FuelNet presents a case study on how one smart owner of a growing business boosted his company’s search engine rankings — and its customer base — by investing in a search engine optimization copywriting course.

PROBLEM: When Dan Walton launched a Web site for Studio Blue, the pilates studio he co-owns in Portland, Ore., he expected a flurry of traffic leading to business growth. But the results left him sorely disappointed — his studio didn’t even land on the first page of Google results for the search term “Portland pilates.” Although Walton is far from an expert in target advertising techniques, he knew he could maximize his site’s reach by posting content optimized for the search engines.

With only a thin online advertising budget to invest in search engine optimization (SEO), Walton decided to craft his own targeted copy. Using an online SEO copywriting course, he learned how to research keyword phrases and write Internet advertising copy designed to move his business up the search engine rankings — for about 10 percent of what he would have paid a professional copywriter.

“Owners of small businesses may not be writers, but they are really passionate about their business,” points out Heather Lloyd-Martin, CEO of Success Works, which offers the course Walton used. “Channeling that passion into creating crucial elements of their site, like the benefits statement, is easy to learn.”

Now Walton is able to make sure his site remains highly visible in searches related to Portland pilates studios, and he has seen a 20 percent increase in his customer base. “He saw how everything works together,” Lloyd-Martin notes. “And he was able to gain that market advantage.” With the basics of SEO mastered, Walton is considering other online advertising techniques for his site that he learned about in the course, such as blogs. “It’s great to know I can do this myself,” he says. “It’s saved me a lot of money.”