courtesy of Wikipedia

Not everyone can be on top of Google Search results. In fact only the lucky few can. But success isn’t found only on top. You just need to take a more Zen Punk approach to your marketing.

Madness About Harry

The final installment of the Harry Potter films hit theaters today. And yeah, I plan to see it. The book was incredible, so don’t just watch the movie.

I’ve often heard some of my writer friends say they wish they could get the same lucky break that author J.K. Rowling had. The classic rags to riches story. Well, bitches, it almost never happens that way.

Of course, the Rowlings and Tolkeins and (*shudder*) Stephenie Meyers of the writing world are the ones that get all the press. And there is a tendency to think that it’s the rule rather than the very rare exception that it is.

Everybody Wants to be On Top

The reason I bring this up isn’t to discourage my fellow writers from shooting for success and glory. Rather I am using this fact to illustrate a often ignored fact about search engine optimizers. And that fact is this: not everyone can get a top Google ranking. In fact, the ones that do are the very rare exception.

Let’s say you’re a sandwich shop located in Big City in the great state of Wherever. Your target market is probably local unless you’ve found a way to send your tasty morsels over the Wi-Fi (or some global distribution method).

So in your metro area, let’s say there are 3,000 sandwich shops. If someone searches Google for “sandwich shops, Big City, WR”, there will be a small map at the top of the results page with dots for various matches and then a list of matches. Only about a dozen or so will appear on the first page. What about the other 2,988 sandwich shops? Buried deep in the other pages.

The people on the first SEVERAL pages most likely hired a professional to optimize their website, have had their site up for several years, and are well connected to other sites on the web. So most of the shops on these first several pages have done everything they can possibly do and still only a fraction ended up on the first page. Not everybody can be on top.

Embrace the Kama Sutras of Marketing

So what can you do? Don’t let SEO be your only marketing strategy. By all means, hire a professional (me perhaps?) to optimize your site for search engines AND for people (since search engines don’t do any actual buying from you). But once that’s done, move on to other ways to reach your target audience.

What other ways? Try this: Let’s say you’re walking through a parking lot and you see a bumper sticker you really like. Write “I LOVE your bumper sticker” on the back of one of your business cards and stick it under the windshield wiper, note side up. You may find a kindred spirit who needs your product or service.

Want more? Read Guerilla Marketing books, any of Seth Godin’s books, Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment. These books are the Kama Sutras of marketing because it turns the tables all around.

Get your mind thinking about how to develop your brand, to develop relationships (even if you own a sandwich shop) with potential clients and how to deliver in such a way that gets people talking.

Be Willing to See Things Differently

Change how you think about marketing, about your business, your product/service and your customers. Do this and it won’t matter if you rank on page 157 of Google’s page results. Over time, generating business organically will improve your ranking.

Now go see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow’s Part II and try not to cry like a 3-year-old when Harry dies. Just kidding! Harry doesn’t die. Or does he? I’m such a bitch!