SEO: certainly not DIY

While many of us fancy ourselves as DIY experts; sawing, hammering and nailing bits together to create a new set of shelves, or putting a picture on the wall, SEO is not something you can ‘blag’ your way through. There are just too many complicated and frequently changing factors involved that require expertise as opposed to an instruction book.

A lot of people in the IT industry, or working “in IT” for large businesses feel as though their limited knowledge of SEO is enough that the firm doesn’t have to bring in experts in the field, and that they can do it themselves. However, history and case studies show us that this is the start of a slippery slope. A lot of businesses who opt to do their own SEO soon find that they’re being penalized by Google for over-optimisation of their site, essentially ‘spamming’ the site with the terms that they want to be seen ranking highly for, and Google subsequently prevents them from doing so, knocking them down the rankings or not including them at all.

One of the main reasons that firms opt against bringing in so-called SEO experts is that they believe all of the best firms are based in the United States and that they charge overwhelming amounts. However, there are plenty of British and Irish SEO agencies who are gaining reputations for being among the very best in the industry, and, what’s more, they don’t charge the substantial American fees and – for those based in the UK and Ireland – they’re working at the same times as you, there’s no time zone changes, meaning that if you have any issues or need to contact them for an update, they should be on-hand whenever you need them.

An upwards arrowFor those still not convinced on the advantages of bringing in an SEO firm, you have to question how you want to get to the “next level” in your industry. You might be doing very well, but you always want to be doing better – ambition is only natural with any business. But sometimes, no matter how good your existing in-house IT team may be, they don’t have the expertise in SEO to find the strategies to take you from the top 20 search results for your key term to the first page, top 5, number one, wherever it is you want to be.

With so many strategies in an ever-evolving industry, there’s no way this is a DIY job. Reaching the next level is serious stuff and therefore needs the best in the business, not the amateurs.

Respect: give it to get it

This is the third in a series of articles in which I hope to share with you my knowledge of how and why Technology Bloggers has been so successful, so fast. Learn more about this series by reading our Technology Bloggers success article.

I believe that respect is one of the most crucial things in blogging. If you are good to your readers, your readers will be good to you.


Respect - Give It To Get It

To build up a great community (like the one on this blog) you have to be a friendly author. Most of our authors, myself included, don’t just leave their article once it is written, they check back every few days and reply to comments.

But it’s not just about being a good commenter.

Being a dofollow blog is one of the main reasons for the success of this blog. People come here because they know they will be treated well.

You have heard it all before but I shall sumarise it again: if you read you benefit from out great content and the ability to comment and gain dofollow keyword rich links to your latest content; if you write you also have the ability to get dofollow keyword rich links links to your content in your article, and (if you are of author status or higher) you can get a link to your chosen site on the sidebar.

I believe that if you offer people fantastic content from a variety of different authors, as well as dofollow keyword rich links in comments, matched with great incentives to write, you have a recipe for success!

Not 100% convinced about dofollow? Well it is thought that it might lower your PageRank, especially on individual articles, and there are some rumors that it can harm you in the SERP’s, but from my personal experience, I believe that the benefits outweigh the costs.

Need some proof? Here are just a few great blogs which are very successful and are dofollow:

Check their traffic ranking. Notice anything? Dofollow blogs with great content, also the authors usually try to respond to any comments in need of a reply.

Are you a dofollow blog? If not why not? From my experience with Technology Bloggers and my own philosophy blog, dofollow is one way of succeeding in blogging.

Why does dofollow work?

I believe it all comes back down to respect, you are respecting your writers and readers, so in tern they respect you.

If you run a nofollow blog, try switching. Do it today and never look back 🙂

Back next Monday with the next in the series!