Why Reputable SEO Firms Do Not Guarantee Their Work8774361
Have you ever wondered what SEO is? SEO is advertising. It follows the same patterns as all advertising. The results cannot be measured. In all advertising, people need to see it 3 times before acting. The advertising cycle is 6 months long. Human behavior is not fixed. No one knows who will click on a link, or why. Once clients click the link and visit the webpage, it is ‘out of SEO’s hand’. They cannot guarantee sales. It is now officially your responsibility. Can you sell your product/service?
Realistic Expectations
Clients rarely have realistic expectations. If you look at Google as the largest magazine in the world (think National Geographic or Time), would you ever expect to see the same picture on the cover, month after month? Search engines constantly work to prevent consumers from seeing the same links with every search. Businesses haven’t caught on to this. And, SEO scams use ‘guaranteed rankings and traffic’ as a catchphrase to lure gullible businesses. Would you expect to secure the front cover of Time Magazine for $399/month, forever? Ridiculous. Yet small businesses expect to get the top keywords of Google for this miniscule amount. Some small business owners get angry if they cannot rank at the top, permanently, for less than $300.
Reality of Search Engines
Search engine technology, hardware, and strategies are constantly changing. Every search engine works hard to provide consumers with the best results, while raking in billions of dollars. This is why Google makes hundreds of changes each year. They want to force down spam, and push up relevant results. Do you have clear goals for your SEO team? Do you understand what you need your SEO team to do for you? Rankings do not always equal traffic. Traffic doesn’t always equal visits. Visits do not always equal sales.
A good SEO campaign should build a cooperative relationship between business owners and the internet marketing company. The SEO firm should work to bring the ‘right’ consumers to the website. The company then has the task of converting those visitors into customers. Together, they work to make sure those buyers return for future purchases. No Guarantees in SEO – or Any Advertising
Just because there are no guarantees with SEO, doesn’t mean you cannot set goals and expectations. Here are a few tips for helping you weed out scams from good SEO firms: 1. A good SEO firm has more than 1 long-term client. 2. A good SEO firm can show you reports and results. 3. A good SEO firm has written at least 1 white paper. 4. A good SEO firm is published, or their SEO techs are published. 5. A good SEO firm does more than link building.
A business owner who pays for 3 or 4 full page ads in a newspaper may spend $1500 - $5000 per ad. But if they went to the newspaper and berated them for ‘no customers’ they would be laughed at. Know your medium. Create goals, and find an SEO company that delivers.
Webmaster for Hire is an international webdesign and internet marketing firm. If you'd like help with your SEO campaign, or to find additional internet marketing and SEO tips, visit their blog at http://www.webmasterforhire.us/blog/.
