Over the Holidays I spent a lot of time reading fairytales
with my nieces and nephew. The Little Mermaid and Mulan are
the current favorites. It reminded me how nice it is to
have something you believe in so unconditionally. To my
nieces there is nothing more exciting than the magic of
those fairytales.
That's when I realized when you are 3 or 5, it's OK to
believe in fairytales. As you get older, it becomes more
important to face reality. Don't get me wrong, I still
believe in a little magic myself, but not when it comes to
my business. I still like the idea of Tinkerbell, but I
know she isn't going to sprinkle fairy dust on my website
and make all my traffic dreams come true. For that I need
to look to my SEO Director, so she can work her own special
kind of magic.
Just as my nieces fantasize that they are princesses, play
dress up and make believe that they are Ariel or Mulan,
many website owners are playing the same kind of make
believe (likely without the dress up though!).
It's a special kind of adult fairy tale -- the one where
you throw up a website and imagine all the traffic and
sales that will come in.
But when reality sets in, and you realize that the traffic
isn't coming, what do you do? From my experience, I can
tell you a lot of people still do nothing!
After much thought about this, I realized it comes down to
2 main factors -- themes that are present both in the
fairytales my nieces read & watch and in the adult business
world.
One is fear - and while it is easy to imagine quaking in
your boots at the sight of a fire breathing dragon, it's
harder to imagine an adult being afraid to hire a marketing
or SEO consultant. Yet it happens, every single day. People
are afraid they will be scammed, afraid they will spend
money and not make money. In some cases people are even
afraid they will succeed! It's more common that we realize,
we just don't think or talk about it.
The other factor that holds people back is inaccurate
perceptions. It's judging a book by its cover. Just as
there was more than what met the eye in Beauty and the
Beast - deep down the Beast was really a prince, there is
much more to search engine optimization than people realize.
SEO is considered risky, expensive, sometimes even sleazy
and ineffective, by some. As with most generalizations,
those are not accurate. True, there are sleazy ineffective
SEO companies out there. But there are also highly skilled,
very ethical and hardworking Firms that deliver actual
results.
Without facing your fear and finding out the truth, your
site isn't going to grow up and reach its goals -- your
goals!
Top rankings are not a myth, they really do exist -- not in
a land far, far away but right here and now -- for those
willing to take action and get their site optimized.
While I fully encourage getting lost in the magic of a
fairytale with the young ones in your life, in the business
world I encourage you to face reality and realize there is
no magic fairy dust for websites.
----------------------------------------------------
Jennifer Horowitz is the Director of Marketing and co-owner
of http://www.EcomBuffet.com
Since 1998, her expertise in
online marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has
helped clients increase revenue and achieve their business
goals. Jennifer has written a downloadable book on Search
Engine Optimization and has been published in many SEO and
marketing publications. Jennifer can be reached at
Jennifer@ecombuffet.com
No comments:
Post a Comment