digitalghost - 10:21 pm on Apr 2, 2002 (gmt 0)

The infamous guarantee. I've had several clients drag out one of those over-hyped email spamwiches and they always follow it with, "Will you offer the same guarantee? "

Fortunately, it is usually an email that guarantees top ten placement and a discussion ensues about just how they can make that incredible claim.

Unfortunately, many clients want the guarantee to be true and are willing to believe hype over fact. After explaining that a top ranking for a non-competitive or obscure phrase doesn't equate to more traffic, the discussion turns to how to gain traffic, and how to convert that traffic into sales.

I'm hesitant to use the terms SEO or search engine optimization anymore as many folks have already been bitten by unethical SEO firms and are hesitant to give it another go. Site Optimization and Marketing seems a better fit. SOM?

The bad information that is still circulating in regard to optimization tactics can hurt your credibility if you outright disagree with and aren't given the opportunity to explain. A recent client cut, pasted and emailed numerous old articles vaunting the now mythical power of meta tags after I mentioned that merely slapping some keywords in metas isn't "optimization." A number of these companies guaranteeing top ten placement are also equating meta tags with the holy grail of SEO. That and the double title tag. :)

I don't offer any guarantees other than, "the most current information and technologies will be used to present your site to the search engines and to the surfers."

Rather than offer a guarantee, I ask the prospective client to get three quotes and talk to the person or persons that will actually optimize the site to determine the marketing strategy and optimization techniques to be used. If they want a top ten guarantee, they can hire a company that offers one. :)

DG