Today I'll be talking shop with my good friend Matt McGee of Marchex. He and I first met at SMX Advanced Seattle back in June, but we've known each other on the web since well before that. In fact, long-time readers may remember when Matt undoubtedly destroyed the SEM community with his 2007 March Madness bracket picks. I still haven't quite gotten over that yet, but for the sake of this interview I'll put it behind me. Matt... just know that I'll be looking for a little revenge this coming March.

Matt McGee, for those of you who don't know, is the author of the Small Business SEM blog where he writes absolutely superb commentary on search engine marketing and specifically the do's and don'ts of small business marketing.

I for one am very excited to be doing this interview. The topic of this interview will be search engine marketing for small businesses, in which I believe, will provide a lot of value to you readers. I happen to know that many of my readers are in fact small business owners (Yahoo! Store clients), and so Matt's insights will certainly be worth tuning in for. And so, without any further ado, here's my one-on-one chat with Matt McGee:

Hey Matt... Welcome to the Klog Blog! Sit back, relax, and let's talk a little shop shall we? I know you and I've been talking about doing this Interview for a while now, since something like June or July of this year, and I apologize for not being able to get to it sooner. I am very excited to be doing this interview today, and I certainly want to ˜thank you' for taking time away from your very busy schedule to come and chat.

You're very welcome, Karl. No need to apologize. Even if you'd started asking questions back in June, I'd probably still be talking now, anyway. :)

Alright, let's get this thing going. First off, in order to break the ice for those readers who don't know you or your blog, I would for you to share with us if you will a little bit about yourself. How did you first become involved with search marketing, and more so small business marketing on the web?

I worked for nine years in a small web development shop where our entire clientele was small businesses. That started in 1997, and somewhere around 1999 or 2000, our clients started realizing design was only half the equation - you had to market what you designed. Search was in its infancy at that point, but I found Search Engine Watch and became fascinated by the potential for acquiring traffic from search engine users.

Great story Matt... I'm finding that more and more marketers in our industry got started in a very similar manner to which you did. As a reader of your blog, I feel that your writing is very much a resource for search marketers and small business owners alike. Can you tell us a little bit about your Small Business SEM blog? What first inspired you to begin writing a blog on small business marketing?

Thanks for the kind words, Karl. To answer the question -- Todd Malicoat made me do it! Well, that's mostly true, but a little background might help:

At my previous job, I wrote a weekly newsletter that our clients loved, but it never really got much traction in the wider search industry. Meanwhile, blogs were becoming the main tool for people to establish themselves as authorities and get clients and/or new jobs. That last part was important to me because, as much as I loved my then-current job, it was about 25% search marketing and 75% web design. I wasn't a great web designer, and wanted to do search marketing 100% of the time.

I was kinda friendly with Todd via the forums, and emailed him about SEO careers and my SEO/web design dilemma, and he just laid it out for me. He gave me a great pep talk about having to get over my dislike for networking, about how some self-promotion is necessary to advance in any industry, and how I had to leave my comfort zone. It changed my life. I started Small Business SEM right after that. I wrote a Guide to Local Search that Rand Fishkin featured on SEOmoz, and that led to my first speaking gig at SES San Jose 2006. And having the blog helped me get my current job, which I love. Needless to say, I think a blog is a powerful tool.

When I started the blog, I was still at my previous job, so writing for small business owners made sense because that's what I knew. And it was also pretty obvious that very few other search bloggers were specifically addressing SEO and PPC for small business owners. I was just trying to fill a niche that seemed open.

Looking back to those early days in 1997, how have you personally progressed as a small business marketer?

Wow, what a question! I feel like I'm in a job interview all of a sudden. :) The main thing is that I'm much better about recognizing what needs to be done and communicating that to a client.

There's no replacement for experience in our industry. The more projects you work on and the greater variety of clients you work with, the more you learn about what works. So, at this point in my development, once I learn the client's current situation and future goals, it's easier to create a plan. I'm sure other search marketers would say the same thing. Progression happens by just getting out there and doing it.

That said, I still have a long way to go on the technical side of things. I've never been a programmer, never been a system admin-type person, so I still need to get smarter about things like implementing redirects, IP targeting, and so forth. There's always more to learn.

I couldn't agree with you more... experience is everything in our industry. With your years of experience in the search marketing field, what do you feel are some of the biggest misconceptions floating around today?

Wow, we could probably go for an hour on that question. :) With small businesses, I think there's a general lack of good information, and unfamiliarity about where to get good information. A small business owner that manages to find Search Engine Land or Search Engine Watch is lucky. I think a lot of small biz owners get their SEO information from unsolicited emails, from friends and relatives that do web design, and so forth. So it's easy to have their heads filled with misconceptions.

