SEO and SEM Strategies for Small Businesses with Adam Roth

Summary

Podcast Summary: Small Business Quick WINS w/ Jay Schwedelson Presented By Thryv
Episode: SEO and SEM Strategies for Small Businesses with Adam Roth
Release Date: November 7, 2024

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Introduction

In the latest episode of Small Business Quick Wins, host Jay Schwedelson welcomes Adam Roth, a leading digital marketing expert from Thrive. With extensive experience managing over $250 million in search engine marketing (SEM) budgets, Adam shares invaluable insights tailored for small business owners looking to enhance their online presence through effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategies.

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Understanding the Basics of SEO

Adam Roth emphasizes the foundational steps small businesses must take to establish a strong online presence:

• Establish a Website:
  "The first thing you want to do is make sure you have a website." (02:05)

  A website serves as the cornerstone for all digital marketing efforts. It’s essential for businesses to have a professionally designed website that accurately represents their brand and services.

• Detailed Service Descriptions:
  "You need to describe every one of your services on your website." (02:20)

  Rather than having a single page listing all services, Adam recommends creating separate pages for each service. This approach enhances SEO by allowing Google to index each service individually, increasing the chances of appearing in relevant search results.

  Example:
  For a landscaping business, instead of a single page listing services like mowing, tree trimming, and high-end design, create individual pages for each service. This specificity helps attract users searching for particular services, such as "tree trimming," directly to the relevant page.

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Leveraging Online Directories

Adam Roth highlights the critical role of online directories in boosting a business's visibility and SEO performance:

• Primary Directories:
  "The second most important thing that I always talk about with small businesses is you need to get listed in the online directories." (04:24)

  • Google My Business: Dominates the online directory landscape. Ensuring your business is listed here is paramount as it appears in Google Maps and local search results.
  • Apple Maps and YEXT: Other significant directories that contribute to online visibility.

• Benefits of Directory Listings:
  "There are some technical reasons why it also helps your website itself rank. Google is looking at all these directories and seeing if you're listed and that that in and of itself will help your own website rank better on Google because they're able to verify that you're a real business who has been added to each of these directories." (05:57)

  Being listed in multiple directories not only drives traffic but also signals to search engines that your business is legitimate and trustworthy, thereby improving your website’s ranking.

• Directory Listing Services:
  Adam suggests using services like Thrive’s directory listing service, which can automate the process of updating and maintaining your business information across various platforms, saving time and ensuring consistency.

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Effective SEM Tactics for Small Budgets

When it comes to Search Engine Marketing, Adam provides strategic advice for businesses with limited budgets:

• Starting with Affordable Platforms:
  "If you're starting out in paid search, I would definitely recommend starting on a budget with either Facebook ads or display ads if you don't have a lot of money." (06:42)

  Platforms like Facebook Ads and display advertising are cost-effective entry points. They offer high returns on investment, especially for local small businesses where competition may be lower compared to Google Ads.

• Avoiding High-Cost Platforms Initially:
  "When you have a smaller budget, if you have a larger budget, Google will actually kind of give you a little bit of green light." (06:55)

  Google Ads typically require a higher initial investment to see significant results. Starting with more affordable platforms allows businesses to test and refine their strategies without overspending.

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Protecting Your Brand with Paid Search

A crucial aspect of SEM that Adam emphasizes is brand protection:

• Bidding on Your Own Brand Name:
  "It's one of the recommendations that I make early on in the Google Ads platform is to bid on your own name because users are relatively simple and they often click on the first link." (07:37)

  By bidding on your own brand name, you ensure that your business appears at the top of search results when potential customers search for your company. This prevents competitors from capturing these valuable clicks.

• Assessing the Need to Bid on Competitors' Names:
  "What we quite often see is that bidding on your competitor's brand name also won't give you too much of an added lift to business." (08:47)

  Adam advises against wasting resources on bidding for competitors' brand names, as it rarely results in significant business gains.

• Strategic Budget Allocation:
  Allocate a small portion of your SEM budget specifically for bidding on your own brand name. However, if a competitor isn’t bidding on your brand, redirect those funds to more impactful areas.

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Key Takeaways and Actionable Tips

1. Optimize Your Website Structure:

   • Create individual pages for each service to enhance SEO.
   • Ensure comprehensive and detailed service descriptions.

2. Enhance Online Visibility Through Directories:

   • Prioritize listings on Google My Business, Apple Maps, and YEXT.
   • Utilize directory listing services to maintain consistency.

3. Budget-Friendly SEM Strategies:

   • Start with Facebook Ads or display ads to maximize ROI.
   • Reserve larger advertising budgets for platforms like Google Ads only when feasible.

