When Business is Slow Don’t Give Up on SEO

Written by Nick Stamoulis

SEO Text With Shapes ColorfulOne thing that I am constantly stressing to my clients is that they can’t let month-to-month fluctuations (visitors to site, ranking in SERPs and so forth) shake their faith in their SEO campaign. Too often, site owners panic during a slow month and decide that SEO isn’t working for them and they should just cut and run. While I can understand the need to tighten the marketing budget in the lean months (I’ve had to do it myself at times), SEO is not the place to do it!

SEO is going to actually help carry your online business through the slow times. Remember, part of SEO is about building a strong online brand and presence. If people can’t find your website online, how can you possibly expect to earn their business? Even local brick-and-mortar businesses like restaurants and boutiques need an online presence to help local customers find and connect with them. SEO is a long term process and it can sometimes take a while to feel the momentum working in your favor. However, if you were to give up on your SEO at the first sign of a downturn, it’ll take you just as much time to get the ball rolling again in the future. It’s much more effective in the long run to keep your SEO campaign alive.

Here are a few things you could do instead of stalling your SEO campaign to trim the marketing budget:

Cut Your Ineffective Marketing

It makes sense that you will want to cut out the parts of your marketing mix that aren’t working. For instance, if you spend money launching direct response campaigns that aren’t bringing in enough customers and leads, you should slash these from your marketing mix. Don’t cut back on things that are actually working, only focus on slashing those things that aren’t! The one exception to this is if you have only just started consistently working your SEO campaigns. It could take six months to a year or more in order to really see results and once you do, your business will be better sustained for long term growth. You should focus on specific marketing and advertising campaigns that aren’t performing well when you look to make cuts.

Cut Back on Your Online Advertising

Checklist With Green Checkmark IconNext, you should cut back on any online advertising that isn’t effective. Instead, focus on the best performing sites for now and worry about finding new places/ways to advertise when you have a little more budget to play with. It is important to note that this also includes PPC ad spend. While this is not true for every company, I’ve found PPC works best as part of a branding campaign, but isn’t the best way to drive qualified leads (that are looking to make a buying decision soon) to your website. If your PPC campaign isn’t producing the kind of traffic you were hoping for, cut back on your PPC spending and rework your landing pages for later down the road. You could also try targeting less expensive keywords.

Cut Things That Don’t Work

In my years as a business owner, I have learned that it is important to cut things that don’t work. This is not only essential during slow times, but it is also something that should be done on a regular basis, even when business is booming. This is not only true for advertising and marketing strategies that aren’t working, but for everything else. For instance, if you are paying for a service that you aren’t using, this is the time to let it go.

Don’t Go to Industry Trade Shows and Conferences

In my 7 years as a business owner, I have never landed a client from any of my tradeshow marketing. While I know it’s important to go to the occasional trad eshow to help with your branding and to learn from industry experts, if the marketing budget is tight considering eliminating a trade show from your calendar. That could easily save you several thousand dollars.

If your business has hit a slow patch, it is important to make budget cuts only if they make sense. Your SEO program isn’t one of those places! In order to achieve great results in the search engines, it’s important to work the program from a consistent basis. You don’t want to stop because otherwise, you won’t attract new business in the pipeline. While it’s a good idea to make cuts, this should only be to things that are unnecessary or aren’t working, not your full service SEO program.

Categorized in:

LIKE AND SHARE THIS ARTICLE:



Watch How Brick Marketing Can Help Your Company:

Brick Marketing, a Boston-based digital marketing agency, specializes in SEO management, content marketing, social media management, digital ad management (PPC), email newsletter marketing, website development and more.

Contact Us for More Info


Digital Marketing Solutions Include:


Brands & Clients Brick Marketing Has Helped: