The true problem with SEO and generic optimisation processes, isn’t the practice itself, though some would have you believe otherwise. To my mind, the real issue is those in the industry, the majority of whom seem to have their heads stuck so far up their own arses that they can’t see fact from fiction. Whilst they are busy getting into cat fights on SEO-related blogs, proclaiming that THEY HAVE THE ANSWER whilst others do not, they quickly lose sight of the very real problems of the majority out in the real world.
Before they get beyond themselves, at the very basic level so-called experts need to realize that they are, in part, nothing more than glorified copy writers with a specialist angle in handling content for search engines and the web at large. Though it’s easy to think that you are tailoring to the search engines, the reality is also that you have to pander to the needs of the potential customers you are theoretically pulling in, and keyword stuffed web sites quickly become a turn off.
Many others are already out there preaching the ways of the new social media revolution, and telling business that they themselves need to engage with the marketing process. It’s easy to think that SEO needs to be completed in isolation of any wider campaign to connect with an audience, but in all honesty it really needs to be part of that. SEO is a slice of a large pie, a piece of a bigger jigsaw, and SEO ‘gurus’ and their clients need to preach and recognise that respectively.
As part of any SEO process you should be looking at research, content optimisation, content submission, pay-per-click campaigns, content creation, both within your own domain, as well as encouraging others, and not just for the purpose of back links, social media strategy, analysis and tracking of performance. Before hiring any SEO ’specialist’ ask about their existing campaigns, look at the performance of it, feel free to ask for graphs and statistics. At the very least it isn’t hard for an SEO to send you timeline screenshots from Google Analytics.
Most of all, as an SEO service buyer, you should remember that nothing happens fast. I don’t use this as an excuse to explain why results are slow in forthcoming, but rather to suggest that you have some time yourself to do some research. Get onto Twitter and search for those talking about the topic, engage with them, build trust and relationships yourself. Ingratiating yourself will help you learn more about the process and ultimately provide for a more informed decision when you do finally bite the bullet and pay your hard earned cash for those all important results.
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I am, for want of a better word, a web developer. Practising since '96 and
focused on front and back-end work with a slant for optimisation.
I love music, art, and helping people, traits which I hope are borne out here.
Read more about me and this blog on the 
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