The Fleecing of the Flock

OK, I'm about back where I was yesterday about SEO.

I was on a well known SEO website yesterday. I went to the "professionals" section - the place where non-SEO folks go to get SEO expertise.

To be honest, I'm feeling more and more sorry for people seeking SEO advice. Because the industry is so new, it's impossible to truly set a measure for how you can get results.

So people are stuck-they know they need to look for an SEO because they need to compete-what they don't know is who is really good at SEO. Add to that the fact that SEO is an evolving field-the tactics I used 6 months ago, I will re-evaluate for the next 6 months because of the fact that some engines have made some algorithm changes.

I think I have an answer for that dilemma, I will work to try to spell it out in the weeks to come.

Web Analytics

My biggest gripe in the organic SEO world right now is analytics.

In many organic SEO campaigns, there is very little regard given to the results of the campaign. I've come up with a few hypotheses as to why:

1. Most decision makers do not understand the power or potential of organic SEO - for some reason, organic SEO is seen as "gravy" or icing on the cake of all other marketing efforts in large company environments. To say the least, this appears to be proportional to the "web savviness" of the business in general-and many large businesses today are still working to create a real, usable web strategy.

2. Big companies like to spend money - For whatever reason, there is a higher level of confidence with the greater the amount of money that is spent. This is why you find huge companies that do not have Linux deployed anywhere within their evironment-the confidence appears to come from spending money. This is also why a lot of SEO consulting companies are able to rake in big fees - if they didn't charge them, there would be little confidence in their ability to deliver.

3. Organic SEO's are viewed by some as the ultimate "snake oil salesmen" - while you have to hang out with them to get something you need for your business, there's not a great deal of trust you put in them or their practice.

All of these reasons have worked together to ensure that REAL Key Peformance Indicators (KPI's) will not be developed for SEO. What do I define as a REAL KPI-simple, one that assists a business in devising strategy to make money.

Since most large companies do not anticipate making an appreciable or measureable amount of money from their organic SEO efforts, they do not worry with creating real KPI's and models for success. Smaller companies do not have the volume, so while they likely have more robust models (their survival is much more closely intertwined with their organic SEO efforts), their models likely will not scale to the level necessary to make real strategic decisions at a large corporate level.

So there is a void right now. I will continue to explore exactly how to fill that void and keep you all updated on what I find.

OK, I'm done

OK, I'm about done!

Since I first started this blog, there have been a lot of changes in my life-I am no longer trying for the whole entrepreneur thing and instead I'm working at a Fortune 500 company as an in house SEO.

The view from this side is a little frustrating - I see all of the people literally RAPING these folks (SEO firms and marketing firms) and offering very little value-the frustrating part is that it's very clear-to get in position to do the same, you have to have the relationships.

So, a lot of do nothing companies that are WELL FINANCED - enough so to launch successful marketing campaigns, get the opportunity to forge those relationships. Those relationships allow them to bill HUGE amounts to these companies for very little work.

And why do they do very little work? BECAUSE NO ONE IS GOING TO THE NEXT LEVEL! SEO firms all offer the same advise - because they are not willing (or possibly able) to go to the next level of service-move BEYOND the rankings to the strategic.

The second part of that frustration is that this is dooming organic SEO to a less than strategic role within most organizations - and of course mine is no different.

So, I'm frustrated. I've decided to take my frustration to the ether and I don't know if I'll just try to pump this blog up or if I will start another, but I do have a vision for search and the web in general. From here on, at the least I will spell that out online.