I am very angry and concerned that people have been telling you lies!
Don’t get me wrong, I am not angry at all.

Actually, I am not upset or even mildly annoyed and I doubt that people are telling you any lies.

(At least I hope not.)

For this article, I wanted you to notice the impact the first sentence had on you. It’s a typical manipulative tactic that you’ll see used in some e-mail communications. When you write natural emotional content it can be used to set a mood or a tone. Things that have a “marketing spin” usually appeal to the emotions, but then there are always some folks trying to exploit that element of human nature to try and control you. After a while you nearly get tired of these kind of tactics in communications. I’ll do another article on this someday to help you become more aware of these types of tactics so you can spot them instantly. Some are pretty subtle.

But for today, I wanted to review 7 long held SEO misconceptions and discuss the truths.

In order to separate the SEO truths from traditional misconceptions or errors, you always must first examine the truth.

For example, if an expert is trying to determine a counterfeit $100 dollar bill from a real $100 bill, he only gains insight by examining the real bill first. You could examine many different counterfeit bills for a long time and never gain any ground at all. But once you know and understand the real government issued bill, then you can spot the false things much more quickly.

A Word about Hats: White, Grey or Black

First let me say that most SEOs are not all bad people. They are not all schemers who are just out to get your money. Like anything else, there are people who are good and bad in every area of life. When it comes to practicing SEO skills, there are many people doing many different things, but it all comes down to the intent of the individual person.

People pegged for being “black hats” usually think quite a little bit differently than the SEO professional. The Black hat is more prepared to lose the domain and knows that they are always on the run and they often view the search engines as the enemy. Search engines MUST be “outsmarted” or so they are convinced. Some tend to enter more like a game with throwaway domain names that they’ll purchase in quantity knowing that they’ll have to do the same types of things over and over again each time they get penalized.

White hat SEO professionals are more focused on creating high quality, useful content that serves a purpose and satisfies the reason why the user searched. They are not on the run, because they have nothing to fear being caught at. They tend to do the job once for long term stable rankings that can last for years.

Black hat technique tends to relate to “tricks” and little “short cuts” to try and fool the search engine.

Okay so this fits in part, with the first misconception or idea that was first pitched years ago. However, this first misconception is a major misconception. Here it is…

Misconception 1. You are at war with the search engines to gain top rankings. Therefore you must learn to do sneaky tricks to outsmart their algorithm. Therefore you must learn ways to beat the search engine to gain top visibility in search results. Have you heard this story before?

While this whole concept (probably dreamt up by a marketer years ago sometime) it cleverly appeals to a human beings somewhat carnal side of being “sneaky” or being able to beat the search engines at their own game by using “secrets” and “tricks.” Even though the pitch may appeal to some people, the only trouble is that the concept is 100% FALSE from beginning to end. Some of you may be disappointed to hear this because for years, you thought you were at war with the search engines. Think a little bit more and let’s separate marketing pitches from the real truth.

Truth 1: The truth is that you have never been at “war with the search engines.” You are not required to “outsmart” or fool” the search engines at all to gain top visibility for your Web pages.

Listen up now. The only one you are truly competing with for visibility is your competitors, NOT the search engines. The whole idea that you must “beat” the search engines or “outsmart” the search engines is a completely false concept.

You never need to compete with any search engine. You never need to trick it or even try to “fool it” in order to get excellent visibility. A search engine does not really care whether you rank number 1 or not. They are fine with it, so long as you are offering relevant content that is useful and satisfies the reason why the user searched. Obviously any search engine does not want junk showing up in the results.

The only competition you have now or you have ever had, or will ever have in the future is with other competitors pages, not the search engines.

Being “sneaky” may appeal to some emotionally in a marketing pitch. It may make you even feel like the service or the course or publication will ultimately “make you smarter” somehow. But people need to learn to distinguish truth from error and you’ll be blowing far less money on e-books, tool sets and memberships that appeal to the emotion but are founded on untruths.

Many marketers come across with this anger or emotion in their messages using words that are planted to trigger your emotions.

You can be sneaky…

I am angry because…

I am so embarrassed by what happened…

You are going to learn a secret…

I am going to show you something exciting!

etc…

Don’t let your emotions be exploited.

Learn to recognize a marketing mailer that is attempting to exploit your emotions. Recognize these types of messages. Separate them out from communications that offer advice based on truths. I’ll do an article on this in the future.

Misconception 2: You must submit your Web site to the Search Engines, therefore you need to buy our services and we will submit your site to 30,000 search engines for only $29.95 per month. The misconception here is that a submission to a search engine is beneficial.

Truth 2: You are far better employing strategies that allow search engine robots to find your pages on their own (without submitting.) Any company that bases their whole concept of traffic or SEO on submitting does not understand how search engines work themselves. If you are using this type of service, save your money. There is no valid reason to be using a submission service for search engines. It is still being offered today widespread because there are always new people coming online to be exploited.

Misconception 3: If a Web site has been banned, the person must be an evil or unethical person.

