SEO Sprints: A New Way To Think About SEO
Search engine optimization has some problems.
First, there are serious trust issues between SEO nerds and the general public. We’re talking about reputations that land somewhere between politicians at the very bottom and somewhere slightly above used car salesmen.
Why?
Simple. It may be hard to trust people who base their livelihood on gaming a system. That’s what many people think SEO professionals do- game Google’s system to land a website on page one. It’s not a big leap to think, “Hey, if they’re manipulating Google, they probably manipulate me as well”.
That’s not what SEO is these days, but most people don’t know that. In fact, modern SEO is now all about giving Google exactly what they want so that the site is “page one worthy”.
Along with the reputation thing, there are soooo many SEO companies out there who promise the moon and deliver dust. With all the “gurus” out there talking nerdy to you about getting on the first page “overnight”, it’s hard to know who to trust.
We always tell people that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
At least part of the problem is that the vast majority of people out there have absolutely no idea what it takes to rank a website well in the search results. With well over 200 elements in the Google algorithm and 5 different algorithms at play with Google alone, there’s a lot of room for nerdspeak, jargon and ways to confuse the average business owner. Some even think SEO is an outright scam because of how often they’ve been burned. (Read “How SEO Companies Rip You Off“)
But, SEO is not a scam at all. Well, at least it shouldn’t be!
In fact, it’s not even Voodoo magic. Not all SEO nerds are scam artists. Most are too busy trying to get their client sites ranking well that they don’t have time to figure out how to scam you. There are plenty of people out playing by Google’s rules and doing all they can to help you bring in more business.
SEO can be a valuable part of your marketing mix. It’s one of the best ways to bring targeted traffic to your website. SEO puts your site in front of the very people who are actively searching for what you provide.
Other Reasons Business Owners Aren’t Comfortable With SEO
Besides being burned before, there are other reasons people wrestle with the idea of hiring an SEO nerd.
When you hire an SEO agency, it can be hard to know what you’re paying for.
They can be super vague about what they’re doing with your site or how long it will take, the results you’ll get, etc. Again, this goes back to the all the jargon about it all.
The truth is that most SEO pros out there aren’t entirely sure what all they’re going to need to do to get your site ranked- not until they get in there and start trying things. That’s a secret most won’t tell you.
Look, if you own a website, you want to put that site in front of as many potential customers as possible, and since Google is where 87% of Americans go to solve all their problems, you want to be on page one. You want more customers.
How you get from page 1042 to page one is mostly irrelevant (other than putting your site at risk for penalty or being thrown out of the search results entirely like a drunk biker at a Sara McLachlan concert).
Plus, many agencies lock you into long-term contracts. The conversation SEO nerds have with prospect clients can go like this, “Here’s a year long contract for you to pay us a LOT of money for us to do vague things to your website with no promise of results.”
There’s got to be another way.
Introducing SEO Sprints
What if we broke down the essential aspects of SEO into specific, observable chunks of work?
That’s an SEO sprint.
Since many businesses don’t want to pay for ongoing SEO which is still the most effective way to get and keep you on page one of Google, you can break search engine optimization down into three distinct pieces:
The Initial Sprint– this is where an SEO expert completes a site audit, competitor analysis, keyword research and more. This sprint includes all the necessary setup work to get your site moving up the rankings.
The Content Sprint– Once the initial sprint is done, you’ll have recommendations for content. The next logical sprint involves gathering all the high-quality content your site needs to get more visibility.
The Backlinking Sprint– A backlink is just what it sounds like- a link from a site with higher authority back to your site. So, if Home Depot linked back to your bathroom renovation site, that’d be a high-quality backlink for your site to get. In this sprint, we simply go out and get high-quality backlinks for your website.
Each sprint has very specific tasks that any business owner can clearly see either on the site itself or through the report that’s sent afterward outlining where to go to see the work that’s been done.
While the Initial Sprint only needs to be done once, a business owner can choose to do the other sprints as many times as necessary to climb up the rankings and even do some sprints later to help stay there.
Rather than paying for ongoing SEO, this is a less expensive alternative to getting more customers by increasing your site’s visibility.
Who Are Sprints Perfect For
Again, the most effective form of SEO is implementing an ongoing process to get you to page one and keep you there, but a healthy alternative to that is finding an agency to do short bursts of SEO work for you.
SEO sprints are perfect for people with websites that:
- Have zero visibility
- Have no idea where their business falls in the search results
- Rank on page 2 & 3 for important keywords
- Aren’t getting much site traffic or business from Google
- Used to do SEO but have let it fallen by the wayside
If you’re looking for some help with your website’s visibility and want an expert to give you clear, observable work that will help your business see more results, call and speak to one of our nerds today about SEO sprints .
About Make It Loud
Since 2004, we’ve been helping small to mid-sized business owners establish a professional presence on the web. With our digital marketing agency, we have one job: to make you more money. We’re not successful until you are.
