One thing I have noted across the board in talking with Small Businesses is that conversion is somehow the last thing on their mind.
Seems like a strange reality.
But it is a reality nonetheless.
When they approach search marketing they are usually chasing the success of larger companies, and often attribute this success to organic rankings.
But the success that fills the coffers is what the rankings beget, conversions.
The problem is that many small businesses are not running ecommerce based sites, and thus they do not see how to create online conversions without a retail or store of other type of monetized conversion.
The only key performance indicator that matters is conversion.
Creating some online conversion concepts without a monetization strategy online is easier than you think:
1) Offer a newsletter signup, creating a lead generation system
2) Offer coupons or discounts for your brick and mortar
3) Call tracking via analytics
4) Offer PDF brochures for download
5) If your strategy is lead driven have a contact form on EVERY page
6) If you are a restaurant you may want to create a page on your site that pulls in positive reviews of your establishment from places such as Yelp.com. A study by Comscore showed consumers were so trusting of online reviews, they were willing to pay at least 20 percent, and up to 99 percent, more if a company was rated excellent. Getting a consumer to a page like this will lead to foot traffic.
7) If you are a professional such as a doctor or accountant setup an FAQ section to your site and allow consumers that find you ask questions and build trust.
Use your creativity, and knowledge of your consumer to create effective online conversions that can help make sense of your online strategy.