Truth 3: Search Engine Workshops reject anything related to Spam or short cuts or tricks that are outside of the search engines guidelines, but we do not believe people are “always evil.” Many people that get banned or penalized by the search engines, are not even aware of SEO best practices. The only thing they turn out to be guilty of in the end, is of never having had any real structured SEO skills training.

In other words they were listening to some bad advice or perhaps were not even aware that each search engine has guidelines. In some cases it’s their Webmaster that may have gotten their site banned. Every situation is different but ultimately it’s far better to gain your skills sooner than later. It is not always about good and evil but there most definitely is always a story behind the story and it boil down to user intent.

Misconception 4: SEO is a nightmare to try and learn.

It is extremely important to measure each SEO influence and get each factor exactly right. Therefore you need to research how many characters go in a title tag, keyword density, keyword prominence, keyword placement, how many keywords can go in a Meta tag plus all of the other factors for each individual search engine. This concept is what people seem to talk about because it’s what some people are selling, but it is also completely false.

Truth 4: Sure you can spend your days measuring these types of things, but chances are you will be burning out after a while and getting very few success stories. This is because there are for more important things to understand that have an extraordinary impact in the results. SEO influences all affect one another, plus each search engine grades on a curve based on each specific industry.

Any researcher that tells you he is giving you the latest criteria based on these old fashion units of measurement will not make much impact. These days you are looking for the big picture, not individual influences one at a time. We have seen cases where people spend hours working on one page, when they could have dozens of pages performing for them in minimal time with much less stress. Yes I mean all 100% white hat strategies too, because these are all that we teach our students.

Misconception 5: You need to spend hours tweaking your source code each month to keep those top ranking positions. Therefore you cannot possibly manage your own in house search marketing. False again.

Truth 5: There are advantages to having your SEO handled by a professional firm that has been structurally trained. But don’t buy it if someone says they must continually “tweak your code” to keep you in top place. It is just not true. Yes, you may want them creating fresh new content. Yes, you’ll want continued practices if you’re Blogging maybe for example. But if a page is ranking in top spot, leave it alone. If you do look at making changes, make sure you are grabbing a look at the entire search landscape for your industry.

Misconception 6: SEO is Dead. This myth makes a great attention grabbing article headline although in my opinion it has been a little bit over-used and rather gimmicky. If you’ve read it, it is completely false.

Truth 6: SEO is merely more competitive these days but SEO is far from being dead. SEO is alive and well!

It may feel like it is dead if you are relying on old second hand advice or listening to some marketers who are pushing their next big thing. Most Webmasters have access to all of the same old common tools that everyone else has, so there feels like there is less advantage than a few years ago.

Misconception 7: There is only one correct solution to solve a specific SEO challenge. If it is not my way, it is the wrong way. Needless to say this is also false.

Truth 7: For any specific SEO challenge there are often multiple solutions to choose from. In many cases there are alternative strategies that are all white hat and yet very solid solutions. Don’t let anyone tell you that there is only one way. Every Web site is different with different challenges and you need to be equipped with the full range of solutions.

To gain a real significant advantage, the answer rests with building your genuine SEO skills and less reliance on tools.

Since we are talking about misconceptions in this article, let’s take it a step further and discuss a few old and new

“confidence schemes” to be aware of as well. Confidence schemes are not exactly misconceptions but you need to be aware of at least a few of the newest

A Con Man or “Confidence man” is (a swindler who exploits the confidence of his victim according to this source

A few other names for Confidence men include bunco, scam artist, fleecer, swindler, shark, rainmaker, hustler.

Some confidence schemes operate on the same old methods, others come up with new methods. Here are some examples

of old con tricks and new ones to be aware of.

From Wikipedia:

The Phishing Scam:

“Phishing is a modern form of scam in which the artist communicates with the mark, pretending to be from an official organization that the mark is doing business with, in order to extract personal information that can then be used, for example, to steal money. In a typical instance of phishing, the artist sends the mark an email pretending to be from a company (such as eBay). This email is formatted exactly like email from that business, and will ask the mark to “verify” some personal information at their website, to which a link is provided. The website itself is also fake but designed to look exactly like the business’ website. The site will contain an HTML form asking for personal information such as credit card numbers. The mark will feel compelled to give this information because of words in the email or the site stating that they require the information again, for example to “reactivate your account”. When the mark submits the form (not checking the URL), the information is sent to the swindler.”

A Blogging Scam:

“The Ogged Scam: A new con trick born in the age of blogs. For this scam, the con artist creates a pseudonymous internet persona and befriends a group of people online who will become his marks. Then the scammer feigns some terrible disease, such as stomach cancer. Finally, the scammer subtly pushes the idea that his online “friends” could pitch in for something to make him feel better, such as a $700 gift certificate to the French Laundry. After the boon is received, the scam artist claims a miraculous recovery or doctor error.”

