{"id":946,"date":"2016-11-17T14:45:06","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T13:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dibz.me\/blog\/?p=107"},"modified":"2016-11-17T14:45:06","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T13:45:06","slug":"5-seo-mistakes-killing-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/base.me\/insights\/5-seo-mistakes-killing-business\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Painfull SEO Mistakes That Are Killing Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If there is money to be made, why am I not making it?<\/h3>\n

As the CEO of a digital marketing agency, I have seen my fair share of all sorts of clients. While I am happy to say that we have usually managed to find a common language, sometimes it took quite a bit of effort.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Not wishing to label anyone, but after a while, you learn to recognize certain archetypes.<\/p>\n

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As you can imagine, some clients\u00a0can be more difficult to work with than others. But in the end, every client will respond well to honesty; uninflated, realistic promises; transparent reporting and a genuine commitment to helping their business prosper.<\/p>\n

You can keep yourself on track by remembering that, ultimately, your job is not to make your client happy, it\u2019s to make them successful. <\/strong>And that is the only way how your business will thrive in this \u00a0competitive market. Otherwise, you are killing your own business (hence the Suicide Squad reference).<\/p>\n

Let me explain what I mean.<\/p>\n

When you are negotiating\u00a0with someone who is running their own business, you cannot tread too lightly. They are passionate about it, protective of it, sometimes cautious to the verge of paranoia, and you cannot blame them for that.<\/p>\n

Take me as an example. I am a (genuinely) nice guy, and\u00a0I am also a business owner. I am all for fun & games, but if you try to play around with my business – I am going to give you the business!
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It’s not because we are all too touchy-feely, it’s because we profoundly care about our work. And if I am doing business with you, I want you to care about my company as well, and I need you to show it.<\/p>\n

Just take it personal. I want you to perceive my business as yours and I want you to love it, care about it, and send late night texts with a\u00a0bunch XOs and good night wishes before I close the shop for the day.<\/p>\n

That’s a personal perspective. However,\u00a0statistically,\u00a0public trust in businesses\u00a0has hit a new low. According to Edelman<\/a>, more\u00a0than 50% of people\u00a0don’t trust businesses at all. Furthermore,\u00a0as much as 43% respondents think that the CEO is the least credible source of information in a company.<\/p>\n

But I’m still writing this article tho!
\n<\/strong>
\nAs a CEO of Four Dots<\/a>, and now Dibz, and with more than 180 currently active\u00a0clients under my belt… Well, let’s just say that I know a thing or two when it comes to running the\u00a0SEO business.<\/p>\n

In fact, I am also a regular lecturer at the Digital Communication\u00a0Institute, and sort of a public speaker for entrepreneurs and digital marketers (a little self-promotion never killed\u00a0nobody).<\/p>\n

So, here is me, doing what I do best at the WWVrsac convention\u00a0for entrepreneurs and freelancers.<\/p>\n

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However, I also had my fair share of tough times, bad clients, bad results… The point is that you have to learn from those experiences and never make the same mistake twice.<\/p>\n

What did I learn? I learned that caring\u00a0about someone else’s business isn’t enough. When it comes to business development, you have to outline your weak spots, tend to them, fix them, and make sure that they happen as rarely as humanly possible.<\/p>\n

While I cannot teach you how to run a pawn shop (and I really don’t know what is going to come through that door), I can definitely teach you how to make money in the SEO industry by introducing you to some problems that came through my doors.<\/p>\n

(Mis)communication<\/h2>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Being honest with your clients is essential, but there is much more to communication than simple truthfulness. You need to be able to listen, ask the right questions and respond in exactly as much detail as needed. Most common communication-related SEO mistakes include:<\/p>\n

Not understanding the client\u2019s demands<\/strong> \u2013 Not everyone is interested in rankings or traffic. Take the time to learn exactly what it is that your client is after. Naturally, should you find a reason for them to change their focus, don\u2019t be too shy to mention it.<\/p>\n

Not using language they\u2019ll understand<\/strong> \u2013 People in our industry are often accused of using shady methods. While this is mostly the fault of blackhat and unethical \u2018experts\u2019, even the most reputable and by-the-book SEOs can unwittingly contribute to this reputation, simply by using jargon that seems deliberately obtuse to the client.<\/p>\n

While we are used to some terms<\/a>, they might sound like a devious sales pitch to someone not familiar with the subject. It might take a while before you know a client well enough to learn exactly how to talk to them, but in the meantime, make sure there are no ambiguities or omissions in your presentation.<\/p>\n

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Slacking off with reporting<\/strong> \u2013 Clients, especially ones with stronger proclivities towards micromanagement, need to know how their campaign is progressing. Transparent and regular reporting is not only appreciated by clients, it also prevents potential issues and makes it easier to justify the costs. So keep them updated regularly.<\/p>\n

Just like the El Diablo, you will have to learn that a lot of us wont care about your personal issues and capabilities, and the only thing that is expected from you is to contribute to your team. So scratch the drama and always deliver in a fashion that is expected.<\/p>\n

Goals & Metrics<\/h2>\n

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Promises<\/strong> \u2013 Sure, you need a good pitch to attract clients, but for your, their and God\u2019s sake, remember that attracting them is not the end of your journey together. The next step is invariably you delivering on your promises, so plan ahead for it.<\/p>\n

In other words, don\u2019t make us all look like scammers just because you are optimistic enough (to ignore other, seedier possibilities) to promise page one rankings in a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

