Jump into any forum and mention the word SEO and you will likely get the mob with pitchforks and torches ready to administer justice in unkind ways...
Why? Frankly, it is because there are thousands of run of the mill start up companies peddling it like snake oil carpet baggers. There is so much static that no one listens to the message...And though they target a lot of start up companies, and small business owners, they are especially honed in on carpet cleaners, pressure washing and tile and grout type companies. The calls are relentless about fixing your web site and the analytics they have run on your web presence and what you need to do to fix it. I get those calls, or at least I used to a lot more than I do now three years later. After a couple technical questions about what and how they are going go make me a better site, it usually turns into a learning experience for them. I guess the $ 200k budget I had for building a corporate web presence for a billion dollar company taught
me a few things as far as what to do and what not to do. As an executive who inherited this IT department project, I had to track where all this money was going and the return on investment. It made me learn real quick the intangibles of marketing. I had to prove results in this performance based environment, and that meant understanding the details and workings of each change that money made. I look at it as my $200k education.
Even with a team of programmers and IT support people, we made mistakes and bad purchases. How? IT people are not always familiar with SEO and marketing. They might be able to write programs and move things around on a web site, but that does not mean they understand how it impacts it. In fact I would say many have no clue. I learned that the expensive way. You can't just submit your site to a search engine processor and joila, have a top ranking page on Google....
The above collage of SEO option packages
highlight the diversity of the culture. Note the pricing jumps all over the board, with what they offer. Each one with a good, better , best type format. But how do you know what to choose and why?
Most people just pass on SEO of any kind and label it a scam.
And a part of me agrees with this assessment, but not for the same reason. It is a scam for people who actually do it for their own website. They understand how grossly over priced it is and can laugh at how much money they saved by doing it on their own and how much better they can impact it.
But to those of you who jump in on the same scam wagon mantra and have a few updated pictures, videos and rewording....(( Jokes on you)) seriously it is.
Now, if you are reading this and just shut down mentally on the criticism, then that is ok. Perhaps you built your business and have what you need all figured out. You generate enough income, get enough jobs, and did it without this SEO stuff. You are probably a type A personality who has figured out how to just get it done by hard work and relationships. I applaud all your hard work, and yes you have just shown the rest of the world it can be done that way.
But what about all these new business owners, who don't have the time or resources and are pressed with financial payments...,?Will they have the same exact fortune? Can they afford to ignore the opportunity to drive the phone calls to them? Can they rely on door to door and demo to demo with flyer in hand? Perhaps...
I see a real need for SEO help that isn't overpriced and actually delivers measurable results. One that explains what they are doing and why it works and what you can expect by doing it.
I don't know if I am that guy to do that...
I help three new business owners now. The first one fell into my lap when I sold one of my specialty cleaning services to another business. He wanted his business to grow like ours and wanted our existing web presence and phone inquiries to just flow into his. He offered to pay extra on his 3 year contract to do it, so I agreed to take it on. I am very busy with my own business so we agreed to work on it for only a year and go from there. The first month we landed 10 new clients that we can directly attribute to SEO improvements. I suspect ,that winter may slow down, but that the foundation will be set for next year.
I can't tell you how cool it is to see something translate so well so quickly.
This only confirms to me how important this tool is and will be in the future.
I can even boldly say that if Google searches didn't exist... Neither would my business...
But that's just us, in our pressure washing, cement, aggregate, cleaning and sealing Oregon world.
Until next post, peace to you!
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