The Paranoia Scam

“The Paranoia Scam is a scam that involves the con man telling the mark various lies about the different scams and instigating false attempts so that the mark (feeling worried and with no place to hide their money from fraud) turns to the con man for help.”

For more insights of these types of scams and and what to be aware of, visit Wikipedia.

Have SEO topics been used for scam purposes?
Unfortunately, SEO has been used as a buzz word by the modern types of hustler.

I think you’ll agree that there have been plenty of cases where people have been sold some expensive bill of services in the name of SEO, but never really delivered on their promises. Genuine SEO Professionals seldom need to hype up their offers as there often is a trail of success and results that follow their work. In other words, it is evident that they are good at producing fair to highly satisfactory results without to much hoopla in their presentation.

Still, there are SEO scams being worked. But there are ways to determine if you have found a dependable and trusted resource. There ways to help you distinguish those services who actually are keeping their skills up to date and by studying truths you can quickly learn to detect error and protect yourself.

* If you are interested in building genuine skills or managing a team overseeing SEOs then the surest why to close the gaps in your learning time is with a focus on live skills training and ongoing mentoring at a workshop or else study a course that focuses on teaching you the genuine skills. It is safe to say that you will be far less likely to ever be taken advantage of again, once your own knowledge is up to speed.

* That being said, there are many who do not feel they can learn the skills. Maybe you’re looking for hiring an SEO firm instead of managing your own projects. One of the easiest ways to separate the trained experts who have had good structured training from the hit and miss individuals (or worse,) is to simply examine the evidence of their work.

Examine it closely so you can determine that behind them, the results show the evidence of their skills.

• Ask them for a list of their recent client’s phone numbers.
• Ask them for a list of their oldest client contacts and their Web sites.

Dependable SEO services will never have trouble providing you with the evidence of their success although they may want to offer you client contacts in a different business category than the one you are in (out of respect for their clients.)

* While many SEOs will offer you typical proposals, try and watch for those who also have alternative approaches that will serve your best interest at reasonable cost. Optimization is only one aspect of visibility these days. It is not just about how many pages show up in the top rankings for specific keywords anymore. There are a lot of additional things that a well trained graduate can bring to you that are beyond SEO.

* If you decide to build your SEO skills and are trying to choose which workshop to attend, look for education that is based on time tested methods. Some who claim to teach classes, will often have a second or third agenda to try and sell you SEO services. Others may focus mainly on using tools. The best training is where you can get personalized hands-on skills training, ongoing coaching and mentoring even after class is over. Each of our associate educators have expert training and offer the full workshop in multiple communities.

Information on the next 5-Day SEO Workshop with Robin Nobles, Mike Marshall and myself is posted here.

* Beware of any service that builds their whole success platform for SEO on “search engine submissions.” Submitting to search engines is one thing you don’t need to do and you don’t need to do certain things over and over to get results.

* Due diligence is the word of the day when hiring an SEO firm or seeking SEO skills training.

They need results and they have a need to understand the truth. Once they complete their training we have the pleasure of watching their success and we are proud of them as their skills create new opportunities for them and their businesses.

Do you Need Access to

• Basic SEO Self Study Courses
• Advanced SEO Self Study Courses
• Access to live instructional Webinars,
• Weekly live instructional Chats
• and close to 1000 pages of regularly updated tutorials in the SEO Workshop Resource Center.

Check out the all that is included Now

Want to maximize your research time?

Just released: Wordtracker Magic Volume 2.0 – Keyword Forensics for SEO

About John Alexander

John Alexander is Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses. John is author of an e-book called Wordtracker Magic and has taught SEO skills to people from 87 different countries world wide. John is also Director of Search Engine Academy with localized Search Engine Academy training centers where the Complete SEO Mastery Workshop and 6 Month Mentoring program is taught locally to business owners and individuals in communities across North America and Internationally in Asia.

It goes without saying that everyone with content on the web wants to achieve the best search engine results possible, but the question of how to track your progress can be difficult to unravel. The following document takes a look at various key performance indicators (KPIs) relative to search engine optimization (SEO).

Percent Change in Visits from Organic Search:
This is one of the most basic measures of establishing your SEO performance. All you’re looking at is your growth in search engine traffic. This simply shows your rate of improvement at its most fundamental level.

Percent Change in the Number of Organic Search Keywords:
This is the rate of growth for the number of keywords a search engine index has pointing to your domain.

Percent Change in the Number of Entry Pages:
As search engines index more pages on your site, the number of entry pages should also increase. This indicator will give you a sense of how well you site performs beyond the home page.

Brand to Non-Brand Mix:
The number of visitors arriving to your site via unbranded search divided by the number of visitors to your site arriving via branded search. This KPI will give you an indication of how well you are performing for long-tail, product specific searches, relative to branded search terms such as the name of your business.

Unique Pages:
Simply put, this is the number of pages on your site. In many cases this is somewhat difficult to determine since there will often be duplicate versions of the same page on your site (in which case it is important to establish a canonical page). Some sites will simply base this number on the number of products in their catalog, but it might be best to track the number of pages that have actually been crawled by search engines. Although this information can be difficult to track with many analytics programs it is worth knowing, particularly when it comes to calculating the next KPI.

