
There are so many misconceptions about search marketing that it’s almost futile to try and combat them up in a few short tips. But hopefully you’ll be a little wiser and less likely to fall for some of the shams and scams that are so prevalent.
One of the recurring themes you’ll notice is the “too good to be true” theme, and isn’t that the case with just about anything? Sure, we all want the best deals we can get, but there is a line somewhere between price and quality, where the latter suffers at the expense of the former.
Sometimes all it takes to head off a bad choice is a little common sense. And that’s exactly what this next tip is about.
Myth #2: The $29.99 Myth
Imagine you’re shopping for a flat screen TV. Your research shows a price range from one to two thousand dollars. Now let’s say you find that same TV for $89.95. Trigger some alarm bells?
Do you find yourself asking what’s wrong with it, if you even entertain the possibility of such a low price?
Likewise, when you see a marketing offer for $29.99, do you imagine that price buys you a person sitting at his or her computer, submitting your site carefully and strategically to one search engine at a time until the aforementioned and magical 7500 limit is reached? Wait, we’ve got another bridge lying around here somewhere…
There’s only one way to submit to that many engines: automated submission programs. Someone plugs in your URL and the program hums along for a few hours randomly throwing your site out there. Not only is this ineffective but it’s frowned upon by major search engines and it hardly constitutes a search marketing program.
When you get an offer for SEO, marketing or anything else for that matter, stop and think for a while about what that price could possibly buy you. How many people do you think will be wholly dedicated to your marketing, personally invested in the success of your company and promptly available for strategic brainstorming for the low, low price of $29.99?
Like anything too good to be true, any marketing cost that is less than a dinner at your local burger chain is never going to deliver the excellence you expect.
Have you participated in an inexpensive “search engine optimization” program? What was the return on your investment?
Read more in the “Search Engine Marketing Myths” series
- Myth #1: Myth #1: The 7500 Search Engine Myth
- Myth #2: The $29.99 Myth
- Myth #3: The Automated Submission Myth
- Myth #4: The “I Read This On A Blog” Myth
- Myth #5: The Free Listing Myth
- Myth #6: The “Number One” Myth