I came across a great post in a Forum which i would like to share with all the members over here.
"I know big names in the industry might be following all this, but for those who inspire to raise their level beyond those conventional links building and typical on-page tweaks here is something you must put your effort on.
I was actually taking some interviews and had some interaction with the so called SEO'ers in India and other countries where outsourcing is quiet common, which particularly includes china and phillipines. based on the research I made, i thought i should actually throw up some lines which might wake up some real passionate and wud be SEO'ers to think out of the box.
Whats currently happening in this arena is, many of the peeps are actually taking up clients for SEO tasks just by defining a few
compulsory tasks in their lists like:
1. On page:
a. Meta tags
b. Sitemaps
c. Keywords optimization and density
d. Titles
e. broken links, w3 validation
f. partial competition analysis (highlighting points what your competitors has done)
g. internal linking structure check
h. and a very insane line, robots.txt file and meta description optimization (I have actually seen these lines in quite a many
proposals i got)
And a typical off-page plan would consist the following:
a. keyword research
b. competition analysis
c. natural anchors, keyword rich anchors etc.
d. Submissions to directories (when will this line go out of proposals?)
e. articles submission
f. links exchange 3-way recips and all those orthodox tricks to get one ways
g. social bookmarks
I know there would be many more points to include but those are the ones which i mostly got when i asked for a proposal, along with the assurance that they are gonna get my site on top within 4-8 months.
OK so, that was a typical Indian SEO firms scenario which any one can get through interaction. From here starts my post which should actually give you an Idea why it would not be a long term effort.
1. All the tasks defined above are basics. anyone reading any SEO Forum can actually gather those points and execute himself in a single day, yes a single day (except links building)
I am not saying that these tasks are not important, ofcourse these are the building blocks from where the SEO evolved. However
the point here is, The time has come for us to grow up beyond those points.
My opinion is Clients should not be charged heavily for those basic points. and then recurring monthly costs varying from $100 to $1500 for all those tasks and links building.
Since everyone is aware of those basics, he can claim himself as a SEO and can take up business. But are the clients really happy with what they get? they might be, but thats short term happiness in todays world.
Years back, a site that was SEO'ed could still be visible due to its trust factor, domain age, Links and all other SEO efforts, but you cannot expect a new site to get results that way now a days.
Everyone can do those conventional SEO things and achieve something that is short termed and can charge the client on the basis of monthly maintaince costs, but can they really maintain when your competitors are actually up to something else that you might now even think off?
hmmm so coming back to the point,
what can you do to be effective in this industry??.. The answer is Do something that no body else in this industry is doing at present.
Its tough, it requires lots of brainstorming sessions, however those ideas are worth the money you get after thier executions.
Whilst you can perform SEO on a website, and may be it comes up on top, what if there is no sale? I have seen many such sites which are on top, yet complain they are not getting any sales, and i have many enquiries asking about how to be a brand name in my industry.
The best i can think of at this stage is
Viral Marketing campaigns. Think out of the box, and create a buzz about your site. it requires a lot of effort to make people talk about you, ofcourse in a +ve language.
So what all can you do to for a viral marketing campaign?
I have researched and tried to compile certain important points which are easy to execute, and you can actually generate further Ideas from those points. take a look:
1. To start with, Lets say you are about to launch a website, the first thin I could actually think off towards its promotion would be to release a "Press Release". But, everyone does a press release, so whats new with it?
Yes, everyone does it, but you can do it in a different way, lets say you have a travel site, do a press note and keep the suspense.
Suspense is the key to make people talk about you. Have a nice tagline or punchline.
For example: "It will make you travel".. Coming Soon.. Do not disclose much in the first release.
It will make people in your industry as well others to think n talk about what it actually could be?
They will probably blog about it, or they will actually talk to each other, or may be share the same on chat or social networking sites..
Wasn't that the same what you wanted to do? Since you got an access to the peoples world the first step would actually generate a small wave..
After a week or so release another press release about the unvieling of the suspense.
2. Forums and communities - You can register on relevant forums and start a discussion on your product without disclosing that you are the one who owns it
Let people speak about it. Dont let the threads die, respond back equally, in a confident way, remember there will always be a room for criticism, you dont have to leave out, keep on going unless there is a kind of conclusion..
IMHO discussions can go a long way..you purpose is solved though when people will talk about it.
3. Article submissions: Great way for viral marketing, but again everyone does it, so what different you can do?
You can actually use a pinching headlines in your articles, For example: "Yoursite.com beating travel.yahoo.com with its features.." people actually do read n publish such articles when they see there is actually something in the market that is competitng with a big brand.
It will yet again make people talk about you, Share your articles with thier friends. Second wave of buzz
4. Social Bookmarks: Remember,
Never do social bookmarks for the sake of getting a backlink. The sole purpose of social bookmarking now a days is to show your creativity, I am not going deeper into what story you should have, But i will only say,
what headline would you have..
"
Britney Spears Caught Nude - Pictures" sooooo... wanna click in? course you do want to
even if there is nothing of that sort inside..however i would not recommend to have crap story, make the visitor stay, if he diggs..,once it comes up you are ready for a swarm of traffic.
5. E-mail marketing: The only word of caution, Do not let your mail be termed as SPAM, coz it happens, your camapign would be a faiulre in terms of e-marketing.
Write personal e-mails only. Show the recipent that you actually know his name, his profession and interests. politely request or invite them for anything you want to do with these e-mails.
6. Give them(visitors) something, thats the basic of viral marketing and everyone does it, how can you be different? Giving out a discount coupoun, perfumes, small tid bids would not be a great idea. Infact plan it something like: Join our website, every 50th registrant is going to get a canon digital cam with so n so features worth $300, on the other hand if your budget isnt bold, Your Logo -Brand printed T-Shirts, and USB Drives are a good idea as well. I am sure you can derive a lot of ideas from this point.