Are You in Search Engines?

Unrealistic expectations are one of the biggest hurdles a business owner needs to cross when making decisions about marketing a web site online. There are many companies selling search engine optimization services that make promises that can easily be interpreted as a promise to make you #1 on the highest trafficked terms. Some even offer...

Unrealistic expectations are one of the biggest hurdles a business owner needs to cross when making decisions about marketing a web site online. There are many companies selling search engine optimization services that make promises that can easily be interpreted as a promise to make you #1 on the highest trafficked terms. Some even offer guarantees, which tends to confuse buyers even more. Here are some things you need to know about marketing your site online.

1) Top Ranked Terms on High Traffic Pages are Unattainable. The sites occupying the best real estate on search engines are there for a reason and, yes, those practices are working as hard or harder than you to stay there. There are some exceptions in some markets in niches but for the most part, you will be spinning your wheels in an attempt to reach a #1 ranking on a high value term if you are not close already. Yet since this is what everybody wants, some companies will try to sell you that image and possibility.  I think that is deceptive.

Sure, a high ranking on such a term will get you a lot of traffic but that is not the only traffic on the Internet. Normally, there are dozens of relevant word combinations that are searched each day on other lower traffic terms. Now, getting ranked on those terms is typically a whole other story. This is called the Efficient Keyword Method... finding keywords with good traffic and fewer competitors and putting efforts there. We use this method in our SEO program at Dog Star Media and it is effective in driving more traffic.

2) Avoid Guarantees. This is often deceptive selling. No one can guarantee how a search engine will rank your site. The search algorithms are not published. Sure, there are best practices but nothing is guaranteed. If you read closely on the companies that guarantee rankings, they usually have the final say on the keywords chosen for the guarantee or other loopholes to give them reachable targets. Usually the client only hears “Get ranked #1“ and buys the guarantee.  Unless you really understand what is being guaranteed, you are probably in for a disappointment.

3) Keyword choice.  SEO work depends on the choice of keywords.  There are keyword suggesters and plenty of stats to analyze to determine good word choices. But one common misconception is that your site is only relevant on the terms you optimize. That is just not true. You can be relevant on a vast number of terms but your optimization report detailing the work on 10-20 terms only reports on those terms.  One of the big complaints I hear with clients changing to us from other SEO companies is that the previous company did not do enough. The fact is, if you focus on traffic, it makes your site more relevant on all terms.  It’s why we focus on traffic as the goal of our program, not necessarily #1 rankings.  If #1 on your dream keyword term is not available, we get you traffic, which makes you relevant on all your terms, those we are optimizing and those we are not.

There is a lot of confusion out there about SEO and we do our best to clear that up for you and focus you on what is important.  We have many clients who, in the proper time, have reached huge jumps in traffic due to our slow and steady, affordable program. Want to cut the confusion about SEO and give us a try?  Contact me at donald@dogstarmedia.com if we can help you improve your online marketing with Search Engine Optimization.