How do you invest in your SEO like Dave Ramsey would? I don’t know about you, but I’ve been a fan of Dave’s for many years. His parents were real estate agents, and he made and lost his first fortune in real estate. Then he made a second fortune, this time holding onto his wealth through very simple principles of financial wisdom.

I’ll admit that sometimes Dave’s advice stings a little. Do I really want to cut up that credit card I’m dependent on? Or set aside money out of every single check to save, when I could be using it for “urgent” things like cable TV or eating out? Yet being debt free is demonstrably wise and liberating, so I suck it up and try to improve my family’s financial legacy. And trust me, I’m not perfect at it.

But what does this have to do with real estate SEO? In all my years of listening to Dave, taking his Financial Peace University class, and reading his books (most recently, listening to Legacy Journey while I run), I’ve never heard him speak a word about SEO. What I have heard him speak relentlessly on, however, is the importance of faithfully doing the right things, even if they seem small at the time. We all want quick fixes and windfall profits or commissions. But stewarding our finances faithfully in the little things consistently over a long period of time is how real wealth is built.

Break down your SEO into smaller tasks

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you get out of massive credit card debt? One payment at a time. How do you save for retirement? One paycheck at a time.

Which brings me to my “aha moment” as an SEO strategist. How do you build organic Google rankings up against fiercely competitive real estate agents? One article, guest post, and backlink campaign at a time. Do regular work on your site on a weekly or monthly basis, month in, month out, and you will win.

In this way, wealth-building is like SEO. You don’t rank for competitive keywords all at once. You don’t have to have a $10,000/mo. budget (but if you do, let’s talk!). Whatever you do, don’t let the fact that a competitor has a big budget keep you from wisely investing in your SEO with your smaller one.

Hope leads to action

As Solomon said, the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. He even said wealth doesn’t always go to the brilliant, or good fortune to the educated. While his point was that time and chance happens to everyone, my point is a little different. My point is that, if you’re going to succeed, you can’t look at your competitor as a juggernaut. Don’t let them get in your head like they’re Goliath, unless you’re willing to be David.

This article is about giving you hope and vision based on real world experience. With some SEO wisdom, you can get small chunks of quality SEO work done over an extended period of time and build real, lasting rankings for your business.

Yes, it’s a daunting task to save for a comfortable retirement, and it seems like a daunting task to rank well for those elusive, competitive keywords in your chosen market. We all know the Big Three national real estate sites that throw SEO money around like it’s grows on trees. But I’m going to give you a thumbnail sketch of how you can invest in your SEO like Dave Ramsey would. I will explain how I can help you put a plan into action later if you’d like some help. But these same principles and techniques will work for DIY small-business marketers as well.