Columns > Small Is Beautiful
Small
Is Beautiful is for the millions of small
businesses that have to compete against larger, often better
staffed and funded rivals for top positions in search
rankings and ads. Columnists offer creative advice and tips
that smaller, nimble search marketers can exploit to gain a
competitive advantage online. The Small Is Beautiful column
appears on Tuesdays at Search Engine Land.
To get this column via email or feed, visit our columns page.
Sep. 4, 2008 at 3:07pm by Hanan Lifshitz
How Much Are SMBs Spending On Online Advertising?
At Palore, we examine SMBs' online advertising behavior, collecting information on the online presence of small businesses, ad spend data, advertising packages, etc. We recently completed a advertising-related survey of small businesses in the Boston metropolitan area that includes over 20 local, vertical and IYP sites. We looked at...
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Aug. 21, 2008 at 11:31am by Glenn Pingul
Small Businesses, Conversion Rates, and Online Video: A Good Mix?
Can using online video adverting get your small business to quintuple traditional search engine marketing conversion rates? How about increase them sixteen-fold? While it would be irresponsible for anyone to promise results like these, there are some very interesting early indications in the marketplace about the benefits that integrating...
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Jul. 31, 2008 at 7:05am by Matt McGee
A Small Business Marketing Success Story: K9cuisine.com
Being small is hard enough. But being small and in retail? That's like having two strikes against you before the game even begins. From setting up relationships with banks, to finding trustworthy suppliers, to building a loyal customer base, being a small retailer is a challenge many businesses can't...
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Jul. 17, 2008 at 10:52am by Bill Slawski
Social Responsibility And The Small Business
In the profit-centered business, customer happiness is merely a means to an end: maximizing profits. In the customer-centered business, customer happiness is an end in itself, and will be pursued with greater interest, passion, and empathy than the profit-centered business is capable of. - Putting Customers Ahead of Investors,...
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Jul. 10, 2008 at 3:03pm by Glenn Pingul
Video SEO For SMB’s: What Does Standing Out Online Really Mean?
Why all the fuss about the importance of online video SEO for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as a way to ultimately help to drive action and sales? I get versions of this question on a super regular basis, but instead of trotting out some top-level trends, today I...
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Jul. 3, 2008 at 7:41am by Matt McGee
Small Business Success Stories: What We've Learned So Far
A baker, a guitar teacher, a florist, and a real estate agent: Those are the four small business owners I've profiled in this space recently. Before I continue with more online marketing success stories, this seems like a smart time to step back and see what we've learned to...
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Jun. 5, 2008 at 7:38am by Matt McGee
A Small Business Marketing Success Story: Teresa Boardman, Real Estate Agent
The real estate industry has a bad rap in the upper levels of search marketing. We deplore the SEM agencies that sell ineffective and/or shady tactics to the real estate industry. We criticize the agents and brokers who are victimized by their own ignorance or indifference. I've called real...
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May. 29, 2008 at 8:36am by Glenn Pingul
Mythbusting: Why Video Should Be A Core Search Marketing Tool
During the past year-plus of working with scores of small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) on testing and then launching online video advertising campaigns, we have compiled a short list of common myths associated with online video advertising, implications for search, and what it means to the SMB sector....
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May. 22, 2008 at 10:31am by Bill Slawski
Representing Your Business on the Social Web
The Web is getting more social, and the internet allows conversations between consumers and those who sell goods and services online on a scale that can be global in reach. The nature of that conversation has changed from the days of mass media to now, and success in business...
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May. 15, 2008 at 7:20am by Christine Churchill
Eight Keyword Research Mistakes That Are Costing You Money
One of the reasons search marketing is so effective is that it delivers information on products and services to people who are actively seeking them out. People enter search terms into a search engine and the engine provides sites and ads that are relevant to the terms. This arrangement...
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May. 8, 2008 at 7:24am by Matt McGee
A Small Business Marketing Success Story: Avante Gardens
There's a battle going on in the floral industry, and many small, independent florists are losing. Like other small businesses, they don't have the time or knowledge to keep up with the latest marketing trends and tactics. But there are other challenges, too. Way back in 1998, the FTC...
See Related Stories In: SEO: Local, Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing, Small Is Beautiful
May. 1, 2008 at 12:37pm by Glenn Pingul
Video SEO Can Give Small Businesses An Edge
Many of us in the online video advertising space have been encouraging small businesses to deploy video to stand out in search results and level the playing field with larger competitors. Some colleagues and I have been working with select clients to test, learn, test again, and learn again...
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Apr. 17, 2008 at 11:14am by Christine Churchill
Using the Web Developer Toolbar For Search And Usability
One of my favorite plug-ins is the Firefox Web Developer Toolbar. Don't be fooled by the name. While it's specifically designed for web developers, the toolbar has many options and features that are also useful to search marketers, usability consultants, and SEO analysts. The toolbar has far too many...
See Related Stories In: SEM Tools, Small Is Beautiful
Apr. 10, 2008 at 11:05am by Matt McGee
A Small Business Marketing Success Story: John Tuggle, Guitar Teacher
A small business can have millions of dollars in revenue and dozens of employees ... or it can be a one-man-band, turning passion into a living. This month's small business marketing success story is about the latter. Meet John W. Tuggle, a guitarist living in Athens, Georgia. John has...
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Apr. 3, 2008 at 11:36am by Glenn Pingul
Video Search & Relevance: Important Bedfellows
As I wrote in last month’s column, video offers enormous opportunity for local SMBs to market online more effectively. Admittedly, some folks differ with that point of view. For example, one commenter wrote that “although the technology exists for businesses to deploy video online, SMBs can’t compete with big...
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Mar. 27, 2008 at 11:36am by Bill Slawski
Privacy Policies And Search Engines
A few weeks back, I started wondering about whether or not search engines might care whether or not a web site had a privacy policy. Is the content of a page less relevant or more relevant if there's a link on it to information about how any data collected...
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Mar. 20, 2008 at 8:31am by Christine Churchill
Ten Strategies For Avoiding Search Marketing Burnout
Search marketing is the ultimate seductress. It lures you in with the promise of an interesting, exciting career that can actually pay the bills, but soon you’re regularly pulling 12 hour days with no vacations. There’s intense pressure to achieve high search rankings and triple digit ROIs to keep...
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Mar. 13, 2008 at 7:37am by Matt McGee
A Small Business Marketing Success Story: Pink Cake Box
Ready for something different? Typically in this space each month, I write a "How To" or "Why To" article with ideas and tips for helping small businesses succeed online. I'd like to go in a different direction: profiles of small businesses that are succeeding online. I'm a big believer...
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Mar. 6, 2008 at 7:30am by Glenn Pingul
Online Video Advertising + Search Engines = Opportunity For Small Businesses
Much is being written and said these days about the rising future of online video advertising. Recent articles like one in the NY Times reporting Google’s move to test video ads in search results pages shows that the once abstract promise of online video advertising is now upon us....
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Feb. 28, 2008 at 8:50am by Christine Churchill
Does Your Site Have Sex Appeal?
The secret's out: men and women are different—in person and online. Gender differences matter in web design, content, and marketing. It takes more than a girlish color scheme and soft focus photos of smiling children to draw women to your site and earn their loyalty. Color and design matter,...
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Feb. 21, 2008 at 4:03pm by Bill Slawski
Starting Conversations with Contact Pages
Starting out with my first website in 1996, I hadn't realized that one of the most important pages that I had put on the site was a contact page. With a copy of "Learn HTML in 2 Weeks" at my side and a design that reflected my limited skills,...
