[Update – 5th March 2016 at 19:28: Click here to listen a short audio recording I did on this subject BEFORE I wrote this article]

The views I express in this piece may rub some hard core SEO practitioners the wrong way. However, I urge you to keep an open mind as you read, so as to appreciate the often missed perspective I offer.

A few days ago, I got a call from a young lady who boldly announced the name of the company she worked for, and then asked:

“Are you Tayo Solagbade, the owner of thefarmceo.net?”

When I replied in the affirmative, she said “We can get thefarmceo.net to appear in the number one spot on Google. What do you think about that?”

At this point, I understood where she was headed with her line of questioning, and sighed as I realized the nuisance I’d endured for years via email, from so called SEO providers had come to me via yet another channel.

I proceeded to calmly and politely explain to her that thefarmceo.net was one of 5 domains I owned, and that I had no need to get it to appear in number one spot on Google.

I explained further that I did not do SEO in the conventional sense she proposed, where one aimed to appear on number one, for a fee. Instead I use(d) a zero cost Web Marketing System to achieve the search engine visibility I needed (via multiple sales pages indexed) , in a manner that brought me a regular stream of high quality prospects via search engine queries.

She asked some more questions, in a way that indicated she was trying to wrap her mind around the unusual point I was making. How come I did not do SEO?

I replied that I did some basic SEO, but that I focused more of my efforts on using my Web Marketing System to get noticed in a favourable way by the engines and my target audience. For instance, I told her thefarmceo.net, for me, does not need to appear in Google’s SERP at number one, because I use it mainly as a forwarder to a sub domain on my flagship website i.e. www.iff.tayosolagbade.com. I therefore place greater priority in getting TayoSolagbade.com top visibility in search engines results pages.

At that point I heard a click, and the line went dead. She was gone.

Whether she’d cut the call, or had run out of airtime, I had no idea. One thing was certain though: she would not be calling back, because all I’d said clearly indicated I would NOT be interested in buying the “commodity” of number one position in Google for a fee, that she wanted to sell.

It is my considered opinion, that outside standard SEO that most website owners know/do, the smartest, most effective way to attract attention from potential buyers online, is intelligent creation and propagation of useful, value adding and interesting content, on a regular basis.

I believe many supposed SEO service providers focus on selling commodities instead of solutions. That often serves them, with little or no benefit to clients.

For those who still don’t get it, here’s why an offer of that kind should NOT win you over easily:

1. Getting into number one can be achieved, depending on a variety of factors.

But that has to be done within a defined context relevant to your unique needs. Since they come telling you they can do it without even knowing what you’re about, how can you be sure they’ll make it happen in a way that will attract the right kind of people, you need to buy from you?

Getting into number one MUST be a means to an end YOU want to achieve.

If you get into number one for irrelevant search strings, you’ll make little or no sales. And if you get into number one for the wrong reasons, or you get into number one in the wrong “niche”…then you’re on a wild goose chase!

Those are the fine details these “vendors” never tell most uninformed clients (Sometimes I suspect even they (the SEO “vendors” – as I like to think of this breed – do NOT know those details themselves!)

They simply play the trick of massaging people’s egos.

Showing up on Google’s number 1 placing becomes a bragging right they encourage the client to aim for. The client is made to forget that THAT appearance is supposed to translate to quality sales leads can result in actual buying transactions taking place.

2. Staying at number one in the manner they propose will require that YOU pay THEM money to keep it so

It becomes a recurrent expenditure, once they lock you in. I say your money will be better spent most times!

There are website owners caught in this trap now, paying to stay in their so called number one placing, even though their leads generations is showing no significant improvement.

3. Web marketing when done right, can deliver timeless returns on your investment.

A person who comes offering to get you into number one, without asking for information to evaluate what your brand is about, does NOT care about you.

S/he is hunting for money.

Choosing the right expert, and paying him/her to handle your SEO can yield good results. However, it can be hard to find experts with integrity, and competence, who will not be a bit pricey.

So, when you get offers of quick-fix SEO solutions, at “low prices” consider such offers with a big spoon of salt.

4. One more thing. I don’t know if I’m the only one who has noticed this…

When I was trying to reinvent my website marketing i.e. when traffic was close to nil, and I was starting this blog in 2012, I got few offers from these SEO guys.

But as soon as things began moving up for me traffic wise, especially from Google and You tube, in late 2013. When I’d built up some critical mass of blog posts, I suddenly started getting a rash of almost daily email offers to help me get more traffic and page 1 SERP placings!

That’s like offering me medication for an ailment I already cured myself of!

Apart from a few articles (like the one here and this one here) I’ve ignored them for the most part – until this phone call incident from a few days ago. The former link leads to an article titled “Open Letter To Intending SEO Service Providers – From Tayo Solagbade of the SD Nuggets Blog” in which I PREDICTED that I would succeed with my web marketing WITHOUT using their services, or adopting their methods.

