It happens to every business.
Usually with experienced entrepreneurs it happens before doors officially open. For others it happens 3 months, or 6 months, or even 12 months after an official launch.
Eventually, a business will see the light. And it’s a strong light. A light where sunglasses are required, and maybe some SPF to be safe. Inevitably, once that light hits there’s smiling, some high-fiving, and that certain satisfaction that comes with making a discovery.
The light that every business eventually sees is the realization that their success is intimately tied to how their website performs in the search engines. All of a sudden it becomes clear that in order to thrive the business has to make itself known to the throngs of potential customers that are looking for their products or services through search. Pretty powerful light, right?
After the band stops playing music and the enthusiasm subsides, a BIG question looms like a black cloud: is it too late to do anything about it? Is our business too far down the road to reverse our failure to see the light until now?
The answer is a emphatic NO. It’s never too late.
Granted, it’s a heck of a lot easier if your company has a search engine optimization strategy from Day 1, but as long as a business has enough breath in it’s lungs to survive at least a few more months then there’s a chance to make something very good happen by leveraging the light.
Just how long it will take to jumpstart a businesses’ search profile depends on a few things:
1. Competition – how sophisticated are the strategies being deployed by the other companies in that industry? Are they investing tens of thousands of dollars per year into search? Or, are they still in the dark? The more sophisticated the competition, the longer it will take to make a dent in the problem, let alone compete directly. But that doesn’t mean a company can’t make up some ground pretty quickly.
2. History – Before the realization, was the business completely ignoring seo or was it inadvertently caught in a cycle of bad habits? And, how much content has been created? Are we dealing with a website that has hundreds or thousands of pages of content? The point is this: how much damage has been done and how much has to be fixed? A website with poor seo habits and thousands of pages of content is a larger rescue effort than a small website that has good content but didn’t employ any of the basic seo fundamentals.
3. Commitment – seeing the light is the first step. Committing to a long-term plan is something different. Results can take time. And the longer a business can commit to a plan, the better the chances it will see results. In other words, committing to a 4-week plan isn’t the right strategy for a business that’s gone 2 years without doing anything for seo.
To those companies who have just seen the light, welcome to the real world. Try not to focus on the time that’s been lost. Instead, figure out what you’re going to do to change the tide. Come up with a plan and commit to it.
Has your business recently seen the light? I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below.
Yes, I've seen the light. Without an expert to set up a SEO plan, however, I'm working to learn as much as possible as fast as possible. It's another steep learning curve.
Flora – thanks for commenting.
The fact that you are expecting a steep learning curve is a good sign. Too many business owners expect learning SEO to be easy and not that time intensive. As long as you have plenty of time and patience, you can do it!
Flora – thanks for commenting.
The fact that you are expecting a steep learning curve is a good sign. Too many business owners expect learning SEO to be easy and not that time intensive. As long as you have plenty of time and patience, you can do it!