Pages Yielding Traffic:
This is the percentage of the pages on your site that are pulling in traffic from search engines. The higher your percentage the better your site is optimized for unbranded, long-tail searches for specific products. A low percentage indicates that many pages on your site are not performing as well as they could. Ideal every page on your site should be visible to search engines and draw traffic for the keywords relative to the information on that page.

Keywords Per Page:
This number tells you how many keywords on a given traffic yielding page are active over the course of a month. In other words, how many different sets of keywords are entered into a search engine, resulting in traffic to that page? Although you don’t need to analyze this for every traffic yielding page on your site (unless this number is very low) it is important to look at the averages for all your pages yielding traffic.

Visitor Per Keyword:
This will tell you how much traffic you’re getting on average for each keyword on a given page. Again, you don’t need to calculate this number for every individual page, but rather you should look at the average for all pages yielding traffic.

Index to Crawl Ratio:
This number is a comparison of the number of pages crawled on your site to the number of pages indexed by a given search engine. The main purpose of following this number is to track changes in how search engines operate. When this number changes it is often an indication that something has changed in the search engines index.

Engine Performance:
This is the number of pages crawled by a given search engine compared to the amount of traffic from that engine. This will give you a sense of how efficiently each engine is performing for you.

Reprinted with express permisson from Sysiq.com.
SysIQ provides website design and website promotion tools your e-business needs to succeed. Whether you are looking for a search engine optimization agency to improve your search engine ranking or you require full service IT outsourcing, SysIQ can provide you with the internet marketing and ecommerce services that will make your ebusiness flourish. We offer everything from custom application development to dedicated servers, colocation and managed services, making SysIQ your one-stop-shop for all your e-commerce needs. Visit them at www.sysiq.com

Much of the feedback I receive from people, who are interested in having SEO work done on their site, often starts with the statement, “How do I find a good SEO?” It’s a valid question, so I decided to arm you with the basic information you’ll need to make the best choice for your business. After all, the success of your business can literally rest on the shoulders of your SEO.

First and the most important question is, “What is SEO?” SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. SEO also refers to the Search Engine Optimizer, the one who does the Search Engine Optimization work.

Here are a few things to consider when searching for a good SEO Firm.

• Reputation: How did you find out about this company? Was the company referred to you by a satisfied client?

• Length of Time in Business: If the company is new to the SEO arena, they may need to climb learning curves that could be wasting valuable resources, particularly yours.

• Client List: Can they show proof of their work?

• Satisfied Customers: Can they give you a few names of satisfied customers?

• Explain the Process: Will they explain the process so you have an understanding of what is to take place and why?

• References: Will they give you references?

• White Hat: Only use “White Hat” techniques. When an SEO is using “White Hat Techniques” they are employing only ethical means of SEO that won’t get you banned from the search engines.

Here are a few things to remember about Bad SEO Firms

• Cold Calls with promises to get you top ten rankings

• False Promises: You are told your website will be submitted to the search engines. (There are very few search engines that your site gets “submitted” to. If your site is optimized properly, the search engines will come out and find your site.”

• Package Deals: Offer you a package deal to submit your site on a monthly basis, claiming this is the best way to get results.

• Track Record: They don’t have a proven track record; or can only show success on one keyword/keyword phrase.

• Black Hat: May engage in “Black Hat” techniques that could get your site banned from the search engines. (Black Hat search engine optimization is customarily defined as techniques that are used to get higher search rankings in an unethical manner. These Black Hat SEO techniques usually include one or more of the following characteristics:

• Breaks search engine rules and regulations
• Unethically presents content in a different visual or non-visual way to search engine spiders and search engine users.

It’s important for you to do your homework, don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions, it is your business after all. The success of a Web site often depends on the expertise of its search engine optimizer. Choose your SEO wisely, and the success of YOUR Web site will reap the benefits.

About The Author:
Matthew Costello is President of Web Marketing Advisors, specializing in Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing. When it’s time to optimize your Online Business and take it to the next level, choose Web Marketing Advisors to guide you along the way.

*A special thanks to Robin Nobles for her insights into this article.

*Reprint Notice: You may re-print this article on your website or blog. The About the author section must remain in tact including the links.

 
A while back, I wrote about 5 Ways To Attract New Visitors By Shifting Your Topic Focus

One of the easiest was to diminish your competition in the search results, is by carefully shifting the focus of your Web site’s content. This is not to say you cannot compete and out perform your competition in the more competitive markets by building your search marketing skills. There will definitely be times when you WILL want to compete and win. But for this article I want to share an old fashion principle that still works great today as it always has.

Can you really diminish the competition just by changing the focus of your content?

Yes, you absolutely can. You can bring in entirely new audiences that never would have found you if you were just following the same path as 99% of your competition.

