May 2017 | Herrmann Advantage Consulting

20 May

You May Not NEED SEO…

You just have to come up first in that Google Search. You believe that your business success is tied to that happening. That is where you want your business. EVERYONE says that you have to have good SEO to do that. You don’t know how so you find someone, some local expert who can help you become first on that search. You give them hundreds or thousands of dollars to accomplish this. After months or more, your business is the same.

That isn’t a made up story. I see it happen all the time. In fact, I’ve had clients who have, over a 2 year period, spent $12,000 or more on SEO. Many of them know that it is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. They believe it is a form of advertising or marketing that will drive customers to their website. Those customers will, in turn, hopefully, become paying customers.

The reality is that maybe they will and maybe they won’t. For the majority of small business owners, SEO may not be an expense you need and in fact focusing your resources on SEO may not be what your business really needs.

Do You Have a Plan For Your Business Success?

success

Many Business Owners I know shy away from a Business Plan. Most often it is because they see them as complicated, difficult to write and see little value in them. Yet, as I pointed out in my article “Why Are You in Business”, According to Burke, A., Fraser, S., & Greene, F. J. in the Journal of Management Studies, “…those businesses that plan are 30% more productive and grew faster and were more successful than those that didn’t plan.” A simple and comfortably short Business Plan isn’t that hard to develop if you understand its parts and how to use them for your business.

Why Are You in Business?

I work with a lot of start-up business owners. Early in my time with them the question of “Why are you in business” comes up. While I get a lot of answers about making money, supporting myself, got tired of the rat race, none of them is the one answer that starts a business on its path to success. That answer involves the true purpose of the business, its mission, and vision statement. That short, most likely no longer than a 30-second read, statement that determines your plan for success.

While you might say, “I’m making money, I’m successful” what you aren’t considering it what it costs you in time, effort, money, materials and a host of other things to do that. A mission Statement for your business establishes the first step of a plan for your business. According to Burke, A., Fraser, S., & Greene, F. J. in the Journal of Management Studies, “…those businesses that plan are 30% more productive and grew faster and were more successful than those that didn’t plan.”