Before companies hire us to optimize their website for high rankings, we always make sure that we are very clear on what we will need to do to their site in order for things to work out successfully. Very often our potential clients have recently shelled out a lot of money for a very cool looking website which they think is perfect. Unfortunately, these types of sites are usually not created with search engines in mind. This is one reason why we are sure to tell people that in nearly every case, we will need to change the visible text on their main front page so that it better utilizes the keyword phrases they want to rank high under.

Yes, that's right, the visible text…the stuff that people first see and read when they get to the site.

"What?" they often ask incredulously. "Can't you just change the meta tags?" "What if we make the new text invisible?" "Aren't there ways to do all this in the background somehow?"…"Isn't there any other way?"

Sure, there may be other ways, but like any successful company we use methods that have proven to work for us in the past. That is, creating keyword rich, professionally written marketing copy that naturally uses the keyword phrases the site wants to rank high for. Think about this for a moment and it and it makes perfect sense. Search engines are there for the sole purpose of finding pages that are relevant to a user's keyword search. What better way to find relevant pages than to look for sites that meet the above criteria?

In most cases this is enough to convince even skeptical clients that perhaps their fancy Flash Splash page should in fact be deleted. It's usually enough to persuade clients to agree to have their copy rewritten. Very often, once they read the professional text that is written about their product or service, they seem to come around. We show them that when the copy is carefully crafted, the keyword phrases don't have to stand out like a sore-thumb.

Unfortunately, every now and then there's that certain client who, no matter how many times we explain the process, never quite gets it. Sure, they may say they get it. They even appear to get it. They happily go along with everything that we want to do for them. They review the new copy, make edits, and express how wonderful the copy reads and what a great addition to the site it will make. They even help us put everything up on their site in good working order. They seem to be the ideal client. Finally, submission to the engines occurs, and it's only a matter of time before the rankings should start pouring in.

UNTIL

A few weeks later, a quick look at the client website shows that all of the new text that they were previously thrilled with, is suddenly gone! All that is left of a carefully crafted optimization is the Title and Meta Tags. Even Alt Tags were not spared the delete key! Go figure.

Why am I telling you all this? Well for one thing, it's a true story. Unfortunately, it has happened to us more than once. Since it's not as uncommon as one would think, we do come prepared.

Fortunately, we had a signed contract that clearly explained our terms of service. In our contract, we specifically state that the client must not change or delete the new copy that we write for at least 3 months. If we will be providing continued search engines services beyond the initial 3 months, we ask that they send us any changes to the copy to be sure it will work for high rankings, before they upload it to the website. We also specifically state that we'll take no responsibility for the rankings if they change the text on the pages without our knowledge.

We've not yet had an answer from our latest client as to why they deleted the new copy. They had originally praised the copy as being ideal, and there were never any signs of them being less than happy with it. It's not at all clear what their reasoning was for starting over from scratch without first consulting us. My theory is that because there has been so much written and talked about Meta tags and the like, that no matter how many times you tell certain people that these tags make very little difference to your overall rankings, many simply don't want to believe that. It's a case of a little bit of knowledge being a dangerous thing. Apparently there are a lot of people who have been brainwashed to believe that Meta tags are the be all end all to high rankings.

Perhaps our client really only desired some professionally created Meta tags. They went along with text changes to get to our meta tag writing skills! What they will soon find out is that the meta tags that were created for them, were done so based solely upon the copy that was also created for them. The two go hand-in-hand. Without the copy, the tags are useless. (Which is also why stealing a high ranking page's meta tags will rarely do any good either.)

The moral of the story is this: If you're going hire a professional expert to do something for you, whether it be search engine optimization, or building a house, then you've got to trust that expert enough to let them do their job correctly. Professionals do not advise certain things just for the heck of it. They have tried and true methods that they know will work for your situation if given a chance. If you choose someone that has a good track record at what they do, then put your faith in them to do the job right. The best results always come when the experts are allowed to make changes as necessary. If you're not prepared to do what it takes, then for goodness sakes, don't waste your money!

Article courtesy
Rank Write Roundtable.
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