One of the main reasons that I’m writing this blog post is to show not only my clients the difference in SEO and Building an Online Presence, but also to educate those others who may want to get updated on this topic.
SEO vs. Building an Online Presence
Most people will tell you that both of these are the same, no matter how you look at it. Well, sorry, my friend, but this is like trying to compare Apples to Oranges.
What I want to explain today is the difference between the two, so you, as a business owner online or offline, will make the right choice for your success. First, before you start thinking about which route you want to take, I would like to explain to you the incredible differences in both.
OK,
I would like for you to think about this for a moment to get you in the mind set of understanding the two.
Let’s say we’re a real estate company located in Shreveport La, and there are around a solid 30 competing real estate companies in the given city.
To break down the numbers, even more, let’s say only 20 of them have “WEBSITES.”
More random stats…
– 10 Have Facebook Business Pages
– 5 Have Twitter Accounts
– 6 Have Google Business Listings
– 3 Have a Yelp Page
– NONE are Blogging
– NONE Have Videos Ranked Online
Now, as you can see, we are competing with these companies who do have somewhat of an online presence, but not enough for you to target SEO. You may be asking yourself since SEO is not the best route to go in this case, then possibly the building of the online presence is the best route to take…RIGHT
Correct…and here is why
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What is SEO?
I’m going to make this as simple as possible so that I don’t get anyone confused about this form of marketing. When you think about SEO, you have to think about the following…
- Online Page Optimization
- Offsite Optimization
- Excellent Content “Link Bait Type”
- Blogging Content “Epic-Wow”
- Backlink/Links “Authority Links.”
- Social Media Presence
These factors have everything to do with SEO, and when you implement them together, you get some form of rankings in the search engines.
Here is an infographic from 1st on the List
The fact is that all of these moving parts are all about pushing your website up the rankings for any keyword you like.
For Example: Lets take the keyword “Shreveport Real Estate,” which gets around 1,600 monthly searches.
If you wanted to do SEO to get ranked on the front page of this keyword, you would have first to optimize your website/page/post to support that word.
Next, you will need to go out and get that content on as many highly targeted websites as possible. Now all links are not apples to apples. Some links, such as forums, comments, and low-quality websites are not going to help you at all.
The reason being is that the other websites that are on the front page for “Shreveport Real Estate” are connected to other high authority websites, so to even be able to compete, you will need to go after those links and others that have what we call link juice.
This is Too Time Consuming
Unless you have a lot of time on your hands or can hire someone or a company to do this for you, then I will say don’t even think about doing SEO.
Tough get high-quality links
You’re talking about months of hard work that may or may not work. So my recommendation is to stay clear of SEO unless you have the budget and the time to wait it out until the rankings start to move.
But I gotcha…here is a free SEO Practice Course that will walk you through the entire process of SEO for those who want to learn about this even more.
What is Building an Online Presence?
One of the main reasons I offer the building of an online presence to all of my clients is because of the range of rankings you can get.
You see, with SEO, it’s all about ranking your website for a targeted keyword and waiting out the process to see what happens.
Online presence is more like getting thousands of people to promote your business for you. Meaning, instead of me standing on the corner selling T-Shirts, now I can have thousands of people selling my T-shirts just by me giving them my business model.
Check out this infographic by Digital Information World
Simple Example:
Walmart has thousands of stores around the world if you know it or not. If I wanted to put my business in front of thousands of potential customers every day, then I would fight to get my product in those stores.
The overall goal is to piggyback off their success so that I can make sales that much more comfortable. You see, Wal-Mart has authority in the world, so if I want to have a successful selling product, then I need to be part of that crowd.
Building your online presence is all about getting your business on as many platforms as you can that already have authority. The top three ways of doing this are by having your business located on as many high authority places such as as..Youtube, Profiles, and Citations.
Youtube videos rank very well in the search engine when trying to rank for locally targeted keywords. So if I were a plumber in Shreveport La, then I would do a video centered around the keyword “Shreveport La, Plumbers.”
That video, just because it’s Youtube, would rank at the right spot in the search engine. Why the simple truth is that Google owns Youtube, and they focus a lot on their content to rank highly, even the video.
Just creating a video that is optimized will somewhat rank above the general websites if implemented correctly. If you can rank on the front page for that search term, then you will get a share of that traffic.
But wait, there’s more…what if I say that you can create unlimited videos, profiles, and citations that all will outrank most websites…what would you say?
Well, if I were you, this will be the route I would go because I don’t have to build backlinks. Create the profile, citation, or video, which will automatically rank well.
Yes, it will take time
Just like SEO, building an online presence does take time also, which is what I explain to all my clients and potential clients.
It can take months also to see some form of growth in the search engine, but it’s a lot less stressful than trying to find websites to exchange links with.
Look, I’m not going to leave you hanging without giving you something that will not only explain this in detail but will also walk you through how to build your online presence.
Take a look at my 31 tips for dominating your local market, which also comes with a step by step guide to growing your business online.
Final Thought
SEO and the building of an online presence are two of the most potent forms of local online marketing for small businesses. What I would like for you to do is choose what works best for you financially and overtime.
I hope that I explained the two in the best fashion possible, so now it’s your turn to go out and dominate your local marketing..but the question is which route you will go to?