Trust, Expectations and SEO - A Shady Past - SEM

Definition: Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The art of optimizing web pages so they will show up in the ranks of the search engines.

Years ago when SEO first came onto the scene it got a bad rap. Ever since SEO has been overshadowed with this stigma that the art of getting websites ranked and searchable on search engines is somehow some kind of witchcraft or voodoo. The truth of the matter is that it has nothing to do with witches or voodoo, you simply need to be a guru! Get it right people!

Alright, all kidding aside, SEO really has dragged this stigma along with it. The art is now questioned, poked and prodded and to be honest, for good reason. There are so many SEO people right now but only a small fraction of them are actually qualified to do SEO. The biggest problem is that technology is constantly changing and the SEO professionals must keep on top of the search engine trends and algorithm changes. Separating the good from the bad is not as hard as one would think. If you are looking for SEO and do not know what to ask or what to do here are a few great questions you should be asking your SEO expert.

1. Do you submit my website to search engines?

THE CORRECT ANSWER IS: You do not have to submit to search engines anymore. The search engines as long as the tagging on the site is correct will come to you.

2. How many keywords can I use in my META Keywords tag?

THE CORRECT ANSWER IS: META keywords are not used anymore by the search engines, this was dismantled years ago, however, if you do put anything in you should keep your keywords/phrases below 10.

3. Do you have statistical data to show me proven results?

THE CORRECT ANSWER IS: Yes, every SEO should have statistical data to show you based off of other jobs they have completed.

4. What components of a website do the search engines actually currently (2010) look at?

THE CORRECT ANSWER IS:

a) Title Tags

b) Description

c) URL Structure (url slugs)

d) Content

e) H Tags

When choosing your SEO expert be sure to do your homework on what you want from them. There are so many aspects to SEO that often times the expert does not have enough direction from the client. Understanding all the parts to SEO will certainly help you as a client to determine what exactly you want to do. SEO is multi dimensional in scope so be sure to know what you want before contacting your SEO expert. Here are a few aspects of SEO that you may or may not have been aware of.

On-Site SEO: This is dealing with all the tags on a physical website and making the page viewable by search engines.

Off-Site SEO: This essentially is building links to the website from other sources than your website. This is called link building to some. The SEO expert will need to scour the web for sources to have links that go back to your website. This is very time intensive.

Social Network Marketing: This is quickly becoming something that SEO professionals have to contend with. If you want to be found on the social networks you can expect the SEO person to be able to set this up for you and also manage your social profiles for you, however, it is recommended that you be involved in the social networks as well. So do not expect miracles from the social networks unless you are involved in this process yourself. The SEO professional will never know your business better than you know it.

What to Expect

Expecting SEO to be a magic recipe is a common mistake many have made. For some sites SEO is all they need to get a steady flow of targeted traffic, but this is not the case for every site that has SEO. There are simply some genres that are more popular than others and this will always relate to more traffic and ultimately dollars than others. In most cases you can expect a return on investment through simply the traffic and eyes on your website; however, if you are operating an online store, this is something that must have constant management and promotion. With so many business types and models it is difficult to gauge an exact number for the traffic flow. All that can be said is that the traffic that you leverage through SEO will generate targeted traffic, in, more than likely more quantity. Sales when related to SEO can NOT be guaranteed. http://www.numantis.com

Randy Comeau - CEO
nuMantis Technology Solutions
http://www.numantis.com

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SEO and the Client's Expectations!

The job of a Search Engine Optimizer, popularly referred to as an SEO helps the visitors to acquire the required information from the visited website. So, an SEO plays a major role as far as research and development are concerned. Both, the clients availing of the services of an SEO as well as the visitors to the website, many a times, prove to be too demanding for the Search Engine Optimizer. Well no pains, no gains. An SEO's job seems to be based on this pattern rather too strictly.

The SEO's Job vs. Sales

The SEO's role is quite important not only for researching a particular subject or idea, but more so when it comes to sales. The Optimizer in the majority of the cases provides his services to help the visitors to the website research about the products of the company.

The products may vary from biscuits or other eatables to cosmetics to electronic devices including almost any saleable product, object, idea etc., that exists upon the earth. An SEO understands well that basically his job aims at optimizing the sales for the company. He would not like to displease the company or those who visit the company's site. So, most of the SEOs prefer a little sentence at the bottom of the page to the effect that the visitor's search results may vary from site to site. After all, an SEO, like any other professional prefers to play safe!

Expectations from an SEO vs. A Few Realities

As the company's demands from an SEO are sometimes even unrealistic, he has to be extra smart (that of course, is different from being over smart). When it comes to selling a new product, the Search Engine Optimizer is not just asked to optimize the sales, in such specific cases, he has to initialize the sales for the new product first, more so if the business house happens to be a small one or a newly opened one.

