Many small businesses go online to take advantage of Internet marketing tactics to “try it out” and see if it works. News: It works. But it doesn’t work if you’re just trying it out. You have to make it work. And that requires a level of seriousness, just like it does for the rest of your business.

I don’t mean to be blunt, but here’s the deal. Imagine your local fire department showing up at a house fire with their fire trucks, ladders, and hoses to “see if it works”. How long do you think they need to keep their hoses on the fire before they decide it’s working? Five minutes? A half hour? Three hours, maybe? I’m not a firefighter, but I’m realistic enough to know that every fire is different. Some fires can be put out in 30 minutes. Some blazing infernos might take all day. So how long should your fire department remain on the scene before they decide that firefighting works? I know this is a dramatic analogy, but I wanted to make a point

Search engine optimization isn’t anything like fighting fires. But it does require a commitment, and is much different that other forms of marketing and advertising. How long will you go through the motions before you decide it isn’t working for you?

My suggestion is this: Learn everything you can about SEO and Internet marketing before you start. There are many places to learn, directly from the search engines, professional SEO courses or free blogs and resources (like this SEO blog!) Don’t go into it to see if it works. Other people have already tested it for you. It’s worked for some of them and it hasn’t worked for others. The people it has worked for all have one thing in common – they were committed to making it work. If you want your search engine optimization to work for your business long term, then you’ve got to be committed to its principles. Are you?

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