Let's talk about what tradies think of online marketing

I worked in Sydney as a telemarketer for a search engine optimisation company. We were told we could target any industry - doesn't matter what it is it can be any industry. I called quite a lot of tradies (tradespeople) and came up against some pretty fierce rejection.

The thing is in Australia not a lot of tradespeople even have websites. I have spoken to people from Europe and the UK and a lot of these people are surprised tradies don't all have websites. It has made me thinking is Australia behind the times or is this just a unique cultural phenomenon?

The thing is that Australians are somewhat hesitant to change. We don't embrace new innovations like other cultures and this includes online marketing. Tradies use Google a lot themselves but in the psyche of your typical Australian, we just don't see the value in investing too much in a website, SEO or any internet marketing.

It would be an interesting study into seeing exactly how far behind the UK and America Australia is. The thing with Australians is once the attitude changes then everyone jumps on board. After that the initial hesitancy and resistance disappears and it's happy days. But what is holding us back? This would be another interesting cultural study.

Australians are aware of all these online platforms and we use them and love them. But small business is behind in regards to utilising it extensively to get new clients. There are some businesses doing really well from it but there is still an element of resistance there. I believe it boils down to the fact that these kinds of services are still not mainstream. It's going to be all in or holding back. Once every other Tom, Dick and Harry has it then everyone will jumping on board. I'm looking forward to the day everyone realises it.

SEO is something that not a lot of people have heard of and that is because there is a element of mystery to it. A lot of business owners just cannot wrap their minds around what it is. But once again once all this becomes more and more mainstream it will become clearer. This is still going to be very gradual but I believe we are going to get there. But until then there is a lot of growth and opportunity for internet marketing service providers in Australia.