But this time now let’s also explore how you can benefit by altering your business focus (not just your Web content.)

To “compete” or choose to “diminish the competition” by leading the way.

What’s the difference you ask?

Do you really want to follow the crowd and compete with the world? Of course you can if you wish. Why do so many choose this way as opposed to doing something unique? Probably, because it seems easier.

But remember that if you choose to just follow the crowd then you need to be prepared and fully ready to compete.

If you choose that way, then you also need to not be afraid to lose once in a while.

I don’t say plan on losing but be prepared. Here’s the thing. If the only strategy you ever apply is that of competing with the whole world, there will ultimately always be someone come along who is just a little better than you.

It may not be by much, but expect to lose a few hands and don’t be afraid of losing.

So what about creating a new business that is different?
I’ll share this example before we get on to a few tips.

In the early days of when Robin Nobles and I first started teaching hands-on SEO Workshops several years ago, that concept of a hands-on workshop was quite new.

There was no such thing as step-by-step hands-on SEO Workshops being taught.

There were the big conferences of course and the big trade show style events with hundreds of attendees in a room listening to various professional speakers. In fact I actually met Robin speaking at one of these conferences. They are great for networking and meeting people at etc.

There were the online courses, which Robin Nobles had created as the first person to ever create a comprehensive study course with online Web Training in the 1990s. The only thing else around was perhaps the odd forum or private publication online, but there was no place you could go to study in person.

The first Search Engine Workshop that we developed had a very different approach to training and SEO skill building. We wanted a hands-on Workshop where we could Work with a small group of students to build their genuine skills. Not just an event where we rolled out another program. Then back in 2005, we began opening local SEO community training through our Search Engine Academy Associates and today, we have the capacity to help many more people build their skills and keep up with the latest information.

This was great because 2 people can only be in one place at a time. But now with our network we can help greater volumes of people than ever before while still maintaining that intimate, personalized one-on-one approach. Plus people can study right within their own local communities with the need to travel.

We had a vision to teach people everything from the theory, to the basic and advanced skills as well as Internet marketing and offer a free 6 month mentoring program. To this day, new students that come out to our workshops express surprise and they get pretty excited with the results they achieve after training. All SEO skill building programs are not the same.

So now let’s talk about your business and move on with some tips on…

How You Can Diminish your Competition By Altering Your Business Focus
Here is one way to make a difference in your business that can eliminate the competition.

It’s old fashioned, but it will always give you the edge if you think it out correctly. If you want to lead the way, then you must think about your business services a little differently. Easy to say but for some it seems hard to do for some folks.

Tips for fashioning your business vision:
 

Creativity and originality go a long way to take you from plateau to plateau. Be the very FIRST to come up with something and then if you do it well enough, watch the competition follow you.

Start by identifying exactly how your business be different?

Come up with your own unique twists and your own original value added benefits and begin to fashion a vision that establishes how you will be different than your competitor. In what way will your product or service excel?
 

What is there to keep you motivated?
It starts with your vision forming. But there literally has to be something inside of you that continues to lead you on each and every day. Something that is literally motivational enough to keep you focused on the correct path. Once you have it, you probably won’t need anyone to confirm that you are on the right track.

Don’t expect everyone to appreciate what you trying to build. Some just won’t get it.

It may even appear foreign to the competition. Your vision or goal may actually be something that just quite won’t make any sense to others, because it is your vision not theirs.

For example: From the scenario I shared above, someone running a large conference might think, “Why would anyone want a tiny class size? We’d be losing hundreds of thousands of dollars if we only worked with 25 students?”  But the vision that Robin and I had back in 2002 was more focused on imparting the skills to people than just filling some big event. We wanted our students to leave the class knowing that they were capably equipped. We believe that’s why we experience such great lasting relationships with our students. How will your business be different?

When so many people tend to follow the leader these days.
The new business that creates something original tends to stand apart from the rest. With a focused, work hard play hard ethic you fashion your objectives. It is not a part time hobby mindset that will succeed here.

Develop an action plan and a timeline.
Decide what actions need to take place in order for any part of your vision to become a reality. By breaking it down into very focused actions, you can then break it down in terms of timelines. This is very important so that you benchmark your progress towards your goals. If something is not happening according to the plan, you easily identify it and find out how to fix it.

Explore partnerships
Is there a way you can for good partnerships that are mutually rewarding for your business? There nearly always is if you explore the right avenues. If something don’t work out, then don’t be afraid to move on. There should never be a rush to build partner relations. Build slowly and use good wisdom. Look for complimentary relationships with people who have something genuine to offer. Avoid those who seem to be bitter over some past experience and just cannot seem to get out of being stuck in the past. When you build relationships, build genuine relationships that you can believe in. Don’t build relationships that are simply based on trying get something.

