Beware Search Engine Optimization Guarantees

“I guarantee you that I can put you on page 1 on Google and Bing.” – anonymous.
Unless you are posting a paid ad, if someone gives you a guarantee like this for a few hundred bucks – run!
There are a number of con artists that don’t practice white hat SEO. Instead of following best practices that have changed over time (Look up Panda, Penguin, and Pandora updates to Google algorithms), these guys will use methods that are outdated and could damage your site’s page rank for years. Your site could get blacklisted or dropped entirely from the index if your business is linked to link farms and directories
that have been blacklisted by the major search engines. If it is too good a deal, do your due diligence and research before making the plunge.
Real SEO is an ongoing process. Content is king and faking it for the search engines will only get you in trouble later.

Don’t fall prey to Search Engine Optimization Guarantees that over promise and under deliver.

Does your business have a website? Was the website designed to reflect your color scheme and fully represent your brand? There are a lot of expenses related to starting a business, and it is tempting to go with the cheapest price. However, getting the cheapest price at the expense of the experience your customer has when visiting your site does your business a disservice. An example of this is using a proprietary website builder that does not allow for customization and is incapable of scaling up to meet your business needs. It may not be readily apparent, but customers may get the impression that they are at just any old site and your virtual storefront does not stand out from the clutter. Why should they buy from you and not the next guy?

What is branded website?

A branded website accurately reflects the spirit and vision of the specific organization that it belongs to. Prospective customers, fans, and current clients know that it is your organization and are able to see how you differentiate yourself from the competition. This is in contrast to using and sticking with a default template despite having the resources to go further. Wouldn’t it be better to know that when a potential customer goes to your site they know they are there versus not being sure because multiple companies in the same industry use a similar template for the look and feel of their website?

What factors more into your food and travel recommendations?

Do you take Facebook or Google + friends likes or +1’s into food and travel recommendations into consideration?

How much does mobile factor into your choices?

So much has changed from when food and travel choices were dictated by travel agencies and guides. Now, with so much power at our finger tips, people can carefully choose their travel experience and get relevant knowledge as well as crowd source from their personal network of business colleagues and friends.

Are you a business that depends on hospitality or tourism? Don’t think you need a website? Satisfied with just a social network page? This is not enough! Projecting a professional and reputable image is not achieved solely with a Facebook or Google + page. A website of your own can be used to generate positive SEO for your business instead of for one of the large social networks. This is like getting free advertising for your business which can be further augmented by localization with Google and Bing Places, webmaster tools, and analytics.