I had to double check my diary the other day. Just for a minute I got all confused, and thought for a moment that I must have imagined the past eight years, and that it was really still 2003. Not that it would necessarily be such a bad thing, after all, back in 2003 we were still living in bliss before the recession hit, and for most of us the concept of a double dip simply referred to dunking your Dorito in the cream cheese and chilli twice. Back in 2003 Justin Bieber was still at primary school (although probably looking much the same as now) and meerkats had nothing whatsoever to do with car insurance. On the other hand we still had Tony Blair as Prime Minister and George Bush as US President, so it’s not quite such an easy choice. But what prompted me to suspect that we were back in such misty days? Well, it seems just lately a number of people have asked for SEO work which seemed to suggest that the last 8 years haven’t happened. It can be somewhat disheartening when a prospective client approaches me and ask for any of the following: “I’d like you to get my new car insurance website to #1 on Google.” “I need content for my new website to be written, and I’d like you to do it by re-writing my competitor’s site.” “I want to get to the top of the search results for the keyword ‘UK’” “Can you please create some SEO articles with a keyword density of around 5%?” But it doesn’t really get much better sometimes when apparently perfectly good questions are followed up by subsequent revelations: “I’d like to increase the amount of traffic to my website” “Sure, what’s your aim?” “To increase the amount of traffic to my website.” “Yes, but what for – what are you wanting to do with that traffic?” “I want them to visit my website.” And then we have those adorably optimistic people: “I want to boost traffic to my website, and am looking for around 1,000 visits a day through PPC” “Sure, what’s your daily budget?” “£5? Of course, it’s easy to sit back and be smug, after all, we are in this business, and are paid to know about all of the latest stuff. But it’s easy to forget that the information relating to SEO and online marketing isn’t always as easily understood or appreciated by those who are more focussed on running their business than in keeping up to date with the latest online marketing techniques. It is easy to ridicule, although I would hope that whenever I encounter people who have these out of date or unrealistic views that they are provided with support, help and advice which can be used to make a positive and worthwhile difference. But it’s also easy to see just how vulnerable many of these people are, and how easily they can be conned into parting with significant sums of money for results which are either wholly impossible, or likely to cause devastating harm to their online brand. These misconceptions and misunderstandings aren’t always obvious either, with some people still not really understanding the best way of using Twitter and Facebook for instance. But whilst there are those of us firmly on the ‘inside’ as it were, keeping fully up to date with all of the latest information and advice, and those on the ‘outside’ who have better things to do with their time than read all about the latest algorithmic changes being implemented in search engine technology, there are also those who fall between the two, and who have a little knowledge (a dangerous thing) and out of date knowledge. I often feel these can be the people most likely to rip their SEO clients off, or provide them with a service which could prove disastrous in the long run. Eventually those disenchanted clients are likely to either give up on online marketing completely, or come to someone like me who then has to try to repair the damage before even starting to consider making any positive progress.
Internet Marketing Consultant at WEBPRESENCE, providing cost-effective SEO and Social Media solutions for small businesses looking to increase their online visibility and boost lead generation.
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