4. Protect Your Brand Online:

   • Bid on your own brand name to secure top search result positions.
   • Avoid bidding on competitors' names to prevent ineffective spending.

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Conclusion

In this episode, Adam Roth provides a comprehensive guide for small business owners to harness the power of SEO and SEM effectively. By implementing these strategies, businesses can significantly improve their online presence, attract more customers, and drive growth without exceeding their marketing budgets.

Notable Quotes:

• "You need to describe every one of your services on your website." — Adam Roth (02:20)
• "There are some technical reasons why it also helps your website itself rank." — Adam Roth (05:57)
• "It's one of the recommendations that I make early on in the Google Ads platform is to bid on your own name." — Adam Roth (07:37)
• "If you can Google your name and you see that your competitors aren't bidding for you, then it's probably not worth your money." — Adam Roth (08:47)

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Stay Connected:
To gain more insights and actionable tips from top small business leaders, subscribe to Small Business Quick Wins and make sure to follow Adam Roth on LinkedIn. For comprehensive business management solutions, visit Thrive.com.

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Timestamp References

• 02:05 - Adam Roth on having a website.
• 02:20 - Adam Roth on describing services.
• 04:24 - Adam Roth on online directories.
• 05:57 - Adam Roth on technical SEO benefits.
• 06:42 - Adam Roth on starting SEM with a budget.
• 07:37 - Adam Roth on bidding on your own brand name.
• 08:47 - Adam Roth on not bidding on competitors' names.

Transcript

[Host]

Foreign.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Welcome to Small Business Quick Wins, presented by Thrive. This podcast is exclusively designed for small business leaders like you. Prepare to get invaluable insights from every episode, equipped with actionable tips made for immediate implementation in your business. Tune in as we teach our firsthand lessons from fellow small business owners and thought leaders. I'm your host, Jay Schwedelson. Over the last 25 years, I've grown multiple small businesses that have generated over $300 million in revenue. Along the way, I've learned pitfalls to avoid and Quick wins that can transform your business immediately. I'm excited to share it all. So if you're ready to win on Main street, let's dig into this episode.

[Host]

We are back for Small Business Quick Wins, and we have an awesome human being here today. We got Adam Roth, who's one of the lead digital marketing folks over at Thrive. Thrive is this amazing platform for small businesses to do all their communications, to do all their marketing, to do their billing, to do everything. And I asked Adam to come on because Adam knows a lot about search engine optimization and search engine marketing. I mean, to give you an idea, in his career, he has helped Companies spend over $250 million on search engine marketing. That's a lot of zeros. That's a lot of ads. It's all his fault. When you go on Google, this guy knows what he's talking about. So we're going to dig into search engine stuff. Adam, welcome to the podcast.

[Adam Roth]

Thanks, Jay. Very happy to be a part of this. And I'm even more happy just to talk about my experiences day to day. There's a lot of simple things you can do with SEO to make a huge difference.

[Host]

All right, so that's it right there. I want to dig into that because I literally know nothing about SEO and I don't know how it works. I don't know what I got to do. So talk to me as if I'm clueless, because I am. As if I'm a small business owner. What do I need to do? What do I need to know?

[Adam Roth]

Well, the first thing you want to do is make sure you have a website. And as a lot of this audience will understand, once you have a website, there's the issue of bringing people there. That's where SEO comes into play. You can be the best contractor in the world, the best attorney in the world, and your referrals will do you a lot. But those people who don't have a person to refer them will use their phone or use their computer and go on the Internet. So there's small things you can do with your website that can make people more likely to actually interact with it. The first thing that I would, that I tell all small business owners is, is you need to describe every one of your services on your website. If it's a one page website, it's completely fine to describe them all on one page. But your preference and what's going to do really well in Google is having one page for each of your services. You might have a user come in on one specific thing you do or a different specific thing you do and they're going to type that into Google. You want Google to show that page to the user. Right.

[Host]

So when you save one page for each of your services, actually having separate pages is important. Like you shouldn't have like a brochure. Like these are the six things that we do and we just have a laundry list on one page. You're saying it's better off to have six pages for each one of those services because Google will like that better in terms of the rankings. Is that right?

[Adam Roth]

Well, let's just, let's take an example so we can break it down. If you're a landscaper, you probably mow grass, you probably do tree trimming, you might even do high end landscaping design. Me as a user, I might want a landscaper, but I'm actually looking out back at my lawn and I say, wow, that tree needs trimmed. So I type in tree trimming. You as a landscaper might provide that. But if all your website says is landscaper, I'm a lot less likely to interact with your website or even be shown in Google because you don't talk about it.

