Many affiliate marketers are getting into the offline consulting business where they are helping small businesses in their local communities with online marketing. It is a natural fit since folks who have been building websites and driving traffic to affiliate products have knowledge that small businesses need to make their online marketing strategies more effective. I created Online Marketing SEO Houston for that very reason.
In addition there are new businesses cropping up to teach offline consultants how to get small business customers and techniques of the craft. The community marketing firm of Cagora not only has a generous affiliate program but also has products that the offline consultant can use to outsource the fulfillment of their new small business clients’ projects.
I found this interview between Robert Scoble, George Revutsky and Dustin Kittelson very interesting about the trends in small business online marketing in general and SEO in particular. Scoble comments on his blog, “I came away from this conversations thinking that SEO is getting dramatically less important and that SEM should be renamed to “OM” for “Online Marketing” since small businesses need to take a much more holistic approach to marketing than just worrying about search results.”
What do you think? Is SEO becoming less important?