04 Feb Busting a few SEO Myths –
I see a lot of comment online from people âpaying outâ on their web developer or SEO marketer; and yes, while some of this is certainly deserved, Iâm going to stand up a moment and bust a few myths that many business / website owners believe.
As you read through these, take a moment to look at the attached screenshots â these are live RESULTS taken today from each of the 5 websites that Iâm currently doing âSEOâ for (showing results compared to last month). These are from the ACTUAL REPORTS that Iâll be sending out later today to my clients.
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Myth #1: SEO is a one time gig.
Hell no! SEO is an ongoing marketing exercise. Just as you need to constantly monitor and adjust your âofflineâ marketing, you need to do the same online.
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Myth #2: You can âoptimiseâ your home page and thatâs enough.
Hell no (again)! Whilst not every page on your site needs to be optimised, the more the better. The more opportunities you give yourself to get found in the SERP (search engine rank pages / positions) the better the odds are you will get found.
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Myth #3: SEO results are guaranteed.
Seriously? Do people still believe this? Goodness me no!!
Even Google themselves say that you (and they) âcannot guaranteeâ a good search engine result / position in organic search. The ONLY way to do this is with paid advertising for whichever search engine youâre targeting.
SEO Myths –
Myth #4: SEO work is over priced.
Once again, not at all â at least, not the people I know and have relationships with.
I saw a promoted post on Facebook yesterday for a competition being run by an SEO company. The prize they were offering was a â$10,000 SEO package…â for 6 months work. Some might thing, for 10K? Absolutely. And Iâve seen others that cost more.
There is a heck of a lot of work that goes into SEO analysis and on page optimisation. Not to mention off-page! This is even more time consuming. The problem lies with the fact that most people focus too much on their off-page SEO without first optimising their on-page âpagesâ.
Ongoing SEO needs to factored into your annual marketing budget.
Myth #5: SEO is something you can do yourself.
Sure you can… but if you want the same results that I and others like me get for our clients, then youâd better be prepared to invest the years of learning, research and practice to make it happen.
And finally, Myth #6… SEO is something you can outsource to someone overseas.
Once again, of course you can…but let me ask you this â How well do you KNOW what theyâre supposed to be doing for you? Do you have the technical skill to check that itâs being done ârightâ? Do you have access to the reporting tools to verify and analyse their results? Do you have the time to set aside training them if things donât go your way… or are you just going to pack up and run to someone else?
Donât misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with outsourcing to a cheaper option. But there are some parts of SEO I wonât even do that for; I just haven’t found the person who will do it ârightâ for me. And if I canât find them, what makes you think you can?
Take a look at those screenshots again. They show that sometimes you go up and sometimes you go down. Do you know why? Most times itâs not because someone is doing it âwrongâ, itâs because someone else is also doing it ârightâ. Just as Iâm trying to get better results for my customers, other SEO people are trying to get better results for theirs.
SEO is an ongoing process. It NEVER stops. So please understand that when someone like me builds a website for you and says theyâll also do the on page optimisation for your home page, thatâs not the end of it â itâs just the beginning.
– Paul Barrs
PS. If you’re having problems with your current ‘SEO people’, talk to me. I’m not asking to take over the job – I may not even have the time for that – but with a simple 1 hour consultation, I’ll be able to help you analyse the situation and give you guidance and a plan to get you back on track.