[Host]

Okay, so that's interesting because I never would have thought of it that way, but now it makes sense. So what is another simple tactic that most small business owners don't do? That is kind of a must do this.

[Adam Roth]

The second most important thing that I always talk about with small businesses is you need to get listed in the online directories. There's the king of all directories. And I'm sure Jay, you use this as well, would be Google my business. It's when you type it, you know, when you go to Google Maps and you see businesses listed there, tons and tons of searches go through there. If you aren't listed there, you're really missing out. That is the main directory. You're likely aware there are hundreds if not thousands of other directories and it's really important to get listed in those two. So one option you can have is go through manually. You can find the Apple Maps listing and make sure you're there. You can find the YEXT listing, You can find all these different directories that we're aware of and update your profile, add images, add the link to your website. Because there are a lot of users who go through those directories. There are also directory listing services. Thrive offers a directory listing service where you can simply give us your information and we'll update all of the directories for you.

[Host]

So that's actually really interesting. So there are thousands of these directories and I would imagine, yeah, you know, the Google One, Apple One, they probably get, you know, well over 50% or whatever. But if there's thousands of these things, I would imagine a lot of traffic is going to these other directories. And if you're not in there, you are just losing out on opportunity because they're not as flooded as Google and Apple. Is that kind of the way to look at it?

[Adam Roth]

That's it. That's exactly the way to look at it. There are some technical reasons why it also helps your website itself rank. Google is looking at all these directories and seeing if you're listed and that that in and of itself will help your own website rank better on Google because they're able to verify that you're a real business who has been added to each of these directories.

[Host]

So let me go off script here for a minute. I'm curious about something. So let's. I got the basics on SEO done and I really maybe want to put my toe in the water. Paid search and spending some money. And I don't have big budget. What is a paid search tactic that won't break the bank? That is pretty much, you got to do this when you're starting out paid search.

[Adam Roth]

If you're starting out in paid search, I would definitely, I would definitely recommend starting on a budget with either Facebook ads or. Or display ads if you don't have a lot of money. The reason is it's very unlikely that your local small business competition is running those ads. And those platforms seem to be the highest amount of return on investment. When you have a smaller budget, if you have a larger budget, Google will actually kind of give you a little bit of green light. And so you can get. Because they want more money. Right. So they can get you leads a little bit cheaper. It doesn't make sense to start with a small budget on Google Ads, if that makes sense.

[Host]

So let me ask you one thing, almost like an insurance policy related to that. Every Small business owner out there at some point will go and Google their own name of their company.

[Adam Roth]

Yes.

[Host]

And they'll want to see what comes up. And when they do that, sometimes they see their competitors maybe with ads, and it drives them bananas. Is it money well spent to buy up your own name?

[Adam Roth]

Within reason. Honestly, it drives me absolutely bananas too. It's one of the recommendations that I make early on in the Google Ads platform is to bid on your own name because users are relatively simple and they often click on the first link. If a competitor is bidding on your brand name, a user was looking for you and ended up going to your competitor. That is almost guaranteed lost business. So I would recommend setting aside a small budget to bid on your own brand name only. Only if your competitors are bidding on that name. If you can Google your name and you see that your competitors aren't bidding for you, then it's probably not worth your money. But let's take that on the reverse side. What we quite often see is that bidding on your competitor's brand name also won't give you too much of an added lift to business.

[Host]

I think that's a really valuable tip that if you Google yourself, your company, you don't see an ad from one of your competitors. Don't waste your money on buying that ad because you're showing up first anyway when someone searches your name.

[Adam Roth]

Yeah. So if nobody's running ads under your name, you're literally making the decision to pay for a free click. A click that would have been free if you weren't paying.

[Host]

I love that. All right, that's an excellent tip. All right, we covered a lot of stuff here today and everybody listen, you got to go follow Adam G. Roth, okay? That's where you find him on LinkedIn. We're going to put it in the show notes. And Adam's part of Thrive T h r y v.com it is an all in one solution for your small business. I cannot tell you how many thousands of companies use it and crush it using it. It's terrific. Adam, thank you so much for being here today.

[Adam Roth]

Thanks, Jay. Happy to be a part of the podcast.

[Host]

All right, see you soon.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Well, that was fun and great news. We got way more where that came from.

[Host]

Subscribe. Make sure you get the latest episodes.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Each week for more actionable tips from today's top small business leaders. And hook us up with a five star review if you've got at least one new idea you may consider using. Lastly, if you want to ensure you never miss a message from your customers again. Check out thrive.com wins to get your free account with Command center today.