People who contact E-Power Marketing often tell me that they have tried search engine optimization, but it did not work. From talking with them, I find they've used one or more of these common SEO techniques that quite simply, do not work. If your search visibility depends on these techniques, I strongly recommend that you stop wasting your time and money on them. There are many effective search engine marketing agencies you can use who will establish search visibility and search referral traffic to your site, so why waste your time with these?

There is no point in submitting your Web site's URLs to search engines. Search engines will crawl your Web site if there are links pointing to it. If you have no links pointing to your site, then you will have no search visibility no matter how often you submit to search engines.

For many years now, search engines have ignored meta-keywords. Long ago, a key SEO technique was to stuff keywords into meta-keywords. This worked when Bill Clinton was President. Not today. Yet I still see new sites that depend on meta-keywords to develop search visibility.

It is true you get what you pay for. Free or cheap submissions to search engines have no impact. Cheap link building will not establish long-term search visibility. Effective search engine marketing is highly valuable to business. It is brutally competitive because many know how to do it well. Someone who understands the complex art and science of Search Engine Optimization usually has a good idea how to price services. Yes, there can be a huge difference between the fees of qualified search engine marketers. Nonetheless, a competent search optimizer will charge more than $500 a year. If that is your budget, don't expect miracles.

The search engine marketing community has long been plagued with unscrupulous people seeking to take your money and run. That has not changed. Search engine marketing is valuable for business and few decision-makers understand how it works, making SEM fertile ground for scam artists.

Consider this real example. A rep from a "search engine" you never heard of calls you and asks you to look at your traffic report. He notes that his "search engine" is driving nearly as much traffic as Google. He offers to sell you "Sponsored Listings" to drive even more traffic to your Web site. If you check traffic more than four months previous to the call, you won't find any traffic from this "search engine." That is because this "search engine" manufactured phony traffic to your Web site in recent months to set you up. Hang up the phone immediately. This "search engine" has been running this scam for several years. Apparently there are plenty of suckers who buy into this scam. Don't expect any real traffic.

Check out this lawsuit filed by the Washington state Attorney General. Beware of unsolicited high-pressure telemarketers offering Search Engine Optimization.

Respectable search marketing agencies very likely could use telemarketers. Simply make sure that you can call them back. And check them out before giving them your credit card order.

Before hiring an SEO agency, check them out. Confirm they have a solid methodology and a record of success. Ask for references and call them. If the SEO agency does anything listed in this Blog post, than just don't choose them.

It's up to you to be careful with your company's online presence. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. SEM is not a magic wand. It takes time and hard work to get results. Don't allow yourself to fall for the quick fix or the cheap scheme. In the end, you'll just get burned.

Labels: Organic SEO