I entered the internet marketing industry around 2003. It all started for me with an affiliate program and a pay per click campaign. Back in 2003 there were not many savvy Australian internet marketers so I had very little competition for my campaign for quite some time.
I watched as more and more people entered the market though, forcing click bids up. I watched while Google changed their rules, time and time again making it harder for affiliates to make money with pay per click. I watched and worked up to the point where the time involved in managing pay per click campaigns as an affiliate, was no longer worth the commissions the campaigns earned.
So I changed my approach. I started to build websites and learn about search engine optimisation. I still used PPC marketing, but to drive traffic to my own websites while they optimised in the organic search terms. The result for me was half a dozen highly optimised and profitable website businesses. Of these, only one has its own product. The others either promote affiliate programs or sell advertising space.
As my skill grew, so did my reputation. The result of this was a continual stream of business owners who, having heard of my expertise, wanted to hire me to sort out their web presence. These business owners all had two things in common. They all saw the potential the internet had for their business and they all had been taken advantage of by unscrupulous internet operators who took their money yet added no value. So I took them on and applied the same strategies to their websites that I applied to my own. Much to their delight, their websites now create business for them.
There is a real issue with the internet industry, it is packed with these bogus operators. There are graphic designers who put together internet masterpieces, charge a fortune for the website, yet no-one can find it. There are marketing professional who apply all their skills, yet they know nothing about the internet so their message doesn’t find an ear to fall on. Our industry is unregulated and we are largely self trained. Unfortunately this has left the industry open to the unscrupulous and ignorant. Our clients have been damaged and the industry suffers also.
Every week I see these operators at work. They operate on the assumption that they know more about the internet than their clients and therefore can create sales through misdirection. They promise the world, deliver very little and once paid move onto the next unsuspecting victim.
For example, my tourism business hires out surfboards on Australia’s Gold Coast. Do a Google search on “Gold Coast Surfboard Hire” or even just “surfboard hire” for that matter. I’m sure you’ll find me, mine is Gold Coast Surfboards. Clearly for the product I am selling, I am very well optimised in the search engines.
Despite the fact that this business is optimised in the search engines for the phrases that are relative to the product, I still get SEO “professionals” contacting me trying to sell their wares. I get contacted every week. Its crazy.
I’ve worked out exactly what they do. They find my website and recognise it as a small business. They’ll do a few Google searches and see that I really am well optimised, so then they set about finding some search phrases that I am not optimised for. In their belief they know more than me, they then try to scare me into buying their optimisation services for the less relevant search phrases. Phrases such as “surf accessories” and “holiday rentals”.
Using my two examples above, if I had have used these “gurus”, my website would be optimised for 1 specific search phrase which is unrelated to my core business “Surf Board Accessories” and 1 broad phrase that will attract lots of people, most of which are looking to rent a car or a hotel room. Thes people probably aren’t even going to the Gold Coast. I’m sure the gurus would have taken my money regardless.
Here’s some advice if you are in a business which has internet professionals hard selling their services to you. Think about the phrases your clients use when they search for your services. Ask them what they’d type into Google. Have an understanding of this and then reject outright the approaches from operators who tell you they will optimise your website on Google for different search phrases. These people are selling you services that will not add value to your business, services which may damage the good work you have already done on your website.
If you are thinking about doing some work to your website but do not know where to start, ask around. The really good operators work on reputation and do little self promotion. When you do this though, be clear that you are looking for an internet marketer, not a designer or developer. Its one thing to make a masterpiece for the internet like many graphic designers do, but a whole new kettle of fish putting it where all your clients can find it.
If you are an internet professional reading this article, its time for all of us to smarten up. We need to look after the industry and we can only do this by being ethical in the manner in which we operate. So please, stop going out trying to extract a pound of flesh, go out to add value to your clients. Once you are adding value, the new clients will come, following your reputation. Continue operating as you are though and soon no-one will talk to internet professionals anywhere.
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