Lessons From An SEO Diva
Not feeling so Diva-ish today. More in my thoughtful and geek mindset today. Not sure I’ve ever encountered a geeky Diva before – but it works for me! 
So, onto what I am so pensive about today…
A lot of people ask us how hard it is to handle their own SEO and what they would actually spend their time on.
I’ve written a lot over the years about doing your own SEO and I have some pretty strong feelings about it.
SEO is not rocket science – you don’t need any kind of advanced degrees.
You need some knowledge about the code on your site – meaning if your site is HTML you need to be able to work with HTML code. If your site is ASP you need to be able to work with ASP etc. HTML knowledge is a must and anything beyond that just depends on your particular site.
So to me that’s the deal breaker – can’t do HTML, can’t do SEO. (yes there are WYSIWYG editors and other tools out there, but none of them work as well as just getting into the code and doing what needs to be done and many of those programs create more problems than solutions).
Once you’ve established you can work with HTML, you need to get up to speed on what optimization is, how to do it and you need to find a source to stay current on changes in the industry. You need to learn to troubleshoot and test things, you definitely need to learn to read web stats and you need to be able to write copy that is both compelling and uses your keywords well.
So you need patience, focus and attention to detail. You need time. You need just a little magical fairy dust and you definitely need a cocktail at the end of the day!
My questions back to anyone that asks me if they should handle their own SEO are:
Do you have the time? Will you follow through?
In my experience most people that want to handle their own SEO are looking to save money and would rather put in the time, but the question is do they ever get around to making the time and actually getting it done?
A large number of people I talk to end up coming back weeks or months or even years later and report they have made no progress and should have just hired me right away.
So the best advice I can give you is to be honest and do an assessment of your situation…
Do you have a bunch of hours right now to devote to getting up to speed and getting the site optimized?
Do you have 30 – 60 minutes per day after that to stay current, monitor and tweak?
If the answer is no, you are just fooling yourself by saying you are doing SEO and you either do need to hire someone, or you need to accept that your site just isn’t going to be optimized right now.
If the answer is yes – that is great. Get started right now – before you get distracted by something else.
Want to understand the basics of what is involved in SEO? Check out my free download: Optimization Step By Step.
Now, about those cocktails you’ll need to drink at the end of the day…
buy Caved In The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made dvd
Popularity: 5% [?]
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
The SEO Drama Queen has some other issues regarding DIY SEO as well. Jenn. as usual, has excellent points.
Do You have The Time! SEO is not static, it changes, and not every once in a while, but all the time. So….besides having the time to work on your web site or blog or social networking pages, do you have the time to STAY CURRENT on the latest changes, ideas, processes discussed, new developments etc. For me..it takes about 1.5 hours every morning to read the latest news and articles from SEO professionals and newsletters. seo journals etc every day.
SEO SHORTCUTS…NOT! We receive emails and calls from clients who received a ‘questionable’ email from a so called SEO, or about a new automated ‘SEO product’ that guarantees top rankings in a day. SEO is not automated. SEO automated software…to this drama queen, is a waste of your money and time and will in many cases just hurt your web site or blog even more. There is no fast way of getting top organic rankings. there is no short cut to proper SEO work. You cannot press a button and say….look, I’m number 1. We have seen to many people who believe such things and 6 months later when they are still no place on organic searches they call and are ready to do it the right way.
SEO READY MADE WEB SITES TEMPLATES FOR TOP PLACEMENTS…NOT Sometime a person may think…I don’t want to pay a web designer or and SEO, so maybe I’ll buy one of these already made web sites or web sites store that promise me top rankings and then I will make a ton of money. Guess what…doesn’t happen. The site will get indexed, but in reality…top ranking, not so easy at all. And let’s not get into how SEO not ready those sites are… OY VEY!
So to me, there is no short cuts to SEO. It is very time consuming and it is a full time job. There are no short cuts, no magic pill to get really fast organic top rankings. An automated software is not going to help you, nor is it going to tell you all that is needed and may even provide you with very wrong information. But…its your dime. And if you spend it doing the NOT good SEO, then you can come back to this here SEO Drama Queen and spend the quarter to get it done right.
That’s it for the SEO Drama Queen feedback. Now…I do have SEO work to do…as it is my full time job
Bonnie Burns
SEO Director – Ecombuffet