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Why SEO is Generally a Big Fat Waste of Money

By Marc Ensign

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Published: 13Nov2009
Word count: 798
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It probably seems rather odd to launch a new blog on Search Engine Optimization and have the first post be written about it being a waste of money. I should probably support this opinion by throwing out a bunch of impressive numbers with lots of comma's that I dug up during my hours of research, but to be completely transparent, I really didn't do hours of research to write this. I could also talk about the amount of money spent on Search Engine Optimization each year and of course show its effectiveness with a really cool 3D chart, but charts and graphs generally irk me.

I have chosen instead to write from my own experience as the owner of an SEO company as well as a client...as a student of some of the most well known SEO guru's in the industry as well as a teacher. Many of you are going to agree with what I have to say throughout the course of this and many of you won't...and you are both welcome here and encouraged to post your comments!

So, what exactly makes Search Engine Optimization a big fat waste of money? Well, if your primary goal is to get a top 10 listing on Google, you can accomplish that fairly easily with little or no effort. You don't need to pay someone like me to do it. All you need to do is find a keyword phrase that doesn't have that much competition, write an article or two using it, make sure it's in the title of your page and create a handful of external links using that phrase. Tada! So how come the phone still isn't ringing?

It's because there are so many vital aspects to SEO that go well beyond keyword research and placement and yet they are almost always overlooked. In most cases, it is because your goals are off. Most companies focus on a top 10 listing or doubling traffic, neither of which is a guarantee that business is going to improve. At the end of the day, what do you want the outcome of your campaign to be? I imagine it is to grow your business, right?

If that is your goal, then it is clear that there is more to Search Engine Optimization than just your ranking and traffic. You need to consider all of the following:

Ideal Client: If you aren't clear on who your ideal client is, then how will you know what they want? Suppose you run a salon and your target audience is "anyone with hair." How will you be able to connect with your visitor when a young woman has completely different needs than an older man? Yet, they all have hair.

Design: You can drive tens of thousands of visitors to your website, but if the site doesn't have the look, feel and quality that the visitor is expecting, they will not do business with you. Try launching a bank website with really bright colors and pictures of bank vaults, gold coins and stacks of cash everywhere and let me know how it goes.

Keywords: When you are clear on who your ideal client is, put yourself in their shoes and learn what they are searching for and how they search for it. Someone looking for a plumber to redo their bathroom is going to search in a completely different frame of mind than someone who came home to 2 feet of water in their basement.

Content: Writing quality content that will appease the search engines at the same time that it inspires the reader is the key. If you cram your keyword phrase in the text enough times, you may get a good ranking but when your visitor reads your text you may come across as illiterate.

Solutions: Provide solutions for your visitors rather than patting yourself on the back all over your site. When someone does a search online they are either looking for the solution to a problem or the answer to a question. If your site is very me-centric and blabs on and on about your credentials, your history and how great you are, you aren't solving their problem and they will turn around and find someone that will. Think about it. If you throw your back out and go to the chiropractor, do you want him to ramble on about where he went to school or do you want him to fix the problem?

These are just a few of the things we are going to talk about around here. As a reader, my request to you is that if you have an opinion, share it. This blog will work well with me talking to you, but it will work so much better if we all talk to each other!

Marc D. Ensign is the CEO and Visionary of Sound-n-Vision, an Internet Marketing Firm specializing in Professional Website Design and Search Engine Optimization. Marc is the author of Psychological SEO and teaches seminars on SEO and Social Media.

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