Well, stiumulus package or not, we’re all in for a very long haul in this economy.  President Obama is right when he reports that we will be measuring this recovery in years, not months.  So, brace yourselves!

But how?  How do we brace ourselves?  What can we do for our businesses and for our clients?  Well, I’m no genius, believe me but I can share my humble ideas with you.  I’d love to hear your ideas as well!

1) Be flexible – if your policy is to collect 50% at the beginning of a project and 50% at the end of the project (or whatever policy you currently have) – don’t turn down a client simply because they can’t meet that policy.  Be flexible.  Break it up into 3, 4, 5 or whatever payments are reasonable for you and your client.  In the long run, you’ll usually win.

2) Give a little more – now is not the time to cut back on your services.  Now is the time to add a little more.  What are your competitors doing?  Can you do that also?  Can you do a little more?  If a client is interviewing 3 SEO firms, they’re going to choose from a variety of factors but one of those factors will be the services the client can get for their money.  Give them the best bang for the buck.  You would want the same.

3) Become more visual – for many years SEO firms have worked in offices across the globe and been in contact with their clients via email and phone.  But in today’s economy, the outreach of a friendly smile, handshake, whatever can be the deal breaker.  So, put on your suit, put on your makeup and get yourself a video cam (if you don’t already have one) and encourage your clients to “see” you.  They don’t have to have a video cam to do that, just a program like Skype (which is free).  So, don’t be shy.

4) Encourage creativity – talk with your clients about new venues they can market.  Just yesterday I was talking with a firm that was in the business of mailing lists.  They recognize that they will have to eventually abandon that arena and move forward to email lists and other projects.  Help your clients to see where their businesses may be years from now.  SEO firms are great at seeking out trends – so share that information with your clients.  They’ll appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.

5) Group Discounts – if an individual business can’t afford your services, perhaps they can band together with one or 2 other similar businesses and you can offer them a discount.  Keyword research can be shared which would cut down the cost.  It’s not a perfect idea, but something like this may be viable.

So, what do you think?

Of course, with all the news about the “economic meltdown” it’s hard to NOT think about how SEO is being impacted by this economy. I firmly believe though that more and more businesses will be looking at their SEO campaigns – or starting one – as they realize the low costs that are associated with Internet marketing. And not only the low costs, but the long lasting effects.

Brandon Cornett wrote an excellent article on this very topic. To give you a quote…

“One of my past clients worked in the real estate industry. She realized the value of Internet visibility years ago, so she began a concentrated effort to improve her web presence. Naturally, I helped with the search engine optimization side of things. One of her close competitors relied more heavily on direct mail marketing and TV advertising, both of which can be quite expensive over time.

When the housing market began to slow down along with the economy, my client’s competitor could no longer afford to spend as much on her paid advertising campaigns. So her marketing program and her exposure basically dried up.

My client, on the other hand, had been working hard on her web presence and her search engine visibility. So when tough economic times hit, she was perfectly positioned to “coast” right along. She didn’t have to spend a bunch of money on paid advertising — she had a steady stream of business leads coming in through her website. Low-cost marketing at its best! But none of this would have been possible without the SEO program she started several years ago.”

Brandon’s article points out the very core of the benefits of SEO services and Internet marketing. It’s longevity. I’m not saying that you optimize a website once and that’s it, you’ll get a top position and you’re good to go. No, that’s not true at all. What I’m saying is that the effects of being positioned because of SEO last much longer than traditional advertising venues. And the kicker is that the cost of SEO marketing is extremely much lower than traditional marketing!

So, if you’re serious about continuing your business through what seems to be tough economic times on the horizon, then take a look at your SEO campaign and consider beefing it up. If you have a business website and don’t have an SEO campaign yet, what are you waiting for?