Cheap SEO

I received an enquiry the other day from someone who had found my website on Google by typing in 'cheap seo'. Now, before you think I'm an advocate of cheap seo practices, I'm not, but this clearly worked well for me.
My website, www.forty-first.co.uk ranks number 2 on Google for 'cheap seo' and if you look at the other sites in the top 10, they're all offering cheap seo services. However, my ranking has come from an article I've written about the perils of using a cheap seo service (yes, those £99 submission services to 1000 search engines still exist!) - I pdf'd that article and added it onto my site. It's now bringing traffic to my site.
The enquiry was from someone who I hope wasn't looking for a cheap seo service, but liked the article so much he contacted me because of what was within it. This goes to show that even if you haven't optimised your website for a particular keyword, you could still get found for it from articles you may have on your site. If you're not adding articles and content to your website then start to do so, as you never know what enquiries they may bring!
Here's a link to the article for further reading on cheap seo practices:
http://www.forty-first.co.uk/CheapSEO.pdf

Common Misconceptions of SEO

This is something I've written about before, and one of the most common misconceptions of search engine optimisation (SEO) is that the effects are instant. If only they were, I'd be out of a job for a start! Many people still believe that once a website has been optimised, their site will rank highly within days, and also that just having a website is enough to drive traffic, regardless of whether any promotion has been done.

Something I regularly remind clients before, during and after projects is that the effects of optimisation take many months - it is a long term strategy, with no quick fixes. Once a website has been optimised, then the waiting begins; the search engines have to come and index the optimisation and put it into their database - they do this in their own time and their own schedule and it cannot be sped up. However, there are things that web owners can do in the meantime to help with eventual rankings:
1. Gaining targeted links from quality websites via submissions, link exchanges, article writing, paying for links i.e paid advertising, encouraging other sites to link etc.
2. Pay per click advertising - this will send traffic to your website quickly and there are many options available (see May & June editions of Marketing Karma).
3. Regularly updating your website with fresh content and news (perhaps in a blog).
4. Email marketing - sending out regular newsletters reminds people about what you do and drives traffic to your website.
5. Spending time or paying someone to write copy that will sell your products or services. It's all very well spending time trying to gain good rankings in the search engines, but if the site does not convert traffic well, then your sales and enquiries won't increase.

Plenty to be getting on with then!