We have started a new
webmaster Interview thread at UK Webmaster World. This thread features interviews with webmasters who have made some mark in their field. We invite participants to talk about the Internet in general and their specialist field in particular and of course we ask them to pass on some of their skills to the rest of us.
Our maiden Interview features OWG, a search engine marketing consultant with Umbrella Consultancy. Extracts from the interview below,
full interview can be read here.
If you will like us to interview with a particular person, please fell free to suggest/nominate the person.
Question. What frustrates you?
This is a simple one! Working hard on a site, or a report, delivering it to a client, then watch them do nothing with it, or worse take the parts they like out of it. This tears me up inside as I know they could be a success if they just listened.
Question. What would you consider the seven deadly sins in search engine marketing?
Oooh 7 deadly sins? That is a good question.
This answer is likely to surprise many people who know me, as they might expect me to name black hat methods. Here is the thing though, I think that if people want to use black hat methods, then so they should! It is not for me to tell others how to live their life!
The biggest sin I think in my profession is not to make the client aware of the risk involved with black hat. Customers are very naive, and while some are simply greedy and do not care, others simply do not know they can get banned or penalised.
If a company is using black hat methods they MUST tell the client what the risks are because if they don't then they are back to being snake oil salesman selling whisky to the Indians.
I will give you 7 sins though ;-)
i ) bad navigation - be it poor or unspiderable, navigation is king once people are on your site
ii) bad copy and bad design - give people what they need to know and ask for the order. Once you get that in your mind you are clear in your design. bad copy and no calls to action are common sins
iii) Lack of a plan - so many people fail to plan their website. they simply build a nice site, then think about marketing and seo after. What SHOULD happen is that you decide what you want to achieve, and work backwards from there, building your marketing plan and your website around your end goal.
iv) Not letting people know about your website. - Marketing is basic stuff, anyone can do it if they read in the right places. You should let people know about your site online, the RIGHT people as well.
v) Arrogance - many SEO's become arrogant, they talk down to people and they think they are somehow better than others. this lose touch with the reality of doing the job.
vi) Failing to keep abreast of changes in technology and the industry in general. So many people are teaching and quoting out of date stuff.
vii) Failing to look forward to up and coming changes in search engine technology.
