COMMENTS
I remember when Search Engine "Optimization" was writing the <title> tag and making sure the headers were in <h1> tags. Then handing the site to the client and sending them on their way.
Now that it's my full time job to make sure a site is optimized and getting a good ROI from PPC ads. I don't even know how I could pitch that deal to a client anymore. As a freelance web developer, I would never have the time to do that for someone without over-charging that crap out of them.
It's much more valuable for a company to have someone in-house to manage those things or hire a company that specializes in that sort of thing and can devote that kind of time to them.
Luckily, I can provide clients with a tool to edit their own content and point them in the right direction. But beyond that, I would never have the time to good profit and manage their SEO or PPC.
Good points, Tony.
That's why GOOD SEO consultants are very expensive and it's also why more companies should do like you do at Frusterio and find a company that can guide you while you "do the work" in house.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Frusterio is about 10-15 employees, right?
Chuck is very smart to have someone like you on full time to devote full attention to generating business through the website. He's also very smart having the team contribute to your SEO, social media efforts by contributing to the blog.
You guys are certainly far ahead of the curve, especially for architects who are usually good at what they do - but not that great about strategically building a business.
GREAT post!
More and more of our clients are realizing that this time factor can be huge. And to that end, they are hiring us to keep up with the newest applications to find what works best for them.
Tactics are out. Strategy is in.
I'm not sure it's all about "keeping up with the newest applications", Shama. That is important.
I think its more about leveraging "internet marketing experiences" of the expert you hire so as not to recreate the wheel or make a lot of time-consuming mistakes.
For you and other internet marketing professionals, it's about guiding clients through a methodology that you know works based on your experiences. I'm sure you do that, though.
I must say, you are absolutely right about architect firms being good at designing buildings but not always good at running a business.
Frusterio has expanded more in the past year than in the past 15 because John (who's in charge of operations) has implemented systems that allow the Chuck and the designers to design, and the other people to worry about money and clients and timelines. (and web marketing :)
I think it's important that each person here can focus on their specific job and work to be the best at it. I certainly don't try to design the houses around here.
Yes, It is true that any online marketing business takes time to get established but once established it runs on its own on an autopilot. Search engine traffic is health traffic and specifically look for the product or services you provide inside your website. Hence your website must be serach engine optimised having a number of genuine backlinks placing your site higher and higher in the search results for a particular keyword. Looking good keywords that are having good search but less websites or supplying solution to a particular problem must be sorted our before site is built so that laser targeted tarffic is attracted. For a successful online business one must wait for about 9 months promoting it actively during this period but not spamming while building backlinks or else your website will be banned by serach engines esp. Google.
Great batch of insights, Muzaffer.
Not sure "autopilot" works great. I do have some clients that get one site optimized and move onto the next project. These guys are typically selling ads or generating leads that they sell.
If you're running marketing for a business that sells services or products, I don't think you can ever put it on autopilot.
Nonetheless, results from on page SEO, link building and social media marketing do compound over time. Spending time on those activities is a great way to generate recurring returns on effort.
Great post,
All of which, for me at least, is very true.
I especially echo the comment that nobody knows your business as intimately as yourself.
I remember just a few short years ago that a site with only 100 backlinks would be easily rising to the top of SERP.....nowadays, in my industry you need perhaps 1,000 backlinks to stay on Page One of the Non-sponsored results!
I use the analogy of drilling oil wells (or water wells). When the first people moved into our neighborhood, they only needed to drill their well 100 feet deep. Nowadays, if your well is not at least 400 feet deep--- you will have water pumping problems in the hot dry summers when the water table falls!
The internet has had a similar effect on the marketplace--- more SITES means you must dig a DEEPER WELL (obtain more backlinks).
That is why my WEB SITE "well" is now down to 2500 feet (metaphorically speaking--- I've got over 2,500 backlinks).....and I'm going to continue to DRILL (obtain more links) to stay ahead of the "neighbors" (competition).
Like the Rolling Stones song: "Time....is on my side!"
@sacramento wedding djs.
Thanks for the comment. Your point is spot on. The more content and competition that's on the web for your vertical, the more difficult it is to rise to the top. And as time goes on, it becomes more and more difficult.
As an aside, you should use your real name when you leave comments on our blog. If you look at the source code, we are using the "nofollow" attribute, so that link doesn't pass any SEO value. Many blogs are doing this now to discourage spammers (your comment is certainly not spam).
So, if many of your links are from leaving comments on blogs (definitely a good thing), you might want to consider learning a few more link building techniques. Let us know if we can help with that.
Ah Time - our most valuable commodity - often squandered and underutilized. I consult with a lot of people and am so often amazed at how many people want to buy a business that requires little or no time! Passive being the buzz word. I always tell them that buying a business usually means a sizable investment and the last thing you want to be is complacent and not put in the TIME to improve and evolve the business - content, SEO, networking, partnerships, marketing PR etc. There are no REAL free - rides - you need to get the momentum and keep it going.
