SEO Services Minneapolis St Paul MN
7 Common Search Engine Optimization Mistakes Made by Business Owners
- Mistake #1: Hiring the wrong SEO firm. Most web design companies or web designers provide add-on “SEO Packages.” Don’t be fooled by these worthless services. SEO is a totally different trade from web design. Web designers think visually and graphically. In contrast, search engine optimizers think in terms of algorithms and mathematics. Many business owners hire an SEO firm without conducting thorough research on that firm’s reputation. If an SEO company can’t get its own website ranked at the top of major search engines, do you think it can give your website top rankings? If you are in the Minneapolis, St Paul area, you can search for keyword phrases like "Minneapolis SEO" or "SEO MN". Don't be fooled by companies that don't rank at the top!
- Mistake #2: Thinking they know all about SEO. It is definitely a good idea for business owners to read articles or books on search engine optimization. However, simply reading a book or two on SEO doesn’t make you qualified in planning and executing an effective SEO strategy. Very often, a business owner claiming that he or she knows about SEO wants to make the most critical decisions regarding their SEO campaigns, instead of letting experienced SEO professionals take charge. Doing so can completely sabotage your business’ SEO efforts. Would you want to tell an emergency room doctor what to do simply because you have watched a few episodes of ER?
- Mistake #3: Lacking a sense of urgency. Every day, your potential customers are actively searching for your products and services at Google, Yahoo, MSN, and various other search engines. If they can’t find your company, they will find your competitors’. Every lead and sale your competitors get from search engines weakens your company. Plus, the longer your site stays invisible to search engines, the more difficult it is to get higher rankings when you do decide to optimize your site. If you can’t find your website at search engines, the time to take action is NOW.
- Mistake #4: Thinking SEO can be done overnight. Search engine optimization takes time and patience. If your industry isn’t very competitive, there is a very strong chance that you will see quick results, both in terms of higher rankings and more traffic. However, if your industry is highly competitive, such as real estate, law, travel or insurance, it can take several months or longer to see any significant results. Just because it may take longer, keep in mind that search engine optimization is still critical web marketing for the long run.
- Mistake #5: Giving up on SEO too quickly. If you have a bad experience with a doctor, would you give up on medicine? After working with unqualified SEO companies, some business owners have concluded that search engine optimization doesn’t work. However, if your competitors’ websites dominate at search engines, SEO must be working well for them. So, can SEO work for you? SEO is very complicated and its success depends on many factors, including the history of your site, the keywords you target, the quality of your web content, the structure of your website, and your competition. If your past SEO campaigns failed to produce the desired results, you are much better off consulting with a qualified SEO service provider who can make a fair evaluation of the SEO work, instead of giving up on SEO entirely.
- Mistake #6: Lacking direct involvement in the SEO process. Some business owners think search engine optimizers can perform magic tricks to make a site findable. Luckily, that’s not how search engines work. When search engines decide how to rank a website, one of the most important factors is the actual content of your website. This content, about your business services and products, your expert knowledge and your company’s information, is carefully analyzed by search engines. That is why business owners need to work closely with the SEO company to create useful content.
- Mistake #7: Keeping eyes off the web conversation. Many business owners assume that top search engine rankings will give them leads and sales, without paying much attention to whether their websites provide valuable information to visitors. But keep in mind that only well-designed, user-friendly websites can convert visitors to customers. The ultimate goal of SEO should always be high conversion.
These SEO mistakes are very costly. Many business owners are kept until their web sites are outranked by their competitors'. The good news is that it is never too late to fix these mistakes and jumps-start your SEO marketing.
Kick Ass SEO has the most experienced search engine optimization experts and we have been helping clients in Minneapolis, St Paul, Minnesota and across the country with excpetional marketing results. Our clients have told us that their search engine marketing outperforms all other marketings combined.
Call us and we will be happy to explain further how SEO can work for you!