If an SEO's services are hired by a small or newly opened business, the Optimizer is expected to optimize the sales of the products (if they are new, then even to initialize the sales) so that the business comes closer to the big rivals and then gradually goes ahead of them. Now, anyone can understand the kind of expectations regarding the sales from an SEO. When the expectations are not met with (that may be the case sometimes), the resulting picture may be a sad one.

As if that is not enough, even the sales department of the company loves to transfer the major share of its responsibility to the shoulders of the SEO, once his services are hired. The department's attitude, most of the times, sends the message across to the SEO, in no implicit terms that it is his responsibility to optimize the sales of the popular products, initialize and optimize the sales for new products and reinitialize the sales even for those that had previously failed in the market.

In other words, it is the SEO rather than the sales department who is expected to optimize and maintain the market. The Optimizer is left only with two options: either fulfill all the expectations or if he fails to do so even once, then provide an absolutely convincing explanation to the company that has hired his services.

SEO: Catering to the Clients' Expectations

Though the contract letter as provided to the SEO clearly reads the terms and conditions related to the responsibilities and even ranking, traffic, ROI, and conversions etc., it is the result of the work that counts in the long run rather than the job profile as discussed in the contract letter.

An SEO's Perception of His Job: Risk Factors

Thus a potentially existing, but not a very explicit (and hence not very frequently realized) risk factor is that most of the SEOs focus on executing the operations as specified in the contract letter rather than laying stress on the results. The result: the sales for the company for which an SEO's services are hired are far from being optimized. In some cases, the SEO fails to maintain even the previously existing sales. It can even tell upon his professional relationships with the sales department of the company. Eventually, he may be sacked and replaced by another SEO, in most cases, a tried and tested one by one or more reputed or established companies. So focusing upon the result is the key factor for any SEO. He must focus on the TARGET.

Services Provided by An SEO: How Do the Clients Evaluate Them?

A large number of the companies hiring the services of an SEO are extremely conscious of their web ranking. Naturally, they want the ranking to shoot up faster when they hire an SEO. A sensible client would allow at least a reasonably period of time to the SEO as even a highly intelligent and professionally smart Search Engine Optimizer would require at least a little bit of time to increase the number of the visitors to the website of his client.

Even if the search engine is optimized making it several times more effective than it originally was, the improvement will catch the notice of the net surfers within a little time only. Given the time (a reasonable one, of course, and not an unusually longer span), the web ranking of the client's site can be expected to shoot up the popularity charts.

Moreover, the requirements of the visitors to the website of the clients vary from time to time. Thus the SEO is expected to be on his toes all the time. Further, the phrases searched by the visitors most of the time would never be an all time favorite with the net surfers. They may change with the changing requirements of the surfers. Thus the client would obviously expect the SEO not only to make the web ranking go higher, but even to maintain it. Not a very easy job, indeed.

How Does Web Ranking Effect A Company's Sales and An SEO's Performance?

Though a smart SEO can employ a number of ways to make the web ranking shoot up, the point is that whether the people who visit the web site actually get converted into the customers buying the products of the company or not. So even if the SEO manages to attract a large number of visitors to the site of the company, what actually counts is whether they are the targeted visitors or not. The SEO must never forget that as far as the results of his work are concerned, the web ranking is to be used as a means to enhance the sales for the company. After all, it is for this purpose that the client has hired his services.

In some cases, a client's website may already be enjoying an excellent web ranking, but a poor conversion rate. In such case, the SEO is expected even to a greater extent to focus upon the conversion rate. A greater chunk of the traffic visiting the site is to be converted into actual buyers of the products of the company. This is what the SEO is expected to achieve.

The Job of an SEO: A Few Tips

The SEO may suggest the clients to alter a few links in the SERPs i.e., the search engine result pages. It can make it easier for the visitors to the site to find what they are looking for? When a visitor himself/herself refers the site to other surfers, it counts. Because making the web ranking move up, it definitely increases the conversion rate.

Finally, the SEO must take care that the desired, if not higher, conversion rate is achieved within a specific time. Though there should be synergy between the client and the SEO and the required time should be allowed for achieving an excellent web ranking as well as conversion rate, the SEO must not forget that he cannot delay in producing results beyond a certain time period. He is fully responsible to make the client progress in the business as fast or even faster than expected by the client.

Finally, the SEO should be focusing on improving upon the sales for the company. After all, this is what that actually counts for the client. It is the result, the result and the RESULT ONLY that will matter in the long run, as already discussed in this article.

Bibhash Sharma is an expert writer for a variety of subject matters, including internet, web design and development, computer technology, internet marketing etc. Please visit http://www.obiyanits.com to browse his present activities.

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