Search Engine Marketing for Small Business
Marketing Guru Seth Godin recently posted about how locally based small business can market themselves on the web for pennies a day ($60/year). He’s right, but I don’t think the typical small business person has the type of Internet chops that his approach demands. I know people who’ve been blogging for years and still don’t know what a trackback is (heck I just recently learned what they are). I don’t think you can expect your local dog groomer to run through typepad, squidoo and flickr in just a few hours. Sure their are hundreds of DIY types that will make it happen, but I’d venture the percentage is fairly low.
The thing I’ve never understood is why web development firms think they can get away with charging thousands of dollars for the local mom and pop stores? This is a shamless plug, but it’s the reason I started Search Engine Marketing for Lawyers. Why should a new solo be given such a nonsensical choice: either pay $5,000 to have a custom built web site (that doesn’t do much) or sacrafice many billable hours learning how to do it yourself? As usual, the market is now producing an alternative.
