Online SEO Losers - 5 Ways to Avoid Becoming One

Damn, I've worked harder at web site optimization on my two web sites, than just about anything I've ever worked on in my whole life, and have almost nothing to show for it! Do you feel this way about your efforts and search engine optimization?

Thankfully, I have not had to utter those futile words too many times in my business career, but so many of us in the 30 and older crowd are facing marketing challenges for which there are no textbook answers. I'm sure that many of you sell in highly competitive markets just like the trade show displays market that I'm in, know that getting to the first page is paramount, so where do you turn?

Common sense? Forget it! That will get you nowhere in the virtual marketing world because what seems to be real, really isn't, and the people who control the search engine algorithms realize that it is a zero sum game for which there are only going to be 10 winners and millions of losers, so the rules are unpublished and frequently changed to make it fair to all; but it isn't.

How do you avoid being a modern day marketing loser? Education? Where is all of the textbook wisdom when you need it? The wisdom we thought we could rely on to take us from obscurity to product stardom... Well, I'm reminded of one of the tried and true mentors of 20th century industrial wisdom, Edwards Demming, who summed it up this way when he said; "If you do not know how to ask the right question, you discover nothing."

That's a quote that I'm sure you would rather not have to live with much longer in promoting your internet business. So in the absence of knowing all the right questions, here are 5 realities of the "new world order" in online marking that may help you avoid what I call marketing hell, because you didn't know the right questions to ask!
5 Realities of Online Marketing

1. SEO Companies that solicit your business by phone or email should be avoided like the plague, that's because they are the plague! Quality companies don't get quality clients that way...trust me on this one. They get all the business they need from the recommendations of satisfied customers.

2. Everyone knows there are only 10 listings on the first page of any search, and if you're in a hotly contested national industry, those companies on the first page will probably be very difficult to overcome due to the sheer volume of links and content that they have accumulated over years and years of content and link building. Alte
ative? Go after longer tail search terms or focus on niche markets in your industry simply because you may have no other alte
atives. Some SEO companies will imply otherwise as they're fleecing you.

3.Because content is king, your ability to articulate relevant product or policy information and insights, that will be viewed as authoritative to readers in your industry, is a HUGE advantage in marketing online. Once again, content is king and if you can't create it, you can't multiply it, and you definitely can't count it!

4.If content is king, then links are queen! We mean quality links from high quality, highly trusted, web pages. In the long run, getting them one at a time won't be productive either. Try what the pros call "link bait." The basis of this technique is having something that many people want to feature on their site, and will gladly give you a link to have it.

5.Be forward looking and thinking in your industry and capitalize on new technologies or products which create new search phrase opportunities that you may be able to beat your old competitors to the top with. Remember, with a new search term, you're both standing at the relatively same starting point given the fact that you both have quality-trusted sites.

Keeping these 5 realities in the forefront of your mind as you talk to SEO companies or chart your own course in SEO development, will at least give you a different perspective and keep you from veering off the course too far and hindering your long term progress and success.