Don’t get involved in any type of get rich quick or easy wealth building schemes
If your business isn’t based upon some integrity and backed with truth then don’t even think about it. There are more lazy man wealth creation tool kits and flim-flam artists out there (in the real world and online) than you can shake a stick at. Beware of those who use the manipulative tactics. Beware of promises that you’ll be shown some lazy secret to success. Beware of charming personalities and a convincing routines but no real long term evidence of genuine value.

Giving back to your community
Is there some cause that you believe in that you can also help support. Find something worthy that you personally believe in and it’s amazing how like minded people are drawn together. Become involved where people are involved, but not just for the purpose of gaining leads or seeing what you can get out of the relationship. Be a part to see how you can be a support to someone else. 

In Summary:

A few other bits of advice from someone I greatly admired, Walt Disney made each of
the following quotes:

• All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”
  Walt Disney
• When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.”
  Walt Disney
• You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.”
  Walt Disney
• I believe in being an innovator.”
  Walt Disney
• All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
  Walt Disney

Why not choose to fashion your business vision uniquely?
Be original. Don’t just follow the crowd but dare to be different. Don’t be afraid to be yourself and form a business with a different goal in mind. Ideally a business that is just a little different and satisfies by delivering unique genuine benefits and value to your customers and clients.

Don’t forget to form bite sized actions that can be used against a timeline so that you can benchmark how your business is coming along and being formed.

I like to always say it this way… 
 Having a business is about making a profit – but life is about helping people. Don’t do the first without doing the other.

Whether you choose to be different or whether you choose to compete is completely up to you.
Regardless of which way you move forward – Here’s to your success!

About John Alexander
John Alexander is Director of Search Engine Academy and Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses. John is author of an e-book called Wordtracker Magic and has taught SEO skills to small groups of people from 87 different countries world wide since 1999. 

By John Alexander

I am very angry and concerned that people have been telling you lies!Don't get me wrong, I am not angry at all.
Actually, I am not upset or even mildly annoyed and I doubt that people are telling you any lies.
(At least I hope not.)

For this article, I wanted you to notice the impact the first sentence had on you. It's a typical manipulative tactic that you'll see used in some e-mail communications. When you write natural emotional content it can be used to set a mood or a tone. Things that have a "marketing spin" usually appeal to the emotions, but then there are always some folks trying to exploit that element of human nature to try and control you. After a while you nearly get tired of these kind of tactics in communications. I'll do another article on this someday to help you become more aware of these types of tactics so you can spot them instantly. Some are pretty subtle.

But for today, I wanted to review 7 long held SEO misconceptions and discuss the truths.

In order to separate the SEO truths from traditional misconceptions or errors, you always must first examine the truth.

For example, if an expert is trying to determine a counterfeit $100 dollar bill from a real $100 bill, he only gains insight by examining the real bill first. You could examine many different counterfeit bills for a long time and never gain any ground at all. But once you know and understand the real government issued bill, then you can spot the false things much more quickly.

A Word about Hats: White, Grey or Black
First let me say that most SEOs are not all bad people. They are not all schemers who are just out to get your money. Like anything else, there are people who are good and bad in every area of life. When it comes to practicing SEO skills, there are many people doing many different things, but it all comes down to the intent of the individual person.

People pegged for being "black hats" usually think quite a little bit differently than the SEO professional. The Black hat is more prepared to lose the domain and knows that they are always on the run and they often view the search engines as the enemy. Search engines MUST be "outsmarted" or so they are convinced. Some tend to enter more like a game with throwaway domain names that they'll purchase in quantity knowing that they'll have to do the same types of things over and over again each time they get penalized.

White hat SEO professionals are more focused on creating high quality, useful content that serves a purpose and satisfies the reason why the user searched. They are not on the run, because they have nothing to fear being caught at. They tend to do the job once for long term stable rankings that can last for years.

Black hat technique tends to relate to "tricks" and little "short cuts" to try and fool the search engine.

Okay so this fits in part, with the first misconception or idea that was first pitched years ago. However, this first misconception is a major misconception. Here it is...

Misconception 1.
You are at war with the search engines to gain top rankings. Therefore you must learn to do sneaky tricks to outsmart their algorithm. Therefore you must learn ways to beat the search engine to gain top visibility in search results. Have you heard this story before?While this whole concept (probably dreamt up by a marketer years ago sometime) it cleverly appeals to a human beings somewhat carnal side of being "sneaky" or being able to beat the search engines at their own game by using "secrets" and "tricks." Even though the pitch may appeal to some people, the only trouble is that the concept is 100% FALSE from beginning to end. Some of you may be disappointed to hear this because for years, you thought you were at war with the search engines. Think a little bit more and let's separate marketing pitches from the real truth.

Truth 1:
The truth is that you have never been at "war with the search engines." You are not required to "outsmart" or fool" the search engines at all to gain top visibility for your Web pages.

Listen up now. The only one you are truly competing with for visibility is your competitors, NOT the search engines. The whole idea that you must "beat" the search engines or "outsmart" the search engines is a completely false concept.