Examples would be the obvious stuff: misconceptions about what PageRank is, about the value of trading links, about how search engines work, and so forth.

Matt you bring up some very good points. Much of search engine marketing is simply knowing where to get your information from. Places like SEL and SEW are ideal. In regards to SEO techniques and strategies, there are obviously many that one can implement into their SEO efforts. Which would you recommend as being the most important for small business owners?

Whether it's a small client or a larger company, I always recommend picking the low-hanging fruit first. In some cases, rewriting on-page copy or changing a Page Title can have an almost immediate and dramatic impact on rankings and traffic. And then, especially with small business owners, once you can show them some results, it's easier to get them to buy-in on some of the more challenging aspects of search marketing - like social media, blogging, etc.

Beyond that, obviously local search is incredibly important for most small businesses. And there's so much opportunity there right now, but it's also incredibly time-consuming because you have so many local search sites where your business listing needs to be added and monitored.

Right on! It's surprising to know what can happen when you cover the basics, or as you say "pick the low-hanging fruit first". Sometimes a subtle change in one's web site copy or title tag is all that is needed to break-through in the search engines. On that same note, which do you feel is least important?

I don't know if a blanket statement is possible on that question. There are probably a lot of small businesses that don't need to devote months to crafting some amazing piece of linkbait - a smaller link-building effort might be all they need, depending on how competitive their industry is. Likewise, I think it's probably a waste of time for most small businesses to spend six months playing on Digg, trying to create a "power user" profile. It's all about getting most bang for the buck - and the buck can be measured in either time or money.

Very sound advice... thank you for that.

Matt, I'm glad you mentioned the idea of using Digg as a marketing tool. You are without a doubt a phenom when it comes to social networking web sites and profiles, and so I think your opinion on the subject would be extremely valued. Do you feel that social media optimization strategies are worth venturing into, or do you feel the benefits are limited and therefore not worth the effort?

I'm a big believer that small businesses can and should use social media as part of their online marketing arsenal. But, you have to be smart about it. I think most small businesses would benefit mightily from a blog, and that's a great way to get your foot in the door of social media. Once you're blogging, then you can take advantage of StumbleUpon and other bookmarking sites as traffic sources. I've written a lot about Flickr and Yahoo Answers, which are pretty high on my list of social sites that might work for a small business. These are all things that can be implemented fairly quickly. Even producing videos for YouTube can be effective without requiring a heavy investment of time and money.

Well said, Matt. These are certainly comments I believe small businesses and small business marketers needed to hear. As I mentioned in my introduction many of my readers are in fact small businesses with "do it yourself" attitudes. What other advice would you offer them in regards to jump-starting their businesses online? What about tools and resources? What are some of those that you use religiously that you would recommend to others?

For the D-I-Y folks, I always recommend reading one or all of these books:

• SEO Book by Aaron Wall
• Small Business Guide to Search Engine Marketing by Jennifer Laycock
• SEO: An Hour a Day by Gradiva Couzin and Jennifer Grappone

I think you also need to set aside some time every day, or maybe every couple days, to reading the top search blogs. If you're really pressed for time, there's probably no better way to keep up than by reading SearchCap.

And for tools, I hope you'll let me take the easy way out: I wrote a post not long ago called "A Beginner's SEO Toolbox" because I was always giving out this list to clients, and figured it would be easier to have a post to send people to each time.

By all means, reference anything you feel is relevant and beneficial to readers... and by the way, your "Beginners SEO Toolbox" post was fantastic. In fact, I wasn't aware of the "WebDeveloper" add-on until reading about it in your post, and so thank you for that.

Moving forward, there is no question that search marketing is a forever fast-moving industry with elements often at times going well beyond the search engines themselves. I believe social media optimization is a testament to that. In your opinion, where do you see the search engine marketing industry being 5 years down the road?

First, search engines are moving toward becoming "answer engines." All of the search engines now offer answers and information right in the SERPs. Just look at Universal Search where you get the video right in Google listings or you get the map and directions without having to visit the business' site. Yahoo has its "shortcuts" and Ask.com also provides some great information right in its own SERPs. This is great news for searchers but maybe not for business owners. If I'm the owner of an information-based site, I'd be concerned about this trend.

Second, the number of "information points" in the bridge between a customer and a business will continue to grow. Traditionally, the bridge has always been simple:

Customer --> uses search engine --> finds business web site

But now, thanks to social media and local/social sites, it's becoming more like this:

Customer --> uses search engine --> finds business listings on Site X --> reads customer reviews --> maybe visits business web site (maybe not)

Your "findability" will happen in a lot more places. So it won't be enough to just have a great web site on your own domain; you're going to have to manage all these additional information points. So, for a business owner, this means "SEO" will need to happen in a lot more places - it's not just about your site and the search engine.

