SEO and Online Marketing - San Diego Style

I wanted to post this Top 10 list (the first of many to come) not only for people to know what the things to look out for in a bad SEO company or person but also to help people find an SEO expert.  The goal of course would be so they can have their own success story.  I’ll probably follow this up down the road with more stuff to stay away from (like SEO Software - There isn’t any such thing).

1 ) MYTH: I (as a SEO customer) should expect immediate results from the SEO work.

REALITY: This is totally untrue.  Depending on the current state of your site before the SEO guru comes on board it may take up to six months to a year before seeing solid, ethical, honest work results.

2 ) MYTH: SEO’s don’t need to talk with you (as a potential customer to the SEO expert) before they begin their work.

REALITY: This is untrue.  Any good SEO-type person will sit down with you to get to know your business and what your goals are.  They are going to be an extension of you and your business and you need to have someone in your corner helping you to become successful.

3 ) MYTH: There is a universal ‘Fix All’/Cookie cutter approach for SEO’s to use when working on sites

REALITY:  This couldn’t be farther from the truth.  There is no single ‘cookie cutter’ approach to SEO.  Anyone who says otherwise doesn’t have a clue what they are doing.  Every one of my customers has different needs and different customer bases so each of them need a completely different solution.

4 ) MYTH: Sites Built in Flash can help you immensely in the Search Engine Rankings.

REALITY: Flash sites are the enemy of SEO experts.  All good SEO people will stay away from sites that are entirely flash based and treat these sites like they were nuclear waste.  If you have a Flash site, you should consider either 1) getting rid of the Flash site completely or 2) Create an HTML version of the site in addition to your flash site.

5 ) MYTH: Press Releases can’t help me in my search engine or my Online Marketing rankings.

REALITY:  This is completely false.  Most of the online Press Release companies like PRWeb have packages that not only submit them to the publications (Newspaper, Radio, Magazines, Television, etc) but, depending on the package you purchase, Press Releases can be listed in online repositories like Google News that can give you a high PageRank inbound link from multiple sources.  Furthermore, Press Releases, depending on the Keyword competition, can help in Search Engine Rankings.  This is all in addition to the targeted media that will receive the Press Release.

6 ) MYTH: <Name of SEO Company/Expert> says that submitting your site to thousands of search engines will help boost your rankings.

REALITY: This is the worst thing someone can do to your site.  There are only a small handful of good sites to submit your site to…and they don’t include Yahoo! or Google as they will pick up your site automatically (if done correctly).

7 ) MYTH: <Name of SEO Company/Expert> says that link trading is the best way to get inbound links

REALITY: This was a good thing to do….well over five years ago.  Google has since de-emphasized link exchanges or link farms and will penalize you for using link exchanges.

8 ) MYTH: <Name of SEO Company/Expert> says they know how the Google Algorithm works.

REALITY: No one knows exactly how it works.  Not even the public faces at Google (Like Matt Cutts) knows how it completely works.

9 ) MYTH: The Google Toolbar Page Rank Tool is a 100% accurate and should be used as a direct representation of the success of our Marketing efforts

REALITY:  The Google Toolbar Page Rank Tool is just a toy meant for entertainment purposes.  This is straight from Google.  There are many, many other factors involved in the success or failure of a site.

10 )  MYTH: <Name of SEO Company/Expert> can 100% Guarantee their results!

REALITY: No SEO or online marketing agency can 100% guarantee their results.  SEO is not an exact science.  Anyone who says they can guarantee their results are either scamming you for their money or are going to risk your business by using illegal means of SEO.   Illegal means that will harm your search engine rankings as well as the lost money paid to them.