SEO Is Only Part Of The Solution
June 1, 2011
Welcome to the Google Places SEO Citations blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.
This blog covers local SEO which is dominated by Google, Google Places and the need for citations. The blog also covers just about any thing related to Google search results and related topics. I hope that you might glean some useful resources while you are here.
SEO Is Only Part Of The Solution
Recently, I had a discussion with our first SEO client. He had moved from his previous job in Tucson to a larger firm in Phoenix. His employer has four websites and he asked me to give him a bid for our search engines optimization services.
This was a very exciting opportunity but, I proceeded with caution. When I worked for this company it had a really bad website. I did a detailed website review and made a multitude of suggestion to improve the site before applying any SEO. The company was a moving and storage concern with a local customer base here in Tucson.
I was ecstatic. Going in I knew that we had a wonderful opportunity here to apply Geo-targeted SEO solutions. I believed that we would have tremendous impact for local moving company searches in Tucson. It was if all the stars had aligned in my favor. It wasn’t a competitive market and the competition did not have very well optimized websites. It looked like a slam dunk and it was. The problem is the company never made the needed changes to have a user friendly website.
When the SEO process began you could find this website 3 times on Google’s first page of results for moving services in Tucson. Two weeks after I had implemented Geo-targeting for their business in Tucson their was a dramatic change. Now, the site was ranking 16 times on the first page of Google. By the time 30 days had rolled around you could find the site 33 different times on the Google first pages. It was as if we were in SEO nirvana. This was my first paying client.
The problem was that their website still was still a dreadful site. The home page included maybe 100 words that were not crafted very well. Things didn’t work all over the site. The site was not converting visitors into customers.
What I learned from this experience was this. I would never again SEO a broken website. This company got lots of traffic from my SEO efforts but very little of that increased traffic converted into business. Broken websites don’t usually convert visitors no matter how many people visit.
It’s hard to overcome a bad website and the negative messages that it screams is deafening. It is very difficult to overcome an initial bad experience. You must always be cognizant that your visitor has their hand on there mouse and a quick and painless exit is a mere one click away. Your visitors are needing, wanting, and desiring to have their expectations meet or exceeded. Sadly most websites fail miserably.
From that time forward we made an ethical decision not to work on websites if all they wanted was increased traffic. We really wanted our efforts to not only increase traffic but we wanted that traffic to convert from visitors to customers. We want our clients to prosper from our efforts. We are not in SEO just to make a buck.
This is why we strongly believe in a holistic SEO approach where search engine optimization is not the solution, but part of the solution. If you have a defective website increased traffic is not going to make much difference.
Quit often the website owners do not have any idea that their website is even defective. I recently commented to a website owner that he should not worry about SEO because he needed to fix his website first. He was flabbergasted. He was clueless that their might be any thing wrong with his site and it had buckets of problems. This is especially true for the DIY designed websites. They often look like a elementary school group project.
Our standard recommendation is that your website needs to be as good as if not better than your major competitors. I am discussing functionality and ease of use here. If you make it difficult for the visitor to find what they came for they are gone and gone quickly. Searchers scan websites to find what they desire and they have short attention spans. Again you job is to meet or exceed the visitors expectations.
Another area that is overlooked is the content. Most websites owners wrote their own copy and most of them are not professional marketing professionals. So you have someone writing your content that merely provides information and not selling. I have seen beautiful sites where everything worked and worked well except the content. Website content needs to be written using a sales funnel that directs the visitor or make a buying decision.
That is why we practice a holistic approach to SEO. We do so with the understanding that if your website isn’t likely to convert visitors into customers then why increase traffic. The problem is that many websites have never had much traffic so they have no way of judging whether the site converts visitors or not. Once the fixing and or re-designing has been completed we then provide the SEO portion. But there’s more to do if you want to gain and maintain high search rankings.
The fact remains that most website developers just don’t understand marketing and selling on a website. For many a “buy now” button is all that is required. Ask yourself this does my website sell? Do I ask for the sale? Does your website act as a sales funnel that directs your visitor into a buying decision? If you answered no to any of these questions then you might be ready for a holistic SEO approach.
