I wanted to talk about a bit of a question that we get a lot from our clients. It makes a lot of sense that they would ask us this, seeing as they’re buying a website and want to know if they should focus on SEO.
Now that the website is live. They want to know what they should do digital marketing-wise. So it makes a lot of sense that they would ask this question. The short answer to this is, yes, there should be some SEO going on at all times. The websites that we make always have the basics of SEO, but we’re not always focusing on SEO for them, and that’s where the crux of this question comes. And what I want to talk about is what we mean by “focus” on SEO.
So, when I think of “focus on”, I think of putting it at the top of or near the top of priorities for digital marketing, and I think for some companies, you should focus on SEO. You shouldn’t because there are other things that you can be doing for some. We had a client recently who we said no, you should not focus on SEO right now. Custom-made wood goods, such as mirrors and shelves, are sold by this client. They started their business on Etsy, and Etsy still is their primary source of income and revenue and actually where they focus most of their effort. Their first question was whether or not we should put more effort into search engine optimization (SEO). So, I talked with them a bit about it and found out about their Etsy store and that they’re focusing all on there. I asked them about their Instagram and Facebook social media, and we found out that they were not doing anything.
They have accounts, but they’re not actively posting or engaging there, which makes sense. They also disliked posting on social media, and I’m not alone in this sentiment. So, it makes sense that they’re not using it. But for me, for the suggestions we gave them because they are a husband-and-wife team, they don’t want to invest in SEO. They don’t have the manpower to focus on SEO and create content and do all this other stuff themselves. It made a lot more sense to advise them to focus on their Etsy store. Keep fostering the people on there and focus on Instagram. Their products are beautiful and really well made, and they photograph well. With Instagram being a visual platform/visual medium, it is perfect for this kind of product in this kind of business. It makes sense that they should focus on Etsy and build up their Instagram and a following and get people on there and focus on that.
A term like “custom wood mirrors” doesn’t make sense for them to rank for. They’re just going to compete against Etsy for one and maybe eBay, Amazon, and Walmart. It’s probably even all the big box stores that they’re going to be competing against. They’re not going to rank anytime soon, if ever, so why not target buyers where people typically go after pretty things – like on Instagram.
In contrast to these, there are many situations in which SEO is desirable, and you should place a high priority on SEO. We have one client who is a dumpster rental company, and we think their business model is very different from the custom wood company, and it lends well to SEO. So, as someone who wants to rent a dumpster, your buying journey will be very different from if you were buying a wood mirror. You don’t see a dumpster on Instagram and say, hey, I will rent a dumpster. But you do that if you see a pretty wood product. I might say, hey, that would look good on my wall – I’m just going to get that. You don’t do that with dumpsters.
If you’re moving into a new house and need to clean out another house or rental, you may have a bunch of stuff to throw out, or you’re renovating, and you have to throw out everything. Maybe you’re demoing; you’ll need a dumpster. And so you only get a dumpster when you know you need a dumpster. You don’t just see one and say, hey, you should get a dumpster. So, what happens for most people who rent a dumpster is they say to themselves, “Hey, I need a dumpster. I should go and Google where I can rent a dumpster”. So they go into Google, usually Google, and type in a dumpster rental, local dumpster rental, or dumpster rental near me, and they contact whoever shows up.
It makes a lot of sense that this type of company would want to focus on SEO and rank highly on Google. And they do now now that we’ve helped them. That’s why they chose to focus on SEO because it does make a lot of sense for them to do that. As opposed to something like Instagram, though. They do have an account, and they post lovely photos. It’s not a focus for them, but they still do it. And that’s kind of how it conversely for the wood company. They focus on Instagram, and they know about SEO, but it’s just not a focus for them, but it’s something that they work on every once in a while.
