I guess we have to face facts…SEO has become a fad.
I work on a regular basis with a wide variety of clients, from individuals to Fortune 500 companies. The vast majority of clients I meet with know almost nothing about SEO, other than they should be doing it. It has become a buzz word, and as such everyone wants to make sure they are doing what everyone else is doing. This is both good and bad.
The good news is that the SEO industry is growing rapidly, and the quality and usability of the Internet is improving. The bad news is that this growth is backed in large part by ignorance and unrealistic expectations. Far too many people seem to think of SEO as a form of marketing, and expect it to be just as immediately effective and easily measurable as direct mail. It is neither.
SEO is an investment. Like most investments, it takes time for it to mature and pay dividends. SEO does not take effect overnight, in a week, or even in a month. It is a long, complicated process that requires careful planning and implementation. It could be a year or two before you rank for a competitive term. Patience and persistence are the keys to effective Search Engine Optimization.
Just as with other investments, the entry price into the world of SEO is not the same for everyone. If you want to invest with Berkshire Hathaway, you need a significant amount of money. Buying a CD from the bank is easier and much less expensive. Showing up for a local, long tail keyword such as “Orem Internet Marketing Consultant”, is going to be both easier and cheaper than trying to show up for “DVD”. If you want to rank well for a competitive, high traffic term, you had better be ready to pay tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per month to do so.
Search Engine Optimization is not marketing, just as writing an ad isn’t marketing. These are the things you do to prepare for marketing. SEO is the preparation, the backbone of a company and their marketing efforts. It is the frame around which you build your architectural masterpiece. Would you buy a house with no frame, no support?
SEO is not a trick. True SEO is simply the act of making a site relevant, interesting and user friendly. That’s it. Everyone wants a piece of the Internet pie, but very few people are willing to do what it takes. Having a website that is poorly coded, badly written, and just plain ugly can actually harm your business. Gone are the days when it was ok to neglect your website. Your website is the goose that will someday lay your golden eggs.
If you are considering implementing Search Engine Optimization for your website, do so with realistic expectations. If your site is brand new, it is going to take a while to rank. If you want to rank for a competitive term, it is going to take time and money. Do not expect immediate results. Don’t check your rankings every week to see if they are going up. Be patient.
One final point. Because it can take so long to see fruits from an SEO campaign, many people run the risk of being scammed. We always recommend investing in an independent analysis of your website prior to engaging an SEO firm. That way, you know what the company should be doing for you, and you can set realistic expectations in advance.
At VUDU Marketing, we can quickly and efficiently perform both an SEO Analysis and a Social Media Marketing Analysis, to insure that you know exactly what you need. We will even recommend another SEO company if we feel their expertise is better suited to your needs. Our goal is to improve the quality of the Internet, and the best way to do that is to improve the quality of websites.
Tags: Search Engine Optimization, SEO, seo analysis, social media analysis, Social Media Marketing