Wow... you bring up a really great point. With Google's Universal Search, we're starting to see where being listed elsewhere on the Internet, for instance on YouTube or in a Google local listing, is helping companies to outrank well-optimized / relevant websites. In your opinion, what are some of those local / social sites that small businesses should become active with?

David Wallace wrote a great article a little while back about using social and local sites to own your business name and reputation, and I'm a big fan of that idea. The more times you get your own page / listing appearing in someone's search results, the better off you are. So I encourage clients to, at minimum, sign up for all the appropriate sites, fill out the account profile, and at least have that page in your control. For example, my personal Flickr photo page is now a PageRank=5. We all know PR isn't the be-all, end-all, but that's a nice little bullet to have in my pocket.

Beyond that, what you want to do is try to piggyback on some of these successful local / social sites. For example, your industry and location may make it difficult to outrank sites like CitySearch, Superpages, or Yelp for your primary terms. But if you're active on those sites with an updated listing, you have a chance to get some of their traffic when people find them in the SERPs and then see your listing (or advertisement) on the local / social page they click through to.

Once again you put out some really great advice. Now, going back to my previous question of where we might see the search marketing industry being in 5 years... where do you see search marketing for small businesses being in 5 years time? How do you think they'll adapt to the ideas of Google's Universal Search and other similar changes in search?

For the most part, I think it's going to be a lot more difficult. Fortunately, for small businesses with a geographic target audience, I think local search marketing will improve dramatically between now and then, and that aspect of search marketing will be very heavily embraced.

Geographic targeting and local search do seem to improving much these days, especially with the latest push in mobile searching. With the recent success of the Apple iPhone, in addition to other popular Internet-ready mobile phones and devices, how do you think mobile searching will ultimately affect how small businesses market themselves online?

I've never been a fan of mobile search because trying to use the Internet on the phones I've owned has been like drawing blood from a stone. And then the iPhone came out, with web browsing that looks and acts just like what we're all used to, only smaller.

I still think it's too early to say anything really intelligent about mobile search, though. If the iPhone becomes the dominant device, or if other phones adopt the same user experience as the iPhone, then mobile search won't be all that different from regular search. The one exception would be on the impact side, where mobile search can and should really speed up adoption of local search marketing.

I have to agree with you there. I wasn't much for mobile search until I was introduced to the Apple iPhone. Personally, I love the idea of having Google Maps right there at my finger tips. However that's another topic for another day.

Alright, one last question for you Matt. As I mentioned above, you're quite the social networking phenom, and correct me if I'm wrong, but just recently you also had a hand in creating the search marketing industry's newest networking site Gooruze. What else can expect to see from you in the near future? Any major projects or happenings that you'll be involved in?

Well, since I recently became the Best SEO Ever (if it's on the Internet, it must be true!), the opportunities are really opening up. Spielberg has contacted me to do a film update of 1984, only it'll be called 2084 and Google will star as Big Brother. And EA Sports wants me to work with them on a new video game where you have to help your character play the social media game, and you only win when you get your site on the front/popular pages of digg, del.icio.us, Stumble Upon, YouTube, and Sphinn at the same freakin' time. Sounds cool, doesn't it? :)

Wow... I don't know what to say except that you're undoubtedly search marketing's biggest smartass. Hey, I wonder if that domain is available... you should buy that one too. :)

LOL! I'm gonna go look for that domain right now.

Well, Matt, that's all the questions I have for you today. You are officially off of the hot seat and free to go. But, before you do I'd like to take a second and thank you for your time and for sharing with us all your insights into the world of small business marketing. For those of you who enjoyed Matt's thoughts on small business marketing, believe me when I say that he offers much more quality advice over on his Small Business SEM blog. If you haven't already, be sure to check it out. Thanks Matt.

Thanks for the great questions, Karl. My pleasure.

About Matt McGee: Matt McGee is SEO Manager at Marchex, a local search advertising and publishing company in Seattle. He's guided successful projects for clients of all sizes and budgets, with special emphasis on traffic acquisition via organic rankings. Matt is a speaker on the Search Engine Strategies and Search Marketing Expo conference circuits, and a frequent contributor to several SEO/SEM forums. He writes about search marketing at www.smallbusinesssem.com.

About Karl Ribas: Karl Ribas is the Project Manager at All Web Promotion, and on the side runs his own search engine marketing Blog and consultant website. He has been designing websites since 2001, and began his involvement with search engine marketing in September of 2003. As both, Project Manager at All Web Promotion and owner of his own website, Karl provides up-to-date, valuable, and effect Search Engine Marketing and design services to a wide range of small to medium sized online businesses.