Perfecting any difficult trade requires thousands of hours of research/practice to become a star, and you have to start somewhere: The first step on an upward path to success. Without the first step, though, how will you reach the second, and the third, and the fourth? Race car drivers don’t pony up for a big race (e.g. F1) if they haven’t driven a race car a day in their life. A restaurant with 3 Michelin Stars isn’t putting a new booty chef that can’t cook an omelette in charge. If you catch my drift, practice makes perfect and entrepreneurs should build an understanding of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) prior to dumping money in a business venture.

Practicing SEO, or at the least reading about the marketing medium, and applying simple strategies to a nonexistent/imaginary company — Squidoo lens, WordPress blog, Twitter account, etc. — is educationally important. I feel all business owners and CMOs should have a working knowledge of SEO if they want to boost revenue today and survive tomorrow.

Search Engine Optimization on an imaginary company, or with test keywords, is like a website developer using a “sandbox” to play around with software, designs and other goodies. A testing ground where ideas can be explored and theories can be proved/disproved. This allows for mistakes to easily wash away and knowledge to compound to the point of perfection — becoming a true master of an art.

I felt compelled to write this article because over the years I have worked with all sorts of entrepreneurs and new businesses that share one major thing in common: They have excellent ideas, spent a lot of money, and are way behind the 8-ball. They’re researching SEO and realizing how important it is after having a stagnant website or, even worse, a poorly designed site that fails to maintain SEO best practices. It’s sad, it really is. I used to shed tears, but with the frequency of this occurring I would be a dehydrated prune by now.

Aaron Schoenberger
twitter.com/TheSchoenberger
(310) 876-0874 x1
The Brainchild Group

Aaron Schoenberger is Founder of The Brainchild Group — a top online advertising agency that specializes in professional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media marketing. He’s known for his work with celebrity clients, top restaurants, professional athletes and Fortune 500 companies. Feel free to Contact Us for more information.