If you're tired of the hamster wheel of social media content creation, it's time to focus on a more sustainable business model.

It's a fact that our world is largely influenced by social media. It's also true that social media can be a useful tool in your digital marketing strategy - especially with a #DoBetterDigital mindset.

But the idea that we can constantly be "on" and responsive is not a business model.

When you focus much of your marketing dollars and effort on social media, you can guarantee one thing: you're headed for burnout.

The issue with relying on social media to drive the majority of your sales is that social media requires constant engagement. If you take a week off, your bottom line suffers. What you created for last month's campaign isn't going to continue generating leads or sales after the campaign is over.

In today's episode, I am proposing a more sustainable focus for your marketing: a search-first digital strategy.

This means optimizing your website for search. It means

• Developing in-depth, evergreen content,
• Focusing on keywords, alt-tags, and metadata,
• Considering site speeds and mobile compatibility,
• Creating backlinks and internal links, and
• Focusing on user experience.

An SEO-first marketing strategy does require a bit of work upfront. That's why I've spent several episodes talking about SEO and how to do it effectively.

But dollar for dollar, a search-based strategy provides you with more value than a social media-based one.

Check out these statistics:

• 53%: The percentage of all trackable website traffic that comes from organic search. (BrightEdge)
• 5%: The percentage of all trackable traffic that comes from paid social. (BrightEdge)

This is partly because content driven by SEO can continue to get traffic for years. Meanwhile, that video you spent hours on for your social media platform last month has probably already run its course.

But how do you make that transition to a search-first strategy?

And what about all those influencers who've amassed a huge audience?

Can't you simply add keywords to your social media posts and call it a day?

I answer these questions and more in today's episode.

If you're looking to create a business model that does the work for you - even when you take a break - you need to shift your focus to SEO.

Listen to episode 56 now!

In episode 56 of Small Stage, Big Impact we discuss:

• [4:48] Why it's important to consider what you're building when choosing a business model
• [10:27] Why you should consider what's happening in your business when making the shift to search-based marketing
• [13:06] Why an SEO-based business model just makes sense based on human behavior
• [14:59] What the long-term implications are of focusing more on search than social media
• [21:00] Why it used to be easier to depend on a social media marketing strategy
• [26:16] The difference between SEO and SEM, and why both matter
• [28:38] How to SEO has changed in the last ten years
• [29:55] What to expect when transitioning from a social media based strategy to a search-first business model

Resources mentioned by Renia in the episode:

• Learn why SEO is a long-term strategy (You'll want to bookmark this one!)
• Review what a copy-first digital strategy is and why it works.
• Leave a review on iTunes.
• Connect with Renia on LinkedIn.
• Email Renia with questions or feedback.
• Don't miss an episode of season 5 of Small Stage, Big Impact.