I grew up here on Maui and then left for college. I didn’t come back until 2019. While away, I worked with hundreds of businesses from all over the world; most of the businesses I had done work for were based in California cities. When you start a new business and build a new website, most businesses want their business to rank high in Google searches.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the discipline of getting your website to rank in search engines ‘organically.’ In the context of search engines, organic traffic is unpaid traffic. Paid traffic is usually categorized as search engine marketing (SEM). Both are great ways to raise your website’s traffic. This article focuses on SEO. I will talk about specifics for Maui at the end of this post if you would like to skip to the end. It’s also worth pointing out that while, I am targeting Maui readers specifically, this article is relevant to any website owners who are based in a low population area.

The Purpose of SEO

The purpose of SEO is to increase the number of quality leads that your business gets through your website. Aside from SEO, there are an unlimited amount of ways to get more traffic to your site, which may be a better markeing fit for your business. One of my clients, Chrissy Powers, has an enormous social media following on Instagram. While she still gets a fair amount of quality business needs from SEO, the bulk of her leads come from Instagram.

For other businesses, it may make more sense to advertise on Google or Facebook. If you have someone visiting your site through a paid add, your goal is typically to convert a visitor as quickly as possible. While if someone visits your site for the sake of valuable content, like a blog post, you are better off keeping them interested in your content and spending less time trying to close a sale.

Different Ways to Get Traffic on a Website

Is Blogging Right for You?

When new websites launch, most businesses are very excited to post new content on a near-daily basis. However, excitement seldom lasts. I often check in with businesses months later to find that they have created zero blog content for their website, despite their initial excitement. Having a business post zero blog content would actually be the norm among my clients. Those who keep up with their blog account for a small fraction of my client base.

What I am trying to say here is that blog content is not as easy as it initially seems to produce. I’ll even admit that this is my first post in several months. I’d like to think I have an excuse because I write for dozens of websites. I’ll bet every business has an equally viable excuse. It’s good to find out early on if blogging is a viable means to generate business. The greatest plan, if not committed too, is no better than the worst plan.

This is Why a Business Should Blog

Lets first talk about blogging in comparison to social media. Social media is a great way to quickly produce heaps of visibility for your brand, without having to pay for advertising. Blogging is generally not a fast track and takes time to bring a business quality leads. Every time you post a blog on your business website, you make a little bit more content for Google to scan and index in its databases. Over time, your vast library of high-quality content will all contribute to putting more eyeballs on your site. With social media, older content is much less visible than newer content.

Blogging Builds Traffic in the Long Term

SEO for Maui

I used to work in a city. Many of the businesses would sell to a massive base of customers. Trying to rank on a search engine as a small business in a city is very difficult. However, in Maui (or any area of low-population), our businesses are not competing heavily for local listings. In rural areas, it’s much less challenging to become the coffee shop with the most reviews in the area. Accordingly, it’s also much easier to be the business with the most valuable blog content in an area of low population.

Maui is saturated in tourism. As a popular destination, we have many who want information, but the sources of good information can be somewhat scarce. The demand for high-quality blog content in Maui is very high, and the demand has not been met. After finishing this article, go do a search about window tinting in Maui or how to auto detail your car in Maui. Most likely one of our articles will come up on your search. I answered specific questions that people are asking, and no one else had answered.

Mahalo for Reading

So to summarize this article. If you have a small business in Maui, you need to start writing a blog or hiring someone to write a blog for you. Feel free to comment below or email me (josephdevelops@gmail.com), if you need a writer and I will connect you with someone. Let me know if you appreciate the article in the comments below. I don’t get paid for writing these blogs so your comments mean a lot to me.