In a recent SEO article by Mark Jackson he discussed the importance of learning the baselines for search engine optimization. I took it to mean be true to yourself by learning before buying SEO services. Search engine optimization is an important aspect to any solid online marketing effort and your basic understanding of how and why SEO is key to your success. I think most business owners know what SEO is but may have a very hard time explaining it.

Search engine optimization is gaining higher rank in the search engines by optimizing your website for keywords. As Mark stated in his article, SEO is not about getting to the top page or number one position for keywords you want to rank well for. SEO is about driving higher quality traffic to your site which converts into sales or new customers. I believe there is a major shift in the way professionals envision SEO. The pendulum has swung from the need for top ten positions to quality traffic.

It is important to understand that keywords you want to rank well for may have significant competition and could range in the millions for search results. This is the real shift I am talking about. Consider the word “pizza” which produces 125,000.000 results on Google. Is it realistic to achieve top ranking for this keyword? No, it is not. The competitive nature of online optimization is just that…extremely competitive. To rank well for just one very popular word is very difficult and it is not realistic to think that high raking can be achieved for such words.

Your education about search engine optimization needs to rooted in one simple reality. Your most important keywords may have too many competitors to rank well for in a short term. The longer your website is living on the web the better chance it will have but it is a long term commitment on your part, as a business owner, and on the part of the individual or firm working to optimize your site.

This does not mean that targeting your primary keywords is out of the question…it simply means extending your keyword search beyond the heavy sought after keywords. Find a middle ground and start from there. You search firm or consultant should be aware of this and set the expectations with you regarding keyword popularity. Which brings me to another point in helping you become educated on SEO…if it sounds too good to be true avoid it.

There are some SEO firms who will promise you the world and charge $10,000 per month or more for SEO. I do not believe [any longer] that SEO is a monthly process. Yes, to some extent SEO is a monthly process for link building, article writing, blogs, etc. These items can be done mostly on the client side and should not be paid for [save the link building]. Many of the aspects of SEO can be done by you [the client] if you are willing to participate in your own success [more on this later].

In closing, SEO can be a very long process which can take several months to attain better quality traffic. Lean as much as you can and there is no such thing as a stupid question. The more you know about natural website ranking the more you will work to help the process and understand why you pay what you pay. The more you know about SEO the more you can base your assumptions in reality and not be taken in by false SEO sales pitches. The closer you will come to the truth about SEO and how it can help change your online business.

When you hire on a searchologist or Internet marketing firm to work on your pay per click campaign…you may never know the true importance of your input. Professional search engine marketers [searchologists] bring their knowledge of how to set up, run, create and track pay per click efforts. The knowledge you bring to the table is just as important to the success of the paid search marketing as the information and knowhow professionals offer.

As a professional in your particular market or industry, you will have more insight into what you are looking for and who you are trying to reach out to with pay per click advertising. You will have great insight regarding keywords, demographics, consumer profiles, and prospect profiles. This information you already have about these variables and more will impact the outcome of all paid search marketing.  

Be sure to share as much as you can about who you are targeting, what the profile of a “typical” audience member may look like [age, household income, male, female, etc.]. Having detailed discussions with your Internet marketing firm or consultant can save time, money, and trouble in the long run.

Google has announced the Google personalized search experience. If any of you are keeping tabs out there…universal search, personal search, social search, real time search…this is why search engine optimization can be very difficult. Imagine trying to keep up with Google. I’m still not 100% sold on Google’s “do no evil” message.

I’ve been working on a client project recently and I’ve notices some VERY lame attempts by Google to lure away searching individuals with rather unsavory methods. The same methods that Google frowns on when advertising under competitive brand terms in Ad Words [to a very liberal extent]. Take a test drive for yourself. Type in “circle” for giggles. Take a look at the paid search results on the left side. Do you or do you not see a sponsored ad by Google asking if you are having trouble understanding the word ‘circle’.

