Important Search Engine Optimization Expectations
Back in September, Sage Lewis from SageRock.com gave 10 items every search engine optimization client must know prior to initiating an SEO campaign. In the spirit of his list, I’ve decided it’s due time for me to issue my own considerations on what are healthy expectations for web site owners prior to launching a search campaign.
1. Google is more powerful than the other engines. I’ve combed through massive amounts of search engine data in an effort to understand the simple concept of ROI for both pay-per-click and organic search campaigns. I’ve made one substantial conclusion: traffic that is directed to sites from Google is the most targeted of any other referral source on the web. People who use Google to navigate the web are generally more interested in buying things than MSN, Yahoo!, Ask, Mamma, AOL, and all the others.
2. Google is the hardest road to take. Being the best means that they filter out junk. And anyone can create junk. So to rank high in Google is to perservere past all the junk out there.
3. Mostly every website is junk. My guess is that the top 25 to top 100 of any given keyphrase is the only group that contains seriously worthy content. All the rest is junk. That said, considering that the average keyphrase that drives any purchasing power has results numbered in the tens of millions, the top 25 represents a very elite group indeed.
4. Your website will be junk unless it can perservere. Perserverance is key. Not content, like everyone says. I’ve brushed up with plenty a web site that had little content but was valuable because of perservering. Sometimes it takes time, usually 6 months to a year, and other times it takes just sheer muscle, like a hot news story that breaks about you and suddenly you’re the hottest ticket on the web. But every time, sites reign because they are built on solid, long-term principles and strategies. Most web sites are born and either sit around and do nothing or die within a matter of weeks. To outlast, you’ll likely have to focus on a time frame in the months and even years.
5. Marketing is everything, not content. I say this because of this series of logic: Google gives higher ranking to sites that demonstrate better relevance for a key term (in theory) than competing sites; relevance is derived from both the content of the site itself and the relevance attributed by other web sites through linking; therefore, the market, not Google, determines quality and relevance of content. With a strong, sound marketing strategy, the market will find you more relevant than other sites, simple as that. If you can’t beat a major company in the real world, it’s going to be tough to beat them on the net without the marketing muscle to pull it off. Usually this means offline implementation as well. If your strategy stinks offline, (unless you’re an amazing strategist online) then your strategy will stink online. Read more books about marketing than about SEO before you try to take on a whole campaign. Content must come after the marketing strategy is understood, not before, otherwise it will be incongruent with the market and won’t be considered relevant.
6. There are no shortcuts on the net. You can’t just pay someone to point and click, and voilá, you’re site is number 1. It takes perservering through a powerful marketing strategy to accomplish high rankings. You can pay someone to develop strategy, research, and targeted campaigns that will lead to high rankings. The internet in many ways is more volatile than any offline strategy. Online traffic fluctuates in ways that brick-and-mortar stores don’t generally experience. It can be a difficult place to navigate, let alone, to market or advertise to.
7. The laws of nature dictate that everything has a cost. Targeted site visitors are incredibly effective - but also expensive. Don’t assume that a small marketing budget will cover a web site. More and more fluctuations over the internet are forcing companies to spend large amounts of money in marketing to web users. Yes, getting visitors from a search engine is free, but improving your ranking requires tactics that will require time and/or money. Don’t assume that for pennies you can all of a sudden make a million dollars in sales. Maybe back in the early days of the internet, but not anymore.
8. You can’t buy links. Well, sure you can, but it’s becoming less and less effective in site rankings. What does work, however, is gaining quality links. My own research demonstrates that it is the quality of links, not quantity that will improve your site’s ranking. Consider a celebrity endorsement for a traditional product: it costs lots of money to get the endorsement, but is well worth it because the consumer finds them more trustworthy. If a highly popular web site endorses you, it will carry more weight for the consumer than just seeing lots of ads. Buying links will get you lots of “ad space,” if you will, but negotiating quality links is like getting prime public relations.
9. While the internet is fast and can implement changes quickly, Google is not instant. Don’t expect to see immediate results from a campaign. That’s quite the temptation because of the instantaneous nature of the internet, but Google keeps a close eye on its multi-billion-dollar-worth algorithm. They’re not about to make you number one very fast at all.
10. And, echoing the words of Sage Lewis, Google doesn’t owe you anything. They don’t need to be fair. A great analogy comes from the bonus material of the film “School of Rock.” The producers of the film wanted to use a Led Zeppelin song, but were wary of the band’s long-maintained reputation of not allowing their songs into movies. So, instead of going through all the typical methods of gaining artist permission, they filmed Jack Black, the principle character, with a large concert crowd of movie extras, begging Led Zeppelin to use the song. Consider yourself like Jack Black and Google like Led Zeppelin. That’s how it goes in the real world. Like Jack says, “Cause if there’s a thousand screaming people behind you, it drives the point home a little bit.” Google’s pushy and doesn’t care if you’re a major company or not. They sometimes even cannibalize their own rankings to preserve the integrity of the algorithm. It’s that integrity that is worth the billions to them, and they definitely care about that more than anyone else. So go about seeking ranking on Google as a privilege or reward, not a legal right.
With these expectations in mind, go out there and launch your campaign!
AJAX Frameworks Compared
The next generation of web projects will all use asynchronous data processing. AJAX is the new catch phrase among developers because it makes your website cooler. For example, check out any Google application and you’ll find loads of advanced AJAX going on. The benfits are astounding: users can get a more fluid user interface experience and web sites can more closely align their processes with the flow of typical non-web-based programs. The disparity between installed applications and what’s available via a web page is becoming less of an issue and the possibility of an all-online application experience is more realistic with AJAX.
But who wants to work from the ground up? I know I don’t! It’s miserable coding all the Javascript to make it work. In my experience, here are some AJAX frameworks that make coding rich web sites easier.
Prototype
Prototype is perhaps the best way to get your hands dirty with AJAX. It simplifies the coding experience to no end, but it favors developers more than amateurs. Still, if you are learning HTML and Javascript, this is great place to go long before you contemplate creating your own AJAX environment. Skill level required: Medium.
Backbase
Backbase is definitely the most robust AJAX framework I’ve seen. That being said, you have to be a developer to get full benefit out of this one. It’s not for the faint of heart and certainly necessitates a working knowledge of Javascript to get far with it. Yes, it does have its own syntax structure that simplifies it, but to get it working to your liking and all, you’ll want to first be fluent in web programming. Additionally, it’s proprietary and will cost you thousands of dollars for full implementation and support. Skill level required: High.
Adobe Spry
Adobe Spry is my new best friend and my favorite to recommend to you. It was designed to take away all the heavy coding and is perfect for anyone, be they amateur or expert. The main focus of Spry is to allow for some advanced AJAX functionality with hardly any Javascript and mostly HTML/CSS. So if you feel comfortable working in HTML/CSS, you’ll find Spry your best option for AJAX development. Also, it’s free :) Skill level required: Low.
Script.aculo.us
Script.aculo.us is a fabulous framework for AJAX effects. It’s built on the Prototype framework and is open sourced. If you’ve already played with Prototype and find it to your liking, then you’ll find this bundle a breeze. That said, you may want to check its features against Spry, given that both are open source projects. I have come away using both for different functions and believe there’s nothing you can’t do with both. Skill level required: Medium.
AJAX is a must!
Now, go to and build some sweet web 2.0 sites! AJAX is becoming more and more a standard for web development, and now is the time to get ahead of the curve. I hope this review points you in the right direction for useful AJAX development, and, if you come in contact with any better, drop me a line.
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