Goals<\/strong> \u2013 Mistakes in initial setup can derail your entire campaign and make every success you achieve irrelevant. Focusing on the wrong keywords, mismatched targeting, developing an inappropriate brand voice, and generally, setting unrealistic or unimportant goals will have you going in the wrong direction right from the very start.<\/p>\n

Metrics<\/strong> \u2013 Directly related to the goals you set, breakthroughs one client would cherish might be inconsequential to another. For instance, if someone hires you to improve their sales, you can\u2019t only look at the traffic improvements you\u2019ve made, and pretend they\u2019re enough to ensure an increase in revenue.
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Tactics From an Age Gone by<\/h2>\n

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If you feel like you brought a knife to a gunfight, just browse through this short list of blackhat, manipulative, or outdated practices:<\/p>\n

Quantity over quality<\/strong> \u2013 While there used to be a time when any link would help your rankings, for a while now, they can do just as much damage. If you want to stick to the old analogy of links to your site actually being votes, just modify it with the understanding that Google has gotten pretty good at assessing the voters. Going \u2018round and getting links from spammy directories, bookmark sites, forum signatures, blog comments, and other cursed treasure troves is only liable to get you swept away by the dark undercurrents of the Everflux<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mastering of puppets<\/strong> \u2013 The sweet thrill of successfully manipulating search engines might seem enticing to some, but it usually ends in disillusionment, demoralization, and if you\u2019re really unlucky, de-indexation. While one may hope there will come a time when this doesn\u2019t need to be repeated any more, reemerging cases of these \u2018tactics\u2019 being employed force us to repeat: keyword stuffing, cloaking, buying links, scraping content and reusing it, submitting pieces to article directories, abusing networks, insisting on using the same anchors over and over, etc. will get you nothing but a penalty, dissatisfied clients and a bad reputation.<\/p>\n

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Dis-Content<\/strong> \u2013 Sure, it’s\u2019 common knowledge that content is king<\/a>, but so was Louis XVI<\/a>, and we all know how he was treated. Making sure that your content is engaging, attractive, accurate, informative and timely will open many doors for you, just keep that in mind when you start looking into how demanding it can be to create it.<\/p>\n

Getting in Your Own Way<\/h2>\n

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Setup<\/strong> \u2013 If you are setting up a website from scratch and have a choice of hosting provider, it is imperative to find a reliable one that offers packages which can be scaled to your needs as you grow. If you choose shared hosting, you should also make sure to check out your neighborhood, i.e. other sites on the server.<\/p>\n

Disregarding the basics<\/strong> \u2013 You can get into a lot of trouble by failing to optimize your URLs<\/a>, get a security encryption, ensure that your site is easily crawlable, your meta tags are in order, your site is mobile friendly and that it loads as fast as possible, so keep an eye out for these details.<\/p>\n

Keyword cannibalization<\/strong> \u2013 It might be true that sometimes we are our own greatest enemy, but keywords should be kept out of this conflict. In other words, make sure that you are not competing with yourself for keywords, also paying attention to ones which are the focus of your PPC campaign (if you have one).<\/p>\n

Wasted Potential<\/h2>\n

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Broken links<\/strong> \u2013 Meaning both links on your website (outgoing or internal) and those from other sites leading to yours. Fixing broken links on your website is very straightforward and should be performed regularly, if you want to stay presentable to both users and crawlers. On the other hand, while contacting people to fix the links leading to you is a bit more demanding, it can be a nice boost to your link portfolio.<\/p>\n

Social media<\/strong> \u2013 Not leveraging social networks is almost inexcusable, especially if your client already has decent engagement on a particular platform. Don\u2019t spread yourself too thin, focus on one or two communities that make the most sense, and try to build genuine relationships within them.
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Content<\/strong> \u2013 If your client has a blog on their\u00a0site, you should make sure that the content is optimized and then start promoting it. If they have an informative whitepaper, don\u2019t just let it sit there gathering e-dust. Their beautiful images could stand to be seen by more people, right? You get the idea: when you can, build on what you have, not around it.<\/p>\n

Local search<\/strong> \u2013 Naturally, this only applies to some businesses, but if your client has an address, they should also have a listing in Google Places. Optimizing for local search can bring your clients a significant edge over competitors, so make sure to at least consider it.<\/p>\n

Bottom Line<\/h2>\n

You can\u2019t hope to completely avoid making mistakes, but as long as you stay clear of the major stumbling blocks, recovery is usually possible. However, even though it won\u2019t bury you, ignoring some of the opportunities or risks involved with each individual project can lead to both you and your client missing out on revenue and exposure.<\/p>\n

There is one other common problem that could be lowering your earning potential, that hasn\u2019t been mentioned before, so I\u2019ll just add it here as something of a bonus.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m talking about wasting time on processes which can be automated, optimized, or skipped. If you find yourself doing the same thing over and over again, investing just a little time into finding a way to do it faster can have huge returns in the long run. How do you do this? You read about how other people are doing it, try different approaches, and when someone offers you a\u00a0free trial of a link prospecting tool that does the work for you, you don\u2019t hesitate to give it a go of course.<\/p>\n

So come and get it!<\/p>\n

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If there is money to be made, why am I not making it? As the CEO of a digital marketing agency, I have seen my fair share of all sorts of clients. While I am happy to say that we have usually managed to find a common language, sometimes it took quite a bit of… Read More »5 Painfull SEO Mistakes That Are Killing Your Business<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[32,33,34,35],"class_list":["post-946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-seo-agency","tag-seo-business","tag-seo-mistakes","tag-suicide-squad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/base.me\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/base.me\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/base.me\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/base.me\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/base.me\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/base.me\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/base.me\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/base.me\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/base.me\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/base.me\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}