SEO is a complicated and ever-evolving landscape. But if there’s one certain thing, it’s that SEO relies on self-promotion. Some might call this shameless self-promotion or even spamming, but I think it’s more like a snowball rolling downhill: the more momentum it gains, the bigger and more powerful it gets.
It’s like a snowball rolling downhill, gaining momentum.
One of the most common questions I get from clients is, “How much should I spend on marketing?” My answer is always the same: no matter how little you have to spend, start now.
The snowball effect means that even if you don’t have a lot of money to invest in your online presence, starting somewhere is important because everything else will follow suit as soon as you do. If you have no budget and your business isn’t ready for self-promotion yet (or isn’t sure), that’s okay! You can still take steps toward building a presence on social media or adding links to your site through guest blogging opportunities until your brand is ready. Just make sure that they’re getting better when things are getting bigger too!
But it does work!
- Social media is one of the most powerful tools available.
- Word of mouth is better than any other form of advertising.
- It’s important to build a community around your product.
If you want to sell something online, it’s crucial to create a community around it and promote that community through social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. By building a loyal following with consumers who want to purchase what you’re selling (and refer others), you can increase revenue while simultaneously growing your brand’s reputation as an authority in its industry or niche market—especially if this strategy is used consistently over time!
A search for “SEO tools” in February 2014 returned a host of results
A search for “SEO tools” in February 2014 returned a host of results, with many tools (free and paid) listed on the first page. The top-ranking result was a link to a blog post by Eric Enge (a well-known authority on search engine optimization). The second and third results were links to free tools. At this time, there was no mention of any paid services.
In March 2016, the same search returned only two free tools; all others were either paid or charged money for downloads.
However, an “SEO tools” search in May 2015 returned a very different result set than a search from the same month in 2014. The first results page has fewer free tools and is dominated by paid ads. The free tools are listed further down the page, diminishing their prominence. In other words, Google’s algorithm has been tuned to favor paid advertising over organic listings.
The not-so-subtle message in that chart is clear: Self-promotion can make or break the SEO success of any tool.
Many SEOs dismiss self-promotion as a waste of time, focusing on more “productive” activities such as keyword research and content creation. However, as this study shows, self-promotion has many benefits that extend beyond just SEO rankings.
The marketing efforts of these companies have an obvious tilt toward self-promotion
If you look at the marketing efforts of these companies, each has an obvious tilt toward self-promotion. That’s because if your product or service isn’t out there in front of potential customers, they won’t know about it and, therefore, can’t buy it.
The first step to self-promotion is to get your product out there. The second step is to find ways to make it easier for people to find your product. Let’s take a look at how some well-known companies do this:
- Google has more than 1 billion products listed on its search engine and over 6 million advertisers globally (as of 2017).
- Amazon sells everything from books and electronics to groceries and clothes — but its most profitable category is third-party seller items (which make up about half of all U.S online retail sales). There are over 300 million products listed on Amazon today!
If you have a product, share it with the world!
If you have a product or service to sell, self-promotion is the best way to get your name out there. It can be as simple as sharing your product on social media and getting friends to share it or writing about it on forums. Blogging about it is another great way to promote yourself. You could write a press release and send it to news outlets (if your business is newsworthy enough).
Or maybe you don’t have a product yet but are planning on creating one soon? That’s okay! Contact bloggers who write about similar products and ask if they’d be willing to review yours when it’s ready!
Conclusion
Self-promotion is not a dirty word nor something to be ashamed of. It’s a simple fact that every business owner needs to accept as part of their responsibility for success. The key takeaway from this blog post should be that if you have a product, share it with the world! If you want people to find out about your business or product, then make sure there are plenty of places online where they can do so.