I’ve since been vindicated many times over – including the time my domain got poached and I rebuilt my brand to even greater search engine relevance on a brand new domain less than 6 months! (Read A Proven Strategy to Find Profitable Buyers Regardless of Your Domain Name)

Here’s one of several analogies I use to drive home my point about the power of original and useful content in web marketing

Imagine putting up a (never-before-seen) page with a link to watch a video showing Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi trading tackles in a secret one-on-one match up, to see who could score more goals against the other, on a web page with ZERO SEO done to it!!!

I’m sure you’ll agree with me that THAT video will chalk up a massive number of views from soccer enthusiasts in no time – regardless of what platform the page owner chooses to announce it from.

Why?

Because the target audience, who are die hard soccer lovers, would watch and then tell one another, and possibly keep coming back to watch.

In the process, Google and other search engine robots would follow the “traffic” of visitors to that page and the video, and it would climb right into page 1 of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). And it would begin trending, then more people would get to know about it, and the cycle would continue.

We all know this is what happens. And that’s why I believe sometimes we go overboard in the way we talk about SEO.

Having said that, some highly competitive markets do require extra and more sophisticated SEO efforts to gain the slightest advantage.

However, those tend to be in the minority. Especially in my part of the world. The degree of needs sophistication regarding web marketing is much lower in Africa, compared to what obtains in developed societies.

A large majority of website owners out here are not so technical minded.

My experiences and observations also indicate that few are willing, talk less able, to pay competent hands to to do it for them. And that’s if any worthwhile returns – measurable and sustainable – can be had.

Unless it’s not too pricey and a one-off expense (both not likely) most of them would balk at doing it.

For me, as far as today’s web marketing goes, my experiences tell me once you know the demographics of those you want to attract, the rest is easy.

You would begin by doing
the standard SEO stuff e.g. add keywords, title and description tags to articles, images plus submit your domain to directories and search engines.

You would also follow key Google webmaster tools recommendations. Setup profiles on Google plus, You tube, and other social media platforms you consider relevant – being sure to use RSS feeds and URLs to link the aforementioned with your website and blog.

Such standard steps generally suffice.

Next you would focus on churning out useful and interesting information via
as many channels and in as many formats as possible, to meet your target audience’s needs

As you do that – and continue to do so – simply watch Google’s fair play algorithms do their magic in your favour. Your webmaster tools account would offer more insights into analyzing your performance, and you could use that to improve your efforts.

Apart from attracting a larger number of potential buyers to you, this approach also ensures they are more profitable as well!

Unfortunately, Africans in general, and Nigerians in particular still need to learn to NOT be so
egotistical and negatively competitive in both business as well as personal life.

Our way of life too often encourages people to think and act from Win-Lose (instead
of Win-Win) perspectives in relating with one another.

As a result, trust is a stranger amongst us, as is the true spirit of excellence
that thrives where negative competition is absent or minimal.

The above is why we often find ourselves looking to others from Europe and America
to help us develop, since our best people often find it hard to come – and stay –
together in lasting collaboration to make desired results happen.

In this field of Web Marketing for instance, this problem is one that I have
pointed out many times.

It is why too many web development practitioners in these parts still continue
selling web marketing to clients as a “commodity” with a shelf life, when in fact it
needs to be delivered as a self-sustaining “solution” that is timeless in its
impact.

Since their clients don’t know better, they accept this inefficient and more
expensive approach until they can no longer afford it and/or the results no longer
justify the continued monetary investment.

These developers see a person preaching low to zero cost timeless marketing
strategies like me as a threat.

They believe I want to make them do more work for clients than
they are willing to. So, rather than reach out to learn from me, they begin to look
for ways to discredit me before clients who are often not savvy enough to see
through their antics.

And that’s why:

1. I offer web marketing educational resources for CEOs – to over time arm them with
insights to be more discerning in terms of what they accepts from providers –
including me!

2. Once in a while I also offer messages to other web development service providers
fitting the description given above, about the need to invest quality time to learn
better ways to serve clients improved results.

The pod cast I will publish on this blog tomorrow, offers content catering to both groups, that I believe they
will find to be a wake up call of sorts.

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4. 5 Reasons Why Buying Facebook Likes Is a Waste of Time and Money for Your Business

5. Why Article Marketing Is Still Effective

6. Open Letter To Intending SEO Service Providers – From Tayo Solagbade of the SD Nuggets Blog

7. A Website That Works Wins You Repeat Visitors, Leads, & Sales: NOT Admirers & Compliments!

8. PII 003: Proven Web Marketing Ideas Your Travel and Tourism or Hospitality Business Needs

9. A Proven Strategy to Find Profitable Buyers Regardless of Your Domain Name