (69, but turning 70 next month).”

On rock music’s losing battle with mortality: The coming death of just about every rock legend

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Alli Gerkman “I Had Been Bitten, Cancer Was Like being Bitten” at Ignite Boulder 29

I didn’t know this woman, but my partner does. She passed this week leaving a huge hole in the planet. Think about this and then maybe do something kind for someone you love or?

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The Answer is Love: Evolving out of “Bad Other” via @tarabrach

Understanding why we think others are bad and what we can do about it…

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How to grab a wingtip in light

Not my usual fare but I don’t have usual fare…

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Getting Things Done with Mindjet

I’m surprised I haven’t come across this video before because GTD or Getting Things Done is one of my favorite thoughts or strategies and Mindjet MindManager is my favorite tools for implementing GTD. I promise you it’s worth your time to watch if you have a lot of information and effort to coordinate…

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Life Unsalted

Last weekend, Mary Katherine purchased a copy of this map for me. I first saw it while shopping with Tommy and Jenna in Grand Haven the weekend Rosie and Chris were married. I have always loved the lake, but the thought occurred to me that much of my life has been worked out in the frame of this map; Chicago suburbs, Wisconsin (including Algoma) and now Lansing.

There are a lot of reasons that Michigan feels like home; one of them is that when I was younger, I spent a lot of time here with family and friends. Senior ditch day and post prom were at Warren Dunes, I learned to drive and to water ski on White Lake near Whitehall while camping at Muskegon State Park, as well as the countless other trips to the Sister Lakes region with Chuck Rigali and his family…

Last Sunday was the first Sunday I had off since moving to Michigan on July 1. Mary Katherine and I drove from Lansing to Whitehall and down the scenic road to Grand Haven where we shopped, had a lovely meal and then sat by the Grand River watching the boats go back and forth along the waterfront.

That brings me to the biggest reason why Michigan feels like home; Mary Katherine. While some days like last Sunday are more fun than others, every day with this woman is a delight. I didn’t know it was possible for two people to live so happily and in harmony with one another and I certainly did not expect it in my lifetime and yet, here I am in this moment and it is a good one and I am grateful.

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The Beatles vs The Rolling Stones

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The David Beckham Statue Prank

As the Los Angeles Galaxy prepare to honor legend David Beckham with a statue outside the stadium, James Corden and the club assemble an intricate plan to prank David with, annoying fans, a half-hearted highlight reel and a statue that falls incredibly below the mark.

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Paul McCartney; Mastertapes Special

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