So, what does this have to do with search results and all of the up coming iterations of said results? At some point search engine results need to become better at indexing and serving GOOD content. I’ve seen thousands of times now…very poor results based on excellent search terms. I think it could speak to the measure of fairness when dealing with the world’s biggest search engine.

Go on and Google pay per click advertising and tell me you don’t see Google’s ad right up at the top. They are just playing fair right…? Right?

I a fantastic post by Rebecca Lieb, “Here Come The Social Media Carpetbaggers” from Clicks, she discusses the hoard of social media experts who have come streaming out of the wood work with proposals in had and “expert banners” waving. I’ve said for some time now that social media should be taken in stride and should not be used to generate sales of any type. Sure, if sales “accedently” or unintentionally arise from social media marketing…that is a wonderful thing. If your objective is to accomplish this task it is going to end up a major fail.

I find it as amazing as Rebecca does, how everyone and their distant uncle can now execute, build, track, and offer bright shiney success stories about how well they have done for their clients with social media. Much like Rebecca’s comments, I firmly believe that if you are going to pursue social media you should do it in house. The cost in human hours to build out social media outlets, run comments, and interact with your auduience can be a very large task.

Don’t believe all you hear about how wonderful and magical social media is. It is what it is…a way for people to communicate online with each other. It is not a new toy or marketing outlet for you to make your next fortune. The majority of individuals on social networks are there to interact with each other, their friends, family, and grow networks. If you REALLY want to interrupt that interaction with ads, or annoying pokes into their “social webworking” I would hazard to say that you will be engaging in demanding your message is heard and it will backfire.

As I’ve said many time over now…social media, if used as a tool to allow for communication, idea exchanges, developing brand awarness, and credibility can crate a special relationship that will pay you back in the long term. Be wary of the salesperson who suggests a large investment in the social media space. If you are going to take the leap…get your goals, expectations, and self in check.

Social media is still very new [about 2 years old now] and Internet marketing is around 12 years old. We are still dealing with a new digital era

Many business owners I have spoken to have had great expectations about search engine optimization, pay per click, and social media. With this in mind…I wanted to address the reality of what search can do for your business and how you should REALLY prepare. Here is a quick list of Top Ten Search Engine Marketing Expectations Busted by Searchology 101. <br><br>1. No one can get you to the top of Google for your top keywords overnight. Search engine optimization takes time…and it can take months to gain higher raking on important keywords. <br><br>2. Search engine optimization professionals don’t know the "Google Code" to get you to the top of the Google search results. The Google algorithms are a mystery to all but Google. Most SEO professionals know a great deal to get you better natural search results but can’t promise top listings for high search terms.<br><br>3. The social media craze is not the new search. Yes, social media is very cool and it makes it very easy to stay in touch…but it is not a tool to drive sales. It should be used to build your brand, build brand awarness, offer consideration for purchase…if you intend to use it to build sales…think again.<br><br>4. Pay per click advertising is not "wizzbangery" – there is no little man behind the green curtain. It takes time to get keywords and ad copy to work together. Time to let the search engines assess the work and for the paid search professional to do their job.<br><br>5. Google is not the only search engine out there. Yahoo has over 420 million searches every day…and Bing is close behind. There are many more search engines which deliver good results as well. <br><br>6. You should always advertise under your brand name. You competitors will do it if they can and you need to take full ownership of your message, product, service, and good name. <br><br>7. Google analytics isn’t always right. Looks like there may be a pretty big issue with Java and Google analytics. <br><br>8. Know your market and know your audience. If you don’t have a good idea about the profiles of people and visitors you would like to attract to your website…how can you write content for them? <br><br>9. Google recently had a 10 year anniversery [this year] so when you hear "professionals" say they’ve been in the Internet marketing industry for 20 years. Yahoo was founded in 1995…Google Ad Words launched in October 2000.<br><br>10. Advertising using your competitors brand terms is okay…just be prepared for retaliation. <br>