From playing a guitar to painting the Mona Lisa to knowing how to get one website
to place above all it’s competitors in a search engine, there are those who do
these things so well that what they do could be considered an art. Results are
produced that are beyond the norm in their particular fields and that gives
them the reputation of an artist and it is well deserved.
These people become artists in their
chosen field by applying the natural talent they have plus a lot of focus,
dedication and hard work. When you want to hire these people to bring that
ability to bear for your benefit, THAT is what you are paying for. Their talent,
dedication to their craft and their experience all being applied to your business.
A great example of that talent and
dedication making someone an artist is an interview with Michael Gray of http://www.wolf-howl.com/ (a blog well
worth your time by the way). You can find the interview at http://www.linkjuicy.com/blog/michael-gray-interview-advanced-link-strategies/
and you will quickly get a feel for the difference from someone who can talk
about links and someone who takes it to a level that can only be seen as an
art.
By the way, http://www.linkjuicy.com is another great
seo blog that is published by a man who is fast becoming an artist in his own
right in the field of SEO interviews, Peter DaVanzo. Do yourself a favor if you
have any interest in SEO or online marketing and make these blogs a part of
your learning routine.
The science of SEO is more about proven
techniques applied in a systematic way that can be assigned to software or staff
and then monitored and managed. These techniques are meant to do the most good
for the most sites with the least expense. The science is more about mass production
where the art is more about custom solutions to specific sites.
Of course there are more ways to
describe the art of SEO compared to the science but I’m referring to both
strictly from a business online promotion perspective that should serve both
the SEO selling services and the client trying to decide what he needs for the
money he can afford to spend.
Hiring an artist to provide SEO
services can be expensive. I refuse to insinuate that the fees may be over-priced
because it is difficult to put an across-the-board value on the artistic
ability of those who truly possess that mixture of talent and in the trenches
experience. When someone can truly practice their craft with stellar results
for your specific business that is worth a lot. What would you pay if someone
could actually double or triple your profits within 90 to 180 days? Well, that
figure you just thought of is very likely a bargain.
Of course the artistic approach isn’t
for everyone from either side. For my own experience, when I have taken on jobs
where the client was paying for my undivided focus and expecting me to use all
resources at my disposal to get the results they were wanting, I have to not
only charge for my time but for the time of my staff as well as all the
resources needed to support the entire operation.
I don’t really like the artistic
approach to SEO for several reasons but the main negatives for me are having to
charge enough to cover the expense of not only me devoting so much of my time
to one client or one project putting my services beyond the reach of most small
to medium size online businesses, but also because of the demands that exclusivity
puts on me. I have always had a problem with authority figures and I simply don’t
like anyone, (even clients), telling me what to do. Also when it comes to SEO
and business, it is never enough. Every business always needs more traffic, more
sales and more profits. Oh yeah and yesterdays success means very little today.
It’s a lot of pressure and frankly I‘ve worked myself into a position where I just
don’t have to do much I don’t want to do.
I much prefer the science as a
process. To me the very definition of business is to find a demand for a value
driven product or service that you can provide at a profit. Develop a set of
procedures that can be managed to provide that product and service and then do
it faster, cheaper and more efficiently. Once you have the process hitting the
objective, just keep doing it. As long as it works for more people than it
doesn’t, you have a solid business model.
The process allows you to offer a
service that provides value to a much broader market at a greatly reduced cost
expanding the market.
I still take on projects where the
client is expecting, (and paying for), my artistic approach for the sole
benefit of the client, but I am much happier training my staff to develop specific
processes that produce value for the most clients at a very attractive rate.
Over the next few days I will be
discussing the exact processes I have developed enabling my company to offer
SEO services at a price that almost any business of any size can afford and
expect to see positive results with. This will also give insight into how you
too can set up the techniques that you know work way more often than they don’t
into processes that can be easily duplicated and monitored reducing the cost of
trying to perform those tasks on a site by site basis.
In other words, I’ll try to help you
decide when you need the exclusive focus of an artist and what you could expect to pay for such
attention and the results that could bring, as opposed to developing a process
for performing the tasks that bring small results time and time again. Do you want
a lot once for a high price or a little a lot of times for a low cost?
Once I explain a few of the
processes I have developed, (born out of the artistic approach turning it into
a science), you’ll also understand why I made the move to India. What is significant
about my decision to go to India to set up my company is in the way it deals
with training staff and managing expenses to keep cost down. The online
promotion industry is very competitive and finding the right price points can
make all the difference in the world.
Y’all say hey to your mom’n’em for
me
Peace Y’all