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Search Engine Optimization Expectations

Hi, I’m Sage Lewis the president of SageRock.com. As the president of a search engine optimization firm I know how hard it is to set realistic, honest expectations with a client while starting a new search engine optimization campaign. Here are some up front expectations, the facts of the trade. Expectation #1: If you have a brand new domain, you are not going to come up in Google for any of your key phrases for from anywhere between six months and a year. That is the way it is, there is an aging delay on that and you can not expect to come up for any phrases in Google for that amount of time. There are other things you can do in the meantime. Expectation #2: Getting good positions in Google is harder than ever. They have a seriously confusion algorithm. It is very tricky; it is all about the links. You have got to get good quality links pointing into your web site, and you have to have a good site to get those links. You can’t buy links anymore; you just have to deserve good links into your web site. The ROI on getting a good position in Yahoo and Google is better than any ROI out there. Expectation #3: Google owes you nothing. You think you might deserve to be in Google. They can throw you out of Google; they can bring you in to Google. Google is private property, they owe you nothing. Expectation #4: You have to have content, and typically lots of it. If you have a three page web site in a very competitive arena you are not going to come up for your targeted phrases. You have to be a resource, you have to be relevant, and you have to offer something that other people don’t offer. Expectation #5: You have to use phrases you want to appear for in your content. If you are a franchise and you want to come up for franchise you have got to use the word franchise. Expectation #6: It takes as long as it takes. It doesn’t take two months, it doesn’t take one month, and it doesn’t take six months. It takes as long as it takes. Every industry is different, the more competitive your industry the longer it takes. The older your site the easier it is, the newer your site the harder and longer it is. Expectation #7: You do it until. If your search engine optimization firm has set up a good key phrase research strategy, they are building links for you, they are building content, you are on the right path. You do it until. Expectation #8: Stop it with the multiple domains. Multiple domains are not the solution to your success. They make your project exponentially more difficult, because now you just have to go out and get more links pointing to multiple domains. You have ONE site, focus on it; this is how you will do in the search engine listings. Expectation #9: Don’t hide content. No white on white text, don’t put something on the z access on your dhtml. Write content, your visitors want the content. The search engines are trying to put stuff up there that the visitors want. Visitors want more information, you don’t have to have 5,000 words on one page, but you do have to have good content throughout your site. Expectation #10: Trust your SEO for at least a year. This is a hard long slog. If they have done good key phrase research for you, if they are building links, if they are building content and it is all targeted around this key phrase research you are on the right path. Give them 365 days, listen to what they say, trust them. Don’t push them and challenge them; don’t make them scared and afraid. Trust them; they know what they are doing. I’m sorry that I can’t offer any better news, but that is the way it is. If you do these things you are going to be successful, have a good day.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 26th, 2006 at 2:26 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.