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I see people daily preaching about how web site owners need to pay upwards of $7,500.00 or more for a marketing consultant who also practices search engine optimization. The reason given for this is that any SEO can get you top rankings, but that will not help you sell your products. They preach that searchers have no trust, they say that getting a #1 position for your relevant keywords will only bring visitors, not sales.

To an extent this is true. But the fact is, this is said so you will pay the fee they ask. They know their service, they know their prospect's mindset, and they do a fine job of turning you into a new customer.

You know your products or services better than they possibly could. You know your customers better than they ever could. This stands true of any industry or business model. Make that work for you!

Instead of shelling out the dinero, why not sit down and lay out the groundwork for a plan of action based on what you know about your business and it's customers. What do they want to see, how much detail do they want to see, and above all, what does it take to close the sale.

Once you know all of this, the rest is merely laying it all out on the web site according to your plan. It sounds easy, and it really is not, it takes hard work on your part. But you are not relying on someone who claims that they will research your business and be expert enough in a matter of days to sell your product line.

Do not fall for the hype.

Once you have a web site that you are confident will convert searchers into sales, it is time to make sure you have searchers finding your web site. These same marketing consultants will tell you that you need them for this also. They will tell you that you need to concentrate on the lesser search terms that will bring in lesser amounts of traffic. They will tell you that this method will bring you better quality traffic because it targets the visitor better. Bull! The fact is these marketers know that they do not have the ability or the means to target the more competitive search terms and keywords. They use this method so that they can show you good results using the lesser keywords, to keep you ignorant and happy in your newfound traffic. I say ignorant, because they will not tell you that you could in fact have twice to three times the targeted traffic if you used someone who was a true professional.

Professionalism

There are different definitions of a marketing professional, but for this purpose we are talking about search engine optimization professionals. There are many who call themselves professionals, but who will not go after the competitive keywords and phrases. They are the ones who will tell you it is better to be happy with less traffic, and thus, less sales. They do not practice search engine optimization, because they do not know how, or are not willing to do that much work. The true SEO will make sure that you get the absolute most that you possibly can for your money spent.

There are some well published so called professional SEO's out there that are excellent at promoting themselves. They can make you think their way is God's way with an almost religious zeal and grand speeches about what is 'ethical'. One SEO in particular has so riled people that there is even a web site devoted to showing people that they are not what they purport to be, using only facts from their own site and email, and an open challenge to them to dispute anything said there. To date that challenge has not been accepted according to the site and it's also well published author. Is this who you want doing your marketing?

In summary, watch out for self hype, do not think you have to pay someone $7,500.00 or more to get less than the best rankings, and do some research on the marketer you choose to use. Google searches are often an excellent way of seeing the real story behind marketers.

About the author:
William Cross has founded a number of internet marketing and search engine related websites for professionals. One of the forums he frequents is the #1 ranked http://www.webworkshop.net/seoforum for 'seo forum' on google.