Search Engine Optimization or SEO

If you haven't picked it up from visiting this site yet, the owner of Mountain Webs and his associates have tried just about every ethical means Search Engine Optimization (SEO) imaginable since coming online in the nineties.

Many web developers are happy to take their clients money and create nice websites which function perfectly. After all, the new client has no idea that the creation of a web site is only the first step and in many cases the easiest step in gaining a presence online.

It normally will take six months to a year before the new web owner realizes that traffic equals success whether selling your favorite widget, publishing articles or for any other purpose. You have to get targeted traffic if you expect to succeed.

When the new site owner returns to the web designer for help, he either tells them that he doesn't specialize in SEO or gladly offers to work for them at a special rate. SEO normally will require a relatively large upfront payment and then depending upon the type of SEO performed, it might require a monthly fee.

From my experience this is where the new site owner feels trapped. No one every explained this type of ongoing cost just to make use of their new web. The next problem is when searching out SEO companies you will find the largest firms are very expensive and although there are thousands claiming to be specialists in SEO, how can you find one to trust?

Unlike web design, the work of SEO isn't obvious for all to see and most will not divulge all their secrets even after you are under contract.

If any of this sounds familiar it should since it happens to just about all of us. It happened to me back in 1997 when I was creating my first commercial e-commerce site. Since I had no budget I decided I would simply take some courses and learn the trade.

Surprise: there are no "real" courses for SEO.  Although some schools have started discussing the subject, the fact of the matter is that the search engines, and especially Google, regularly change algorithms meaning what worked last year might be worthless this year.

There are some individuals who will teach SEO as private consultants on the web.  This can be very expensive and time consuming.  Especially when you learn the price of all the professional software needed to be successful.

So after many requests and questions from visitors over the years, I've created a short lists of warning signs to help those interested in SEO.

WARNING:

• No company or individual can guarantee first page placement in Google for your specific key words.
• Submitting your web site to hundreds or thousands of web directories is a waste of money and time.
• Joining article writing schemes is a waste of money since they simply resell stale articles over and over.
• Joining "LINK" farms or "LINKING Schemes" will get your site expelled by Google.
• Paying for Banner advertising is a waste of money
• Paying for advertising on high ranking sites in Google can hurt you
• Paying for Google Adwords can break the bank

 Answer: Learn to "DO-it-Yourself"

There are many blogs where one can get the general idea of what is currently working relating to SEO.  I've added a basic guide to the home business guide presented on this site. 

At this point, many will be asking why isn't this guy selling his services like all the rest?  I'll provide a short explanation. 

Recently I researched a friend's website for positioning and key word use in a very small niche subject.  I have several professional tools and programs yet it still took me almost a full day to do a proper job.  Now if I work to optimize this site myself, it would require additional researching, domain hosting, article writing, manually submitting the site to key directories, publishing articles in key article directories and related blogs, obtaining back links to the site, etc.  In addition, SEO requires regular work on your targeted websites and continued publishing.  Hopefully you can see why even honest SEO specialists will charge a considerable fee for services.

I've only mentioned the obvious things necessary since I've learned many tricks and secrets that work well over the past years.  But I won't share all the details with a client and certainly will not publish them on the web.

So the key to successfully promoting your website is hiring someone you trust and is qualified or learning to do your own work.  If you would like information on my services and fees, just click on the contact information page.  But if you would like to learn how you can work at SEO yourself, the first subject to consider is Article Marketing.

IMPORTANT NOTE: At this point you might wonder why I encourage ALL small service businesses to have their own website if its so difficult to get traffic?  The answer to that lies in the business plans I provide.  You will have specific needs for your business site and there are certain ways I'll teach you to use that site to your benefit.  It has nothing to do with SEO.