Ask Mark Bove’ , “…It’s all about Getting The Word Out” !

 Advice for the employer…Advice for the frustrated employee

When you hire someone to work on your search engine optimization (SEO) you expect that professional to be, well, professional. The problem is that many a pro SEOer only takes a handful of classes and or courses on SEO and then goes to work for non SEO corporation. This is not to say that they will not be good at what they do, they just won’t be great…even if they have had past success.

The fact that a pro SEOer only takes a couple of course before they go off into the wild world of SEO is not by choice, but rather by design. That’s because there are only a limited number of resources available for those interested in SEO to take advantage of and the rest of the learning curve has to come by way of their own steam. Much of SEO is a ‘learn as you go’ process and while that may be alright for some professions it can be very harmful for the SEO profession (For example, the taking over a PPC campaign). An SEO pro who only conducts SEO thoughts and techniques between a certain number of hours per day will not only lack in the results department, but in the passion department as well.

A true SEO pro will be one that is infected with the SEO fever and will know that the only cure for their disease is MORE SEO. Along with anything else they do at their normal job for SEO you will find them at home working on their own side work. Blogs, websites, affiliate programs, social media, you name it. If there is an opportunity to conduct SEO then that is where a real SEO pro should also be. MOONLIGHTING…SEO by day and SEO by night (after the family goes to bed.)

SEO takes years of practice and honestly it is an art that can never be perfected. SEO/SEM, and organic traffic for that matter takes time…not days or weeks…There will always be new and advanced SEO techniques that come out and this will in turn always give the true SEO pro something new to learn. Many of the new advances will come as a direct result of an SEO pro’s experimentation. However, experimentation can go wrong and as Judith Lewis of deCabbit says, ‘Better that they try and fail on a test site than a live site.  Better to get a blog banned than a multi-million pound (or dollar) e-commerce site.’ If your SEO pro is only working on SEO for a normal job then they have no time to experiment and learn the true art of SEO except for work time. The last thing you will want is to have your SEO pro ‘try something new’ on your website and have repercussions brought to your site because the experiment goes haywire.

So how pro is your SEO? If you are not sure you should ask. Your SEO pro should be the one who leaves the office only to go home to work on multiple projects of their own. Your SEO pro should be the one who gets very little sleep and when they do all they dream about is new and innovative ways to conduct SEO. Your SEO pro should have an absolute true passion for the SEO biz.

It’s your website and it’s your business and because of that you need to ensure that your SEO pro is in fact a pro and not just an SEO part timer who walks away at the end of the day only to return to job they really don’t like the next day. While finding the right SEO pro for your website may take a bit of time, in the end it is worth its weight in gold. When you find an SEO pro who lives, breaths, and eats SEO then your website will begin to flourish as a result. Once that happens there is only one thing after that which will ultimately occur; your bank account will begin to get bigger and bigger.

Pareto’s Law - The Definitive Guide to Bigger, Easier ProfitsAfter you’ve heard the adage “work smarter, not harder” for the gazillionth time, you probably want to gag. Reading Timothy Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek, you’ll find it again; this time, swallow the gag reflex and pay attention.

It comes in the form of Pareto’s Law, the 80/20 principle (another teaching point that’s been around the block more times than a new driver in a Mini Cooper). Never mind. You really do need to learn this principle - and put it to use - if you want to boost the bottom line and still have time for a life.

Even just the title of Ferriss’ book should be enough to nudge your imagination. What would you do with a workweek that only lasted four hours or less? If it’s really a possibility - and it is - it’s worth taking another look at something that actually works, and not just looking, but putting it to use.

Here’s how it works: Pareto says you get 80% of your results (good or bad) from 20% of your input (what you do). In business, it can look like this: 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers. That means that you’ve got a dead weight factor of 80% among your client base. They’re requiring an inordinate amount of work, and are only producing a small portion of your revenue. Translation: not good.

How do you put this principle to use to boost your profits?

1. Track everything.
First, you’ve got to be able to know which clients are the most profitable. If you’re not keeping track of this info, start. If you’re in an MLM selling health and beauty products, you need to know which clients buy the whole anti-aging line - on the autoship plan, and which buy the occasional mascara, if you call them… after seven attempts to reach them. It works the same way for every business - product- or service-driven, from haircuts to custom-built private jets. That same 20% of your customers are easy. They know what they want. They buy it from you. They’re happy. You’d better know exactly who they are.

2. Know that 20% like you know your own dog.
You want to be able to pick these customers out of a lineup because you know them so well. What makes them such great customers? What trends do you see? How do they like to be contacted? What are you providing that compels them come back for more? How did you find them? Where can you go looking to find more just like them? By taking the time to get to know them, you can learn a lot - it’s time well spent. Essentially, by learning all about these customers, you form a blueprint for your ideal customer. With this blueprint in hand, you take the first step in designing your customer base.

3. Be picky.
When you’re new in business, you’re so grateful to have anyone come through the door that you’ll put up with a lot just in hopes of making a sale. It’s not a good precedent to set for your business, but it happens. The trick is moving away from that as quickly as possible. Given the choice, why would you gather unpleasant, high-maintenance, penny-pinching customers who tax even your best customer service person’s patience? Instead, you could assemble a group of loyal, quality-driven, appreciative clients who value what you provide and make doing business a pleasure. It’s a matter of choosing quality over quantity, at first.

4. Get into cloning.
Well, not really. But you do want to redirect your efforts from how you used to do marketing and sales - anyone with a pulse - to attracting more who fit the blueprint of your ideal customers, and by spending more time and energy on the customers you’ve got who are already ideal. You can find more of these precious gems by asking for referrals, by going where they go and doing what they do, and by doing everything you can to provide exquisite service to them.

5. Systematize it.
You’re probably not in the position to just go willy-nilly firing clients who don’t meet your dream come true blueprint. But you can definitely make sure that your new clients are the ones you choose. Set up a ranking system so you’re able to keep track of your clients and their profiles. Customize your service so you spend the bulk of your resources on the most productive clients - while still providing excellence to your B-list clients.

It’s always possible that today’s 80%-er may become tomorrow’s best client - or they may introduce you to that dream client. Regardless, your goal is to provide excellence to all clients, while actively pursuing the ones that’ll make your life easy and your business boom.

An internet business isn’t something you want to jump into without any training - but with a bare minimum of tech skills, anyone with a computer, internet access, and a hobby or interest can build a business.

Additional Resources on this topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle