viva start-ups - by ben botes: Business idea of the week

This week we consider the exiting and rapidly growing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) industry.

For those of you not familiar with the term, SEO is the science of getting websites to appear high on search results on search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN etc. With more and more customers searching for goods and services on-line, it is becoming increasingly more important to your bottom line that your company's name appear higher than that of your competitors.

As an example, go to Google type is 'final warning letter' - when the results come back you can see SABusinessHub about 5th from the top. Its obvious that the higher our site comes in the result the more likely you will click on it and buy the form you searched for. Research estimates that this year, worldwide e-commerce spending will reach $6.8 trillion. Bearing this in mind and that up wards of 85% of Internet users make use of search engines to locate products or services, optimizing your website for prominent search engine placement has become a fundamental component of any on-line business plan. It is understandable that companies are willing to pay good money to get their website link appear on the first page of a search.

With more and people in South Africa now following the internet trend due to connection speeds increasing vs. decreasing connection costs, the need for websites to be optimized for search engines has created the need for companies to offer this service. When you consider that only the top 30 search results will ever generate serious traffic. It won't help a company or its product to rank anywhere below position 30.

Upside: There is a massive market for the skilled person or company in this field. Its is important to create a good reputation, but that goes for most industries. Relatively low investment is needed with high profit margins possible.

Downside: Training cost could be high initially and the technology and knowledge is a well kept secret for those who know.

Verdict: A great business idea for an existing web company or for someone who is a fast learner and can get to market quickly. This is still a niche market but may not be for long.

Please contact me should you need further information and support with this idea.