I’ve seen it a thousand times in this industry. A job posting on a client that states “I want to be on page 1 of Google”.
Don’t we all!
The problem they don’t realize is what that takes. If your content sucks (which most likely it does) all the SEO and SEM’s in the world wouldn’t be able to bring that website to page 1 in Google.
What the client doesn’t realize is that it’s THEIR CONTENT that’s usually holding them back. Not your SEO talents. The average person doesn’t need or want yet another website on Air Conditioning. Unless you have something that set’s you apart from the pack, SEO might help you a little, but will rarely result in page 1 without the content to back it up.
“We fired our last SEO guy because he was taking too long to get results”.
This one also cracks me up and working with clients like this should be avoided at all costs. It’s amazing that people don’t realize that SEO takes time.
SEO is a long term play. It involves a lot of tinkering. When Google finally recognizes your efforts and moves you up in their rankings, you’ve only hit a new stage, another audition. Based on how your site performs in that new ranking will dictate whether you are given another audition at a higher level or if you get left behind.
Proper SEO should be measured in months not days or weeks. It takes time for Google to catch onto your strategic changes, it takes time for that to reflect in the rankings, it takes time for your audience to consume it and hopefully socially distribute it. It all takes time.
If your blog or company is going to be around for the long haul, you need to take baby steps in order to succeed. No matter what in this world you are trying to accomplish, nothing is an overnight success! But patience, hard work and dedication will pay off over time.
Clients new to the webspace also need to learn that while their website is new, their competitors have (in some cases) a two decade head start on them, which is why it takes even longer to catch up. So unless their brand, content or product is revolutionary, they’ll just be caught up in the mix.
