If I master google places & youtube... then do I even need SEO?

This is something I've been asking myself everyday as I build backlinks to my keywords and wonder, "why am I doing this".

Although I have various keywords on page 2 now, some of my more competitive keywords still have a long way to go.

And this makes me really question WHY I am so obsessed with ranking my website. I've already ranked another site on page 1, position 3, for a 800 search a month keyword, it was damn hard, and not even worth it tbo. That ranking gets us around 4-5 calls a month, it converts to maybe 1-2 sold jobs, and we make a few grand.

But I had to work on that keyword for months and months and its somewhat assinine just to think about.

What I noticed is this:

1) Some of my youtube videos that are on page 1, are competing with websites that have dropped thousands to get where they are. Along with many months spent building backlinks. But my mistake was targeting competitive terms, so most my videos stay towards the bottom of page 1. Even so, they still get more traffic (for the time/money spent) then the 1 keyword I have ranked in position 3 for a similar competition keyword.

2) Google places. I never got involved with it till recently, but I'm noticing not only does google places get traffic quicker, and more of it, but so do many other local directories. Which again makes me question why 90% of my focus is on ranking my site.

So I'm thinking about changing up my strategy.

Afterall, I don't really care where my website ranks, all I care about is traffic/leads.

I've also witnessed someone who is targeting long tail keywords with YT the >>right way<< by targeting hundreds of them, and they have built a profitable business by doing this.

So this is my question. My niche is not what I'd call "popular". But the ROI is massive in it. Its basement waterproofing and mold remediation.

What I'm thinking about doing is this -

1) Stop doing SEO for my site, or focus on SEO 10% of the time, instead of 90%.

2) Increase my focus on youtube and google places. Focus more on getting tons of citations and reviews from my customers on AS MANY different local directories as possible.

3) For youtube, scale up what I'm doing now X 100. Since it works on a small scale, and fast, it only makes sense to focus more on youtube than ranking my site... no?

To make good money for myself (good money I consider $10,000-$15,000/month) all I need to get is about 15-20 calls a month. Or 5-7 sold jobs a month minimum. I'm fairly good on the phone, and sales tends to be my strongest skill.

I'm honestly not sure why I took my focus off youtube when it was producing results. I think this forum distracted me tbo. At one point I was doing my own thing, I was highly focused, and my income was growing every month.

Then I got the SEO bug, and now my incomes has froze.

Its something I really have to be honest about.

What do you guys think about this?

Can I build an entire sales funnel just focusing on youtube and google places/local directories? I have evidence everywhere that tells me it can be done. But then that makes me curious... why do YOU guys focus so much on SEO and ranking sites? Considering that most my money comes from my local business, and a smaller amount by marketing other local businesses.. which again, I do with youtube... am I a minority here?

I realize I'm asking A LOT of questions, but I'm just curious what some of the vets think about all of this. I will never provide SEO services to help rank other sites. My main interest has always been offline businesses, and getting leads as quickly as possible.

I've done PPC before, and it works, but its not sustainable long term and the ROI was crap. I need some type of foundation, that produces leads more consistently, but I think ranking my site is a bad idea for this. Plus I always hear people saying "you can't build a business on SEO".. and thats been screwing with my head.

What do you guys think?

Thanks! - Red