SEO In A Difficult Economy

I have been talking to a bunch of fellow small business owners lately, there is so much to talk about. This economic crisis the country is facing has many of us acutely aware and attempting to comprehend how it will effect our business in the future. I don’t like the idea of the buyout personally, it seems grossly unwise, but what do I know? Well, I do know this; if SoloSEO fails, the government isn’t going to show up and bail us out, nor will it help other small business owners who may face bankruptcy. This bailout just seems to be an attempt to cover up some pretty poorly run businesses. I am guessing these executives never had to run their own business, so they never had the opportunity to learn how it is really done in the real world, without the government safety nets. 🙂 It probably wasn’t all their faults, its been reported institutions were encouraged to make unwise “investments” due to political pressure and support from Washington, then they could sell off these bad loans to Freddie and Fannie and make a pretty penny. Clinton, Bush and everyone in congress that voted down the regulation of the home mortgage industry share in the blame, the mice were allowed to play, and now we will all pay… dearly. I feel terrible for my kids and the financial mess they are going to have to deal with throughout their lives.

Now comes the news this morning that the Fed lowered the interest rate another half point, out of the clear blue and in coordination with other countries, which also lowered their interest rates. I was shocked. Rarely do we see such economic coordination internationally. I am positive economists everywhere are scrambling to create new theory to predict and explain what this all means, and what effect it will have on our economic future. I will be interested to see how the markets react, and what all the talking head “experts” have to say tonight about it. If nothing else it is an interesting event in economic history.

To me personally, especially as a small business owner, I have some concerns. I am going to be more careful when considering expansion of our businesses, especially until I know the outcome of the upcoming election. If Obama wins small business taxes are most likely going up, so we will have to raise prices, and see how it effects sales. I don’t know why people can’t understand this simple economic principle. Taxing the small business owner if one of the worst things one can do to the economy, ultimately is creates less jobs, and spurns inflation, but again, what do I know? If McCain wins, we will have to wait and see what he plans to do differently, if anything. Ultimately neither one of them can do much, as much of what is coming financially is way out of their control now.

When it comes to the influence these economic and political events will have on online business… It is an excellent question. I see the economic crisis really having a variety of effects. As many of us use the Internet to research and find better prices, many sites optimized and offering products priced aggressively could see a pretty substantial increase in their sales. However, there will be some potential shoppers who are just going to reduce spending completely, no matter if they usually bought online or at brick and mortar stores. So there will be some companies which will just loose sales and have to adjust accordingly. I see middle class “luxury” items being hit pretty hard, my wife and I have already starting buying differently, less name brands, more generic items, etc. It will be a mixed bag, some savvy sites will do better and actually expand in a difficult marketplace, while others, not willing to react appropriately and optimize for these dire times, will do worse. Ultimately I think we will see a shift in online shopping, and sites who are more savvy, user-friendly and priced better will be the obvious winners. One thing is for sure, all site owners need to put a premium on getting their sites SEOed. Based on the potential of doing more business because products are priced right, or just because they are fighting for fewer customers willing to spend less money, getting sites optimized is as critical now as ever has been. You can’t sell, if they can’t find you. Additionally, optimizing your site is considerably cheaper than advertising on TV, Radio, Newspapers or others forms of traditional marketing. So I say save money by focusing more on search engine marketing and less on traditional marketing efforts and in return capture more of the individuals flocking online to find the best deals.

SoloSEO should do well through it all, we are quite conservative in our running our business. Our online SEO Tool suite has no true competitors, and we will continue to assist small business owners get their sites optimized for better search results. Our service is priced fairly, and we will continue to do all we can to stay in the SEO conversation, and on the cutting edge of what can be offered as far as SEO tools and services go. Michael is actually back East right now as SMX East, he spoke there on Online Reputation Management, and represented SoloSEO well. He told me the morning he had heard some pretty cool stuff, so that will be fun to hear.

In all I think small business owners who solo SEO for their own online business, have a good opportunity, despite the poor economy to grow sales online. SoloSEO will be here to support all our clients through the good fight. Good luck to us all.