O Site Traffic Where Art Thou?
May 24th, 2010
Website Owners inpatient, SEO Consultants getting the blame
Business owners are hiring Online Marketing Firms and/or Consultants to help them make higher Search Engine Result Page (SERP). In many situations site owners are pretty flexible and understanding when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Internet Marketing in general.
The problem arrises when a company loses interest and understanding of how important “Organic Placement” really is, or that if example.com hires an Search Engine Specialist on contract basis for short period, (usually 3-6 months), their website will be optimized and there is nothing further required from an SEO. After contract expires or gets terminated because example.com gained enough of traffic followed by fantastic ranking that same ranking will drop soon enough, why? because this is not a product, or something that we all make to stay, SEO is rather process that requires constant attention.
On another hand there are another group of people who will not wait more than 2 months and if the marketing company did not make their site a “Superstar” (in two months) it is more likely that example.com will give a “boot” to their consultants.
According to Rand Fiskin from SEOMoz.org the process of SEO requires several steps such as:
- Keyword Brainstorming & Research
- Site Analysis – Identifying SEO Problems
- Creating High Quality, Link-Worthy Content
- On-Page Optimization & Keyword Targeting
- Site Structure & Internal Linking
- External Link Acquisition Campaigns
- Measuring Success and Improving Using Trackable Data
It is impossible to make any impact on SEO in just two months, unless you hired an entire battalion of Search Engine Optimization Consultants. (A battalion is a military unit of around 300-1300 soldiers). It is highly suggested that every business owner gives an SEO Company a chance and little more time to get things right and in their place.
SEO is no Rocket Science
November 28th, 2009
It is true, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) isn’t a rocket science
Well, it does depend on who’s presenting the story
Let’s start with a small business owner, I met many of them in last few years, the stories they were telling me are just way too disturbing and sad at the same time. A local small business was approached by an agency who “specializes” in search engine optimization. The owner of the small business (let’s call him John) was impressed with the “knowledge” that this agency had (let’s call them rocket scientists).
After several meetings and 60 days later the rocket scientists finally started optimizing John’s website. Little about John and his business. John’s site was created back in 1997, very simple site with only 5 pages. The domain name (let’s name it example.com) was unique, short and easy to remember.
The very first thing that rocket scientists recommended, was to re-design the entire site, John agreed and paid about $3,000* and he was very happy with the look of his “new” site. Just for re-design, same 5 pages, everything so very ordinary, Home, About Us, Services, FAQ, Contact Us, rocket scientists were designing for almost two months, understandable, they have to justify 3K John paid.
After this was all finished, rocket scientists came back for another meeting this time on their territory, expensive downtown office surrounded with black suits, geeks and big screen TVs. Now it’s time to talk about the keywords, however prior to that John was bombarded with negative things about his old website, see instead of telling him what they will do, they started attacking John.
Anyways, after 2 hours rocket scientists presented John with wide selection of keywords and keyword phrases and the monthly cost of $2,700 for the SEO, which didn’t include $5,300 for “low-budget” Pay Per Click (PPC) for very easy, non-competitive searches. But John was still happy and didn’t mind spending his money with rocket scientists and since this will sky-rocket the ROI what the hey!
Before they finalized, one of the suits told John “it will take up to 12 months for you to see any progress, please be patient with us” “the market is tough and we have to work day and night to get you out there” continues one of the rocket scientists.
- 30 days later, John’s example.com was at the same place, no movements no money coming in.
- 60 days after, example.com made couple of sales and John was pleased.
- In the 90Th day report John’s site were making about 3 sales per day.
All right, let’s fast forward. 6 months later and after $48,000 +$3,000 for design, John started to get nervous and called the rocket scientists to set up an immediate meeting. Next day the “SEO Agency” arrived at John’s place, ready to defend their services.
FF, rocket scientists were fired the very next day after the final meeting, the site they created was a disaster, no SEO whatsoever. The PPC was really low-budget, from $5,300 John was paying for, only about 10% was getting towards the pay-per-click. The excuse, which was really true, the rocket scientists had too many clients and not enough employees to do the job, talking about greediness and some good consultants I know can even get close to customers like John was.
SEO is no Rocket Science, SEO = Search Engine Optimization and SEO is what the ordinary person does not know or doesn’t want to do, that is why they hire us.
All right, 571 words is more than enough. Comment if you like.
