Not Enough Competition
One of the the things every SEO service provider must confront is the unique quality of each job. I am amazed at what I have to do to move some websites up the Google ladder. For example I have one client who is a pioneer. She has little or no competition. I should be jumping for joy right? Well, sort of. You see there is a problem with “making your own game” as Chris Brogan calls it. If what you are doing is truly new, then people are probably not searching for it. Fortunately this can be a good thing too because traditional media loves new and unique stuff. We have been having no problem getting her interviewed on local TV stations and in local newspapers. But what about her website? The answer is not simple; it’s a matter of leveraging local coverage by putting video and quotations in the content of the site and blog and then using social media tools like Twitter and facebook. YouTube is also an obvious answer and we have lots of plans to exploit the viral power of our videos. But you learn very quickly to either wear many hats or do a lot of outsourcing. It’s exciting but different than my usual problem which is too much competition.
Too Much Competition
Too much competition is the usual issue but here each website is also unique. For example, what if you discover your client has a couple of thousand backlinks, but terrible onsite SEO. Do you spend your time leveraging all those backlinks or take the time to correct page titles, descriptions and headers. It is really an art and the art comes from balancing the clients expectations with the available budget and an experienced assessment of what will bring in the most bang for the buck. Trouble is, making big changes frequently takes time and you better make the right choice because the clock is ticking and you and your client want results. I personally have worked miracles, in a few days, for some clients at the local level. And I would encourage developing the local market if it makes any sense at all. But ranking for some keywords requires wizardry and time, so you need to have a very sophisticated understanding of the competition.
I’ll be talking more about my bag of tricks in future posts, but one important trick is to realize there are few off the shelf solutions that make a difference. So get creative and start making up your own game. It takes real art to make SEO equal ROI. What do you think? I would love to hear your take on this issue. Do you have any trailblazers that have too little competition and no search volume?
