Winning Habits of Effective SEOs – How Do We Measure Up?
A recent article posted by Neil Patel titled “7 Habits of Highly Effective SEOs” caused us to stop and think. Mr. Patel asked, “Why are some of these SEOs good at what they do while others aren’t?” and answered his question by presenting 7 different effective SEO habits that lead to effective SEO.
So how do we measure up to his seven habits?
Practice Makes Perfect –
We Practice SEO
Patel admits that it isn’t hard to become an SEO expert – read some books, forums and white papers and you’re set to go. However he says that being able to speak the lingo and point out short fallings on websites doesn’t mean you are good at SEO.
We have been practicing SEO for over 14 years. We have worked on hundreds of clients sites and are constantly improving our own website and sister sites.
As Patel admits, only practice and experience gives you a “better understanding of how you need to adjust your approach to rank higher.”
You Never Know Until You Try –
We Take Calculated Risks
Patel says that in order to be effective you must take risks and be aggressive with your website. We agree with this habit to a certain extent but would like to add that these risks should be logical, calculated and not extreme.
Effective risk taking is not buying hundreds of links and hoping you won’t be penalized. Taking risks is being aggressive with your websites and applying what you learn to push onward to the next level.
The Customer is Number One –
We Build Relationships
Patel refers to building relationships in the context of networking with other SEOs and people within the industry.
This is an important aspect of SEO and we work hard at networking but we feel that building relationships with our clients is much more important.
There are far too many SEO companies that get hired that don’t really care about their clients or take the time to truly get to know their clients. We view our relationships with our clients as strategic relationships. Only by working very closely with the client can we achieve great SEO success.
Think Outside the Box –
We Are Creative
Often SEO companies offer cookie cutter solutions with only three SEO packages to choose from. We are creative from the very beginning in designing custom tailored packages designed to meet the specific goals of the individual client.
Sometimes this involves getting creative. Hard questions get asked, such as:
“Will this package really help the client meet their goals?”
“How can we stretch their online budget to meet their goals?”
“What are the most effective SEO activities that will maximize the efficiency of their budget?”
A recent example of this is a client who sells jewelry online. Her main products and business description is ‘custom jewelry’ but her small budget couldn’t afford chasing after this highly competitive market. Instead of attempting to do so we designed a strategy to target another product line – one that had a lot of searches with relatively low competition and provided a much better and much more effective way to allocate her tight budget. The long term plan is to increase revenues in this product line and apply future returns towards pursuing the more competitive and expensive ‘custom jewelry’ market.
Think It Through –
We Are Analytical
An analytical mind is required throughout the entire SEO process. From choosing effective keywords that will attract prospective buyers, to conversion analysis all the way to site and server set up, our SEO is focused on Patel’s one main point: increasing revenue.
A recent example of applying analytical thinking was a new client who had performed SEO in house for a number of years. Upon decision to outsource this area they wanted to continue using their list of existing targeted phrases. Upon looking at the list and doing some research it was decided that some of the phrases were too generic and the company didn’t really offer the service that was implied by the phrase. With some tweaks to the list the client is now optimizing their site with more targeted phrases that will bring better qualified visitor traffic.
Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket –
We Use Multiple Tactics
I think what Patel is trying to say is that good SEO’s don’t depend on just one successful activity. He says that SEO is a “constant game of cat and mouse” where you never know what the single most effective tactic is or what the most effective tactic will be tomorrow, next week or five months down the road.
The Search Engines use over 200 factors to determine how well a website will rank and often make more changes to their algorithms in one year than there are days in a year.
We focus on covering as many of the 200 factors Search Engines consider as well as the future changes that the industry predicts to see. Rather than only building links or only writing content our team is able to address a significantly higher number of ranking factors by applying a wide range of SEO activities. With this approach it is far more likely to maintain more stable rankings in the long term.
Always Have a Backup Plan –
We Rely on SEO Supporting Activities
Patel believes that SEO needs to be supported by pay-per-click ads, email marketing and other forms of online promotion that will help diversify channels. We offer many of our clients’ complimentary activities to help support their SEO efforts.
The best example of this is using PPC to help gain traffic website during the early stages of SEO and for brand new websites.
If you are interested in becoming one of our SEO clients please visit our Search Engine Optimization page or contact 1st on the List Promotion:
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