The Reasons Why Internet Marketing Businesses Should Not Promise More Than They Can Realistically Manage

Right from the start of SEO, many Online Marketing firms have claimed guaranteed results on the service they offer, a trend which has continued right through to the present day. A Google search for Search Engine Optimization Company, finds huge amounts of results, many stating guaranteed high Search Engine Placement. Is this true? Can SEO firms always deliver first page rankings, or is this simply a con to get business and compete with many other internet marketing company claiming the same thing. The truth is, nothing is 100% guaranteed, a point by which no amount of flashy websites or seizure inducing advertisements can change. Indeed, many lay the reasons for the industry’s somewhat less than perfect reputation, squarely at the feet of those search engine optimisation companies who stubbornly refuse to give up the word from their promotional campaigns.

Choose Your Words Carefully

Perhaps, a more ethical business technique is the marketing model used by some SEO companies, of only guaranteeing high Search Engine Placement ranking on particular key phrases they have picked themselves. Even though the website owner may have a detailed list of their own, a good Search Engine Optimization Company will make the client phrases they feel have little chance of ranking high, and so offer a better list of relevant search terms.

Variables and Differences

Search engine results can be known to be unstable and vary on the basis of location and user IP. This is curtsy of Google’s ever developing intent in search technology and one more reason why SEO companies should be cautious when claiming promised high ranking. Searching for say “Search Engine Optimization Company” in both London and Yorkshire, may throw up a list of various results. Also, user’s logging into their Google accounts, could well see personalised results which distinctly differ from those found when not logged on.

High Ranking’s Not Everything

A successful online marketing program cannot be measured by high rankings only. Generating a high quantity of good quality traffic is what’s important. Higher rankings should nearly always be seen as the means to reach this end. At the end of the day, its high conversion rates most companies are looking for when picking the services of a Search Engine Optimization Company. Without this, the highest ranking in the world may be of minor consequence. There’s little point in a site receiving thousands of hits per hour, if no one actually buys anything.

Promises Promises

If you promise the world, and don’t deliver, the client will quickly move on. SEO is ongoing and no paying Client is going to stay around, if “guaranteed” performance forecasts targets aren’t achieved. My old ISP promised constant 8mb download speeds, even at peak times. The truth was closer to 2mb. The subscription was cancelled and I signed up with a company offering a more conservative 4mb DL service. Though they promised less, they delivered on it and guess what, I’m still with them today.

Of course there will be times when the Search Engine Optimization Company will be asked to promote a particular difficult search term. In this scenario the SEO should make it apparent the search term has little possibility of successfully gaining a high ranking. If the client continues to insist, the SEO should not labour the point any more and so time and effort should be spent carrying out the wishes of the paying customer. At no point should the SEO guarantee success here, as this indicates a promise and so an assumption that the desired result will be delivered, no matter what.
In closing, all that should be really guaranteed in a SEO campaign is significant improvements in high quality traffic to the website. This should also come with the condition of it being achieved via ethical means, which won’t negatively affect the reputation of the client or sustain penalties from the search engine. A guarantee all good Online Marketing companies should not need to renege on.