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.

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