Even though search engine optimisation (SEO) is a viable online marketing strategy, many small businesses continue to fail when it comes to their SEO campaigns. This is usually due to setting expectations too high and expecting immediate results from current SEO efforts.

Modern SEO is a powerful means of optimising a business’s search ranking and gaining organic website traffic, but it is a strategy that takes a lot of time to show results. And those who are going to invest successfully in SEO, are those whose expectations are properly set. Crafting an expectation timeline is one such way businesses can do this.

Start thinking long term
Small businesses must remember that search engine optimisation is a long-term strategy that should be based on long-term goals. Trying to achieve immediate results is a futile exercise.

SEO campaigns have no end date, as they must continue through the lifetime of a business’s online marketing strategies. The more consistent a business is with its SEO campaign, the better ROI it will achieve, as long as it stays committed to quality content and best practices.

You only get out what you put in
SEO is a strategy that heavily relies on the amount of effort a business puts into it. If you’re part of a small business, adjust your expectations accordingly and prioritise your key channels for optimisation to achieve success.

Re-evaluate
Upon starting an SEO campaign, businesses will likely have a set of expectations and beliefs about the general course of their campaign. But since every business is unique and circumstances are entirely unpredictable, a business’s expectations should not remain stagnant throughout the course of the strategy.

At each milestone in an SEO campaign, businesses need to take a serious look at their progress, current strategy and goals to make adjustments for the future. But these adjustments don’t have to be big; instead, businesses only need to make tweaks and adjustments throughout the process to fine tune their strategy until they get the perfect balance of investment and payoff in the areas they want to develop.