David
Great comment! Some business expect that the company responsible for the Seo and the marketing do also all this social networking, but nobody knows better their company than themselves!
hi.. great post. SEO consultant is very needed in your business and they are very expensive too. if have an inline marketing business, you really need the support of this people. because this business is not that easy. and blogging is one help also in your business. by the way, thanks for your post. it gives us a very good idea in online business. thanks!!
Hi very important and great post ,This helps to do SEO process easily and the way of searching making money are explained clearly
I enjoyed the article and comments. It seems like there is a lot of expertise on this site, so I have two questions.
Where does getting backlinks rank among the list of possible SEO techniques for which you get the biggest bang for your buck or time?
Are backlinks a significant source of traffic in and of themselves?
Best,
Ayo
@Ayo. Great questions.
1. Links are, by far, the most critical factor in ranking for keywords that are difficult to rank for. Keywords are usually more difficult to rank for if there are a lot of companies trying to rank for it. In these cases, no matter how many changes you make to your site, you'll still need targeted links in order to rank for them.
2. Most companies get direct traffic from other websites/links pointing to them. But, arguably more importantly, links help you rise in the search rankings. And if you can get to the first page for competitive keywords, that traffic converts to leads and sales more frequently. Why? People coming from the search engines are looking for something NOW. People browsing from other websites are often just exploring. It's the difference between browsing and shopping in a store. When I want a new book, I go ask the sales associate where it is and how much it costs. When I went to browse or learn something, I meander the book store aisles.
I've heard marketers talk about the need to consider ROT, return on time invested. That's really important when you think the average marketer is trying to everything and all at once.
Now if only I could follow my own advice ...
I like that, Julie. Return on Time invested. That'd be an interesting metric and would help companies evaluate the true ROI between different online marketing and online advertising activities. Right now, it's hard to compare the true business value of SEO vs PPC or social media vs blogging.
I don't really utilize any of those methods to build my web traffic or generate leads. I'm more into solo ads and viral prospecting. I do agree however that building your business can be a time consuming thing, but the rewards are great later.
Just wanted to say thanks for the article - I took notes on it! It's incredibly helpful having someone lay out the basics for you when you're just starting out.
Firstly, this is a great website and a valued resource for many people; so congrats on that.
Thing is, as a marketing expert I've noticed some significant and worrying trends towards the DIY 'weekend warrior' type attitude. Thing is, it is often fraught with peril, and is just as dangerous as when the advice was to 'easily produce your own website'.
Bottom line is, it all these business owners, from Engineering to Couriers, Garages, Sales and Service organisations, Events – whatever they are, these people did not start their business to become average at best SEO geeks. I mean, OK, learn enough to know what you are buying, or even take advice on that to.
In almost every other area of professional resource, the advice is ALWAYS to get an expert to do it. But come to website and SEO, suddenly it's becoming a DIY decision. Believe me, there are
massively more productive ways to get business and new revenue that sending all your
working days & evenings learning SEO.
And it does become obsessive for some, with many blindly following some questionable titbit they have picked up without even verifying its worth. One of our clients spent '2 weeks solid’ and attended FIVE one-day courses on SEO, one weekend course. The site he'd optimised as a result was
shocking: an almost complete waste.
How was he to know? He wasn't: that's the point I’m making,
but an expert would have. So my advice? Do your jobs, what you are passionate about, the reason you started your business in the first place. Leave SEO as ONE of the marketing initiatives in your business, get an qualified & proven experts to do them, and regularly test them all! Time
is on of your most valuable resources - please don't waste it doing someone else's job.
Best of luck.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Jason.
However, for most companies, I disagree with you.
For most small businesses, lead generation and closing deals is their primary responsibility, until they can build a sales team, who they'll need to train how to generate leads.
Further, I can teach a small business owner what they need to know about SEO in one hour. It's not that complex. Find good keywords, create content with keywords in the right spot on the page, monitor performance. Repeat and rinse.
With this training and simple content management tools in place to manage their site, they can be off and running... generating traffic and leads.
I'm not saying they shouldn't consider hiring an expert, a writer, a link builder to augment it. But, they should learn the basics so that they can do it themselves and/or manage the process.
Peter you've completely nailed it.
Quick heads up that on this page anchor text 'peter caputa' is pointing to www dot pc4media dot net forwardslash blog
...a page that ain't working.
I noticed because I am trying to find the best link to give my blog readers for you. I'll check another of your posts...
Hey guys,when it comes to content, you really need to hire an expert, remember "content is king", so don't mess with it...
For the first few months we used Adwords a lot. But well.. it didnt't turn out profitable. Most people were just visiting and leaving without reaching our goal pages. We now are experimenting with optimizing the usability of our pages and allso are setting up a lot of small websites. It really helps a lot since we create a lot of usefull content that other professionals are linking to. At first I was a bit skeptic about using other domains for creating diverse content, but once the initial work is done it just is getting better every month.