Great content is the lifeblood, yes — but I’ve seen plenty of sites with great content not get very good search engine position. I think you have to start with great content (and don’t try to shortcut it). Once you have that, you still need to understand how to present it and how to market it.

- Anita

We are attempting to win an online popularity contest. But many SEO practices can make you the loud, obnoxious, one at the party, trying to sell life-insurance to the other guests at the buffet table.

Search engines, such as Google, are trying to play sherrif in a REALLY wild west cyber-frontier. Keeping the dross to a minimum wherever possible. Not an easy task, given the garbage which litters the ‘net. How many times do you see ‘[whatever keyboard you've types into the search engine] is it a scam?’ as some ‘marketer’ holds yet another fake venus fly trap review site up for our inspection?

Although some SEO companies do attempt to deceive, for the most part it is their ignorance of the true nature of the search engine algorithms which fuel their practices. It’s not actually their fault, as only the search engine engineers themselves really know what criteria is required. For it would be carnage for everyone concerned if that information ever became public.

There’s no getting away from the simple truth that unique, original and organically grown content is the lifeblood of a successful web enterprise.

Anything else is just stacking the deck. But not eventually in your favor.

Some will reply with “I guarantee you that …”, others will say “There are no guarantees”. The good SEO’s will say “No Win, No Fee”. If you [as an seo] can’t say this to your clients, you shouldn’t be in the business.

Cheers

Col

how is this different then any other business? business in general ‘outsources’ work (aka employees). It’s all the same. The end RESULT is what matters. Did you MAKE MONEY with the money you spent? That’s all that matters.