You never need to compete with any search engine. You never need to trick it or even try to "fool it" in order to get excellent visibility. A search engine does not really care whether you rank number 1 or not. They are fine with it, so long as you are offering relevant content that is useful and satisfies the reason why the user searched. Obviously any search engine does not want junk showing up in the results.

The only competition you have now or you have ever had, or will ever have in the future is with other competitors pages, not the search engines.

Being "sneaky" may appeal to some emotionally in a marketing pitch. It may make you even feel like the service or the course or publication will ultimately "make you smarter" somehow. But people need to learn to distinguish truth from error and you'll be blowing far less money on e-books, tool sets and memberships that appeal to the emotion but are founded on untruths.

Many marketers come across with this anger or emotion in their messages using
words that are planted to trigger your emotions.

You can be sneaky...
I am angry because...
I am so embarrassed by what happened...
You are going to learn a secret...
I am going to show you something exciting!
etc...

Don't let your emotions be exploitedLearn to recognize a marketing mailer that is attempting to exploit your emotions. Recognize these types of messages. Separate them out from communications that offer advice based on truths. I'll do an article on this in the future.Misconception 2: You must submit your Web site to the Search Engines, therefore you need to buy our services and we will submit your site to 30,000 search engines for only $29.95 per month. The misconception here is that a submission to a search engine is beneficial.

Truth 2:
You are far better employing strategies that allow search engine robots to find your pages on their own (without submitting.) Any company that bases their whole concept of traffic or SEO on submitting does not understand how search engines work themselves. If you are using this type of service, save your money. There is no valid reason to be using a submission service for search engines. It is still being offered today widespread because there are always new people coming online to be exploited.

Misconception 3:
If a Web site has been banned, the person must be an evil or unethical person.
Truth 3:
Search Engine Workshops reject anything related to Spam or short cuts or tricks that are outside of the search engines guidelines, but we do not believe people are "always evil." Many people that get banned or penalized by the search engines, are not even aware of SEO best practices. The only thing they turn out to be guilty of in the end, is of never having had any real structured SEO skills training.In other words they were listening to some bad advice or perhaps were not even aware that each search engine has guidelines. In some cases it's their Webmaster that may have gotten their site banned. Every situation is different but ultimately it's far better to gain your skills sooner than later. It is not always about good and evil but there most definitely is always a story behind the story and it boil down to user intent.

Misconception 4: SEO is a nightmare to try and learn.
It is extremely important to measure each SEO influence and get each factor exactly right. Therefore you need to research how many characters go in a title tag, keyword density, keyword prominence, keyword placement, how many keywords can go in a Meta tag plus all of the other factors for each individual search engine. This concept is what people seem to talk about because it's what some people are selling, but it is also completely false.

Truth 4:
Sure you can spend your days measuring these types of things, but chances are you will be burning out after a while and getting very few success stories. This is because there are for more important things to understand that have an extraordinary impact in the results. SEO influences all affect one another, plus each search engine grades on a curve based on each specific industry.

Any researcher that tells you he is giving you the latest criteria based on these old fashion units of measurement will not make much impact. These days you are looking for the big picture, not individual influences one at a time. We have seen cases where people spend hours working on one page, when they could have dozens of pages performing for them in minimal time with much less stress. Yes I mean all 100% white hat strategies too, because these are all that we teach our students.

Misconception 5:
You need to spend hours tweaking your source code each month to keep those top ranking positions. Therefore you cannot possibly manage your own in house search marketing. False again.

Truth 5:
There are advantages to having your SEO handled by a professional firm that has been structurally trained. But don't buy it if someone says they must continually "tweak your code" to keep you in top place. It is just not true. Yes, you may want them creating fresh new content. Yes, you'll want continued practices if you're Blogging maybe for example. But if a page is ranking in top spot, leave it alone. If you do look at making changes, make sure you are grabbing a look at the entire search landscape for your industry.

Misconception 6:
SEO is Dead. This myth makes a great attention grabbing article headline although in my opinion it has been a little bit over-used and rather gimmicky. If you've read it, it is completely false.

Truth 6
SEO is merely more competitive these days but SEO is far from being dead. SEO is alive and well!

It may feel like it is dead if you are relying on old second hand advice or listening to some marketers who are pushing their next big thing. Most Webmasters have access to all of the same old common tools that everyone else has, so there feels like there is less advantage than a few years ago.

Misconception 7:
There is only one correct solution to solve a specific SEO challenge. If it is not my way, it is the wrong way. Needless to say this is also false.

Truth 7:
For any specific SEO challenge there are often multiple solutions to choose from. In many cases there are alternative strategies that are all white hat and yet very solid solutions. Don't let anyone tell you that there is only one way. Every Web site is different with different challenges and you need to be equipped with the full range of solutions.

To gain a real significant advantage, the answer rests with building your genuine SEO skills and less reliance on tools.

Since we are talking about misconceptions in this article, let's take it a step further and discuss a few old and new
"confidence schemes" to be aware of as well. Confidence schemes are not exactly misconceptions but you need to be aware of at least a few of the newest ones.

