You will find a broad difference in SEO talent within the industry that I would mainly categorize as the following: perseverance, trustworthiness, leadership, innovation, forward thinking, and teamwork.
I stress these points because SEO ability isn’t defined by tips and tricks (the use of techniques and tactics) but by the ability to manage, adapt and multi-task varying processes e.g. the search engine, the user agent (browsers and bots), and the inter-connectiveness of the Internet itself.
Perseverance – Today’s “successful” SEOs cannot just cookie-cut the same thing for every client. Industries and markets are growing online and vastly different, so are websites (and deployed technologies) as well as individual client needs. Search engine archiving practices and changing algorithms all make it impossible to survive unless you can resolve each of these variables in favor of each client, each time it occurs. That’s easy right?
Trustworthiness – In today’s climate of scandal, deception, misleading information and hype it is often difficult for business people to trust unfamiliar opportunities. This is the nature of the SEO beast and the “lack of client education”. As such, the business to business relationships must come first – not the fees.
Innovation – Innovation is the conversion of knowledge, ideas and concepts to wisdom resulting in competitive advantage. Information technologies (which include SEO professionalism) are main drivers in economic growth. Not because of the “information” part but because of the rapid ability to convert wisdom. Innovation allows SEOs to empower a client to decision make faster, easier, and with greater accuracy.
Forward Thinking – The challenge in SEO is managing clients’ current needs while assisting in their appreciation of change management. Adapting to change on the Internet (with the flux of search engines, industry competitiveness, market habits, and even bad decision making) is compounded by the growing total connectiveness of this pervasive advertising/promotional medium. Your aim must be to integrate today’s strategy as efficiently as possible into tomorrow strategies while attempting to predict what that strategy might be before tomorrow becomes a reality. Not an easy challenge but a necessary one.
Teamwork-Oriented – Beyond the uniqueness of markets, industries, and websites your client’s team are seldom the same. It is in your best interest to collaborate with the client’s human resources; developers, graphics designers, illustrators, programmers, traditional marketers, and upper management directors as the more these staffers can do to help themselves – the more time you have to manage the big picture and lead the team.
Leadership – Beyond all else the SEO must drive web development processes for the client. Your unique knowledge and skills are under-productive unless you lead. You need not know everything to lead (e.g. the client should know their own markets), or need to have the final say — a leader in any project takes applied knowledge and skill and tempers it with solid ability to envision and plan, set goals, to motivate with resolve while accepting change, advice, and constructive feedback. You must always be accountable and ready to act decisively.
Why all this? It is the difference between being $100 SEO and a successful one. Anyone can develop links, anyone can write text, and anyone can manipulate HyperText code with but a few instructions. Few actually get paid what they are worth. Argumentatively, it’s more about marketing what matters most and what the average person understands – compared to what matter less (SEO-babble) because they (potential clients) don’t understand.
Deciding on who is your target client may seem simple enough – “someone looking for an SEO” but in reality most business people that have heard of SEO (or looking) have no lifelong learning skills to gauge benefits, deliverables or costs of these intangible services (SEO services) and tend to look for something understandable like “guarantees“.
You can however look at business people in a slightly different perspective to gain valuable insight into who could be your most profitable clients.
There tends to be three primary groups (labeled loosely):
a. Entrepreneur
b. Traditionalist
c. Risk Manager
Entrepreneur – Tends to be the do-it-yourselfer. They value their own skills development and have an abundance of time but limited revenue. The risk of qualified SEO services is too great.
Traditionalist – Print media advertiser all the way. The Internet is a fad or because they lack the skills to determine what makes for good online investment — shy away.
Risk Manager – These are forward thinkers. They appreciate that marketing expenses are risk expenditures. They usually have a successful business but with limited success online. They also believe they have a business to run and need someone they trust to develop their online success.
You are a bad investment to Entrepreneurs and Traditionalists which, even if you close the deal both relationships tend to be problematic from the start.
The psyche – entrepreneurs value their revenue most, traditionalist value what they currently know to be true (regardless of whether there are better ways or complementing ways) and the Risk Manager values qualified advice and will paid a premium to get sound advice (services).
Risk Managers are the clients of choice. This doesn’t necessarily mean “more revenue” as revenue is also dependent on your current knowledge/skill/wisdom level as well as the professional image you project. It is however the starting point to becoming successful in the realm of SEO.
Rodney is an independent contractor in eMarketing, search engine optimization and an accomplished strategic planner who brings 22 years of experience in information technology and data analysis interpretation. Rodney has 14 years experience in the fields of project management, electronics, adult facilitation, and marketing in the tourism and culture, forestry and agriculture and education sectors.
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