Hurry Up and Wait. What to do Until the Rankings Come

Not where you want to be on Google yet? Long gone are the days where just putting up a new website makes the phone ring. So what are you supposed to do while you play the rankings game? How do you get things moving while you are waiting for some Google love? Here are 5 ways to get leads before your organic rankings are doing their job.

• Email Marketing – If you haven’t taken our advice yet on how productive email marketing can be for your business, shame on you. It not only can bring in past customers but create new ones in the process.
• PPC – We’re not big fans of pay-per-click (PPC), and here is why. Depending on your market you can spend a small fortune on ads but at the end of the month, you just need to plow in a bunch more money again. PPC can have value when your organic rankings just aren’t there yet, but it’s not really an investment and definitely should not be viewed as a long-term play for most small to medium-sized businesses.
• Social Media – If you have a sizable following on social media, a nice Facebook ad campaign and some specials boosted on your Wall can help drive business in the door. Reach out to your web vendor on how to best facilitate this.
• Traditional Media – Got a new product or service? Planning a day of volunteering? Sponsoring a great giveaway? Reach out to your local news station and see if they want to come do a story on it. You might be surprised how willing they are to cover local businesses doing good things.
• Referral Campaign – You undoubtedly already have some customers that love you. Make it worth their while to refer you. Customers love perks and rewarding them for bringing in new business helps you both. A lot of businesses really skimp here when they shouldn’t, so make your offer a good one. Customer acquisition is very expensive and these superfans are already converted – spend on them to spread your word.

While it’s a process, eventually your rankings will come if you are engaged in a search marketing campaign to increase your online presence and continually make your site a better resource. Until then, these tactics can help bring people in your door so give them a try.