A Con Man or "Confidence man" is (a swindler who exploits the confidence of his victim)
according to this source

A few other names for Confidence men include bunco, scam artist, fleecer, swindler, shark, rainmaker, hustler.

Some confidence schemes operate on the same old methods,
others come up with new methods. Here are some examples
of old con tricks and new ones to be aware of.

From Wikipedia:

The Phishing Scam:
"Phishing is a modern form of scam in which the artist communicates with the mark, pretending to be from an official organization that the mark is doing business with, in order to extract personal information that can then be used, for example, to steal money. In a typical instance of phishing, the artist sends the mark an email pretending to be from a company (such as eBay). This email is formatted exactly like email from that business, and will ask the mark to "verify" some personal information at their website, to which a link is provided. The website itself is also fake but designed to look exactly like the business' website. The site will contain an HTML form asking for personal information such as credit card numbers. The mark will feel compelled to give this information because of words in the email or the site stating that they require the information again, for example to "reactivate your account". When the mark submits the form (not checking the URL), the information is sent to the swindler."

A Blogging Scam:
"The Ogged Scam: A new con trick born in the age of blogs. For this scam, the con artist creates a pseudonymous internet persona and befriends a group of people online who will become his marks. Then the scammer feigns some terrible disease, such as stomach cancer. Finally, the scammer subtly pushes the idea that his online "friends" could pitch in for something to make him feel better, such as a $700 gift certificate to the French Laundry. After the boon is received, the scam artist claims a miraculous recovery or doctor error."

The Paranoia Scam
"The Paranoia Scam is a scam that involves the con man telling the mark various lies about the different scams and instigating false attempts so that the mark (feeling worried and with no place to hide their money from fraud) turns to the con man for help."

For more insights of these types of scams and and what to be aware of, visit Wikipedia.

Have SEO topics been used for scam purposes?

Unfortunately, SEO has been used as a buzz word by the modern types of hustler.

I think you'll agree that there have been plenty of cases where people have been sold some expensive bill of services in the name of SEO, but never really delivered on their promises. Genuine SEO Professionals seldom need to hype up their offers as there often is a trail of success and results that follow their work. In other words, it is evident that they are good at producing fair to highly satisfactory results without to much hoopla in their presentation.

Still, there are SEO scams being worked. But there are ways to determine if you have found a dependable and trusted resource. There ways to help you distinguish those services who actually are keeping their skills up to date and by studying truths you can quickly learn to detect error and protect yourself.

* If you are interested in building genuine skills or managing a team overseeing SEOs then the surest why to close the gaps in your learning time is with a focus on live skills training and ongoing mentoring at a workshop or else study a course that focuses on teaching you the genuine skills. It is safe to say that you will  be far less likely to ever be taken advantage of again, once your own knowledge is up to speed.

* That being said, there are many who do not feel they can learn the skills. Maybe you're looking for hiring an SEO firm instead of managing your own projects. One of the easiest ways to separate the trained experts who have had good structured training from the hit and miss individuals (or worse,) is to simply examine the evidence of their work.Examine it closely so you can determine that behind them, the results show the evidence of their skills.- Ask them for a list of their recent client's phone numbers.
- Ask them for a list of their oldest client contacts and their Web sites.
- Dependable SEO services will never have trouble providing you with the
evidence of their success although they may want to offer you client contacts
in a different business category than the one you are in
(out of respect for their clients.)

* While many SEOs will offer you typical proposals, try and watch for those who also have alternative approaches that will serve your best interest at reasonable cost. Optimization is only one aspect of visibility these days. It is not just about how many pages show up in the top rankings for specific keywords anymore. There are a lot of additional things that a well trained graduate can bring to you that are beyond SEO.

* If you decide to build your SEO skills and are trying to choose which workshop to attend, look for education that is based on time tested methods. Some who claim to teach classes, will often have a second or third agenda to try and sell you SEO services. Others may focus mainly on using tools. The best training is where you can get personalized hands-on skills training, ongoing coaching and mentoring even after class is over. Each of our associate educators have expert training and offer the full workshop in multiple communities.Information on the next 5-Day SEO Workshop with Robin Nobles, Mike Marshall and myself is posted here.

* Beware of any service that builds their whole success platform for SEO on "search engine submissions." Submitting to search engines is one thing you don't need to do and you don't need to do certain things over and over to get results.

* Due diligence is the word of the day when hiring an SEO firm or seeking SEO skills training.

They need results and they have a need to understand the truth. Once they complete their training we have the pleasure of watching their success and we are proud of them as their skills create new opportunities for them and their businesses.

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About John Alexander
John Alexander is Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses. John is author of an e-book called Wordtracker Magic and has taught SEO skills to people from 87 different countries world wide. John is also Director of Search Engine Academy with localized Search Engine Academy training centers where the Complete SEO Mastery Workshop and 6 Month Mentoring program is taught locally to business owners and individuals in communities across North America and Internationally in Asia.