You need to be good at sales and marketing. And most people who are good at sales and marketing are not that great at SEO. No offense, but they are very very different skill sets. This is why the SEO reseller model is really sensible for many people. If you have good contacts, or better yet, already have customers who buy technology-related products from you, then you can sell them search engine optimization. Web design shops, agencies and PR teams are great for reselling SEO. Why? Because they have complimentary products and industry contacts. This is a huge head-start. Not to say that you can’t build a search engine optimization business from the ground-up. You can. It is just much harder.

Smart business people know what they are really good at and what needs to be outsourced. If you are great at technology, can build a dashboard and pull data via APIs, perhaps you don’t need an SEO reseller program. But if you can market and sell, then you should think about off-loading the delivery work involved with search engine optimization.

Small business entrepreneurs know that e-mail marketing is an efficient way to yield high ROI. Anybody can learn how to perform a task. This is why Google is a search advertising giant. The key, however, is learning how to execute the process of e-mail marketing. Once this is mastered, then new leads can be generated with minimal effort. A fundamental message for successful e-mail marketing is sending relevant, targeted messages to all prospects and customers of your services. Only after this can the finer details be entered such as the best words in a subject line or an appropriate salutation. I’ll list ways on getting started with this program.

It is imperative to know as much about your contact list as possible. This includes tastes and preferences, their last product purchase, and internet behavior. Do they open and click on e-mails? Can they get online consistently? If you blast your entire contact list without regard, you risk alienating those who have middling interest. Once this is clarified, you can send a targeted, relevant message about your product.

If you turn one lead into a customer, then a fan, it can become several thousand with diligence. You can follow up with new prospects when they request information, inform contacts of upcoming events, send weekly industry tips and new product information through your blog or website, and deliver a monthly newsletter. If you can devote the necessary time and resources to make a consistent note, then credibility and trust is gained on both sides. The money piles up, if, and only if, this occurs.

Multi-media can be an enhancer for your campaign and keep those customers around for the long haul. I would recommend a tangible gift on occasion to express true gratitude for customers. It can be a stamped thank you card or a small gift. Your business can work out a partnership with a local enterprise for a discount sent in the mail for those who are interested. The CEO can record a video discussing quarterly objectives and future developments along with client successes.