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The SEO Jungle

Written by: William Atkin

Article Overview: The growing market of search engine optimization firms and the different management styles of each.

The SEO Jungle

There is currently a burgeoning market in the United States. It’s the SEO market. Right now there are many SEO companies springing up in the United States and the ones that were already there are competing for limited space. Some say that its because of a high rate of college graduates and computer educated citizens, others say it’s just the fact that the economy is growing. Either way one thing is clear, the U.S. SEO market is growing and competition is becoming more prevalent. Let’s explore a few different factors on what separates these seemingly similar companies.



Different kinds of SEO companies

There are many different types of SEO companies. Since the market is growing that means space is decreasing and businesses must begin to compartmentalize to fully reap profits. By “specializing” in any given thing companies have an opportunity to make themselves number one in their field.

Some companies focus on one particular aspect of search engine optimization like link building while others run the gauntlet and do comprehensive “everything” SEO. Others perform other web services like web design and development while some focus more on the public relations marketing side of things like traditional marketing firms.

Different companies require different strategies

For every different firm there is each will have its own strategy based upon management, talent, business direction, profit, market opportunities and miscellaneous other factors. It stands to reason that if every company is different then so must its overall business strategy. Even within the same field of search engine optimization almost every company’s mission statement is different. Make sure that you understand your companies’ goals and the way their business operates, this can be very important.

Management or lack thereof

The problem with many SEO firms is that the management is simply an SEO expert who rose through the ranks or started his own company. And while this should be applauded it must be understood that management is tricky. Most could spend lifetime learning and not fully understand how to manage. This is because management involves an understanding of people and their motivations.

Everyone work under a different motivation and everyone has different strength/weaknesses, like and dislikes. As a manager you must comprehend this and cater to this. Play to everyone’s strengths and try to avoid assigning them to tasks that are their weaknesses. Also if you come at the same problem from a different angle you can encourage the discouraged. Some employees want money, praise, stimulation, inspiration; no matter what the motivation you as a manager must find a way to make your employees motivated towards their work and the companies goals. By doing this you will have happier employees who are always more productive.

Unfortunately there are two kinds of smarts; street and book. In the science world these are known as I.Q and E.Q. A person’s emotional quotient or E.Q. is their ability to perceive asses and manage ones self or others. In a scientific study it was shown that one trait all leaders have in common is a high E.Q. Many of the self appointed leaders (especially computer guru’s) over estimate their ability to intelligently read others. Emotional Intelligence is arguably a genetic trait and cannot be taught, which means some people are born to be leaders and others are merely placed into this position through merit or achievement or even by accident.

Image vs. Practicality/efficiency

One point that needs to be made is that sacrificing client work time for self promotion no matter what form is detrimental to the sustainability of the business. Unless you have the entire client work adequately covered and you have a surplus of labor can you afford to work on promoting your business and your service.

Like life running a business is a balancing act, making sure that each balance beam is steady. Some would consider a CEO more of a juggler than anything. While you should never abandon building up your corporate image or abandon the morale of the workers for a client it is a balance between client and corporate interests. Many CEO’s in the SEO world have forgotten this rule and taken their client base for granted. When this happens clients become dissatisfied as they see more and more of what should be their work being poured into your image.

Traffic vs. Profits

Many companies seem to believe that traffic by itself is an indicator of success and future leads; however we know this is not true. Firstly the type of traffic is of the utmost importance. If your visitors have no desire to buy your product, regardless of incentive than that’s unprofitable traffic. One distinction should be made from a search engine optimization standpoint however that search engines favor traffic as it is an indicator of popularity. But aside from this targeted traffic should be your main focus as this will drive in the leads and conversions your business needs to be profitable and successful.

This is a short abstract compared to how fully this topic could be explored. But the short and simple is that do not take everything at face value. Be a critical thinker and make objective comparisons between companies, their staff, their results and their services. Unfortunately we are not all created equally and some Utah SEO firms are better than others. Be diligent in your research and consider carefully the route you wish to go. Stay posted for our follow up on different Utah SEO firms and how to choose one.

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Article Tags: search engine optimization, SEO, SEO, SEO companies, the U S SEO



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