Once the defective site has been fixed and optimized it then must enter another phase of the process. Where you will then need to market your website and develop backlinks. As we like to say, SEO is never a one and done proposition.
My first client was somewhat shocked that I was not very interested in his project. I explained that I had changed how I do business due to my previous experience with him. I was willing to provide a holistic SEO approach, but not merely SEO alone.
It was later revealed that he had acquired bids from several other companies. These companies would gladly produce increased traffic without regards to whether that traffic would ever convert into customers. At that point we parted ways. This was a huge contract but we were not about to compromise our position.
So if you are actively looking to hire an SEO provider make sure they give serious consideration to the total health of your website. Providing assistance in developing your content into a sales presentation before you venture into acquiring increased website traffic through the implementation of SEO.
SEO isn’t the answer by itself; it is only part of the solution.
What say you?
Our Services:
If your business is located in the communities of Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, Tempe, Mesa , Chandler, Arizona or beyond and you need Google Places SEO Citations solutions please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Comments
15 Responses to “SEO Is Only Part Of The Solution”
your right. I totally agree with you. SEO alone cannot increase business. For SEO to work the rest of the site needs to be in a good shape. Great article, very informative. Thanks for sharing this article with us.
Admin: Yea, A great comment from someone who represents a PR 5 website… Yea, thank you so very much.
Nice article, I’m glad you have taken wise decision in receiving SEO client. As a reader, sometimes I get upset when I find bad website at the first page of google search engine. Maybe they use good SEO company to get more traffics, but if they don’t give useful information, I will close the site as soon as possible and move to another site.
A very interesting article. As an SEO professional even I make sure the design of the website is of good standards and then start my SEO job. You have rightly said the SEO alone cannot bring business to the company. A lot of other things matter as well.
A very interesting article. As an SEO professional even I make sure the design of the website is of good standards and then start my SEO job. You have rightly said the SEO alone cannot bring business to the company. A lot of other things matter as well that include navigation, template design, broken links etc…
Very interesting article and well said here. What you saying here is true. Traffic alone doesn’t convert to sales is useless if you can’t attract your visitor to buy what you selling. The content is an important part of the website to attract visitors into their customers. It makes the visitors hate you for able to search you. Really important point you got here. Glad you made a review about this matter.
Nice article. Very glad to have gone through the post because i have been looking for some information and there are some valid points, thank you for sharing.
SEO alone cannot bring the business and also success to the business a lot of other things can also add to this service.A very interesting article about this seo
Thanks for bringing this one up. Yes, I agree with the others. SEO alone cannot really move the site up. This will not give us lots of useful information and data. Glad to read your post.
Too Bad you didn’t read the post!
Well, I had forgotten that I had targeted this post for the tiny town of Safford Arizona some time ago. This page was still ranking number # 5. It had been ranking # 1 but it has been neglected. Neglected pages have a way of disappearing.
Great post. I wish more people would be able to read this! How many times have I clicked on a website on the first page of the results on Google only to come to a website that’s useless and poorly designed?
It just goes to show that you need have a website working properly with some kind of offer that’ll convert before any SEO is done. A website can have all the targeted traffic in the world, but if it doesn’t convert – there is no point.
- Alan
Great article! I really like the way you have provided the information in your post. I believe that professional SEO is as much a part as the Web as Web design and development. Although, some designers may treat SEO as the enemy, not much can be done about it. The important thing is that people who use SEO services should consider them as part of the solution and not entirely depend on it.
No doubt after reading this article regarding SEO. Agree with others that seo alone cannot lift your sites. Thanks for sharing such an informative information.
Unfortunately, that not what the post says!
As a person who also is involved in this industry, I am very greatful for the great info you have put up on here. As you may know, web design and development is ever-changing, and to keep up with the pace of that growth we have to keep learning and experimenting, and your info has given me some great ideas and advice. Looking forward to more of your ideas…
You r right.I totally agree with you.Greate article i really like this.I believe that professional SEO is as much a part as the Web as Web design and development. Although, some designers may treat SEO as the enemy, not much can be done about it