Picture it. You’re the CEO of a 1 year old startup and so far, lofty revenue targets are not being met and VC’s are breathing down your neck. You have a great web site, and a fantastic service but the only thing making noise around there are crickets when it comes to increases in any key metric. You’ve heard about SEO and need to make a move and right this ship immediately, or the board will make that decision for you. Now is when you need to take a deep breath and say WWMZD?
I’ll tell you what the Z man would do. He’d probably say something like “quit being a pussy and choose a color that brings out your eyes”.
The Secrets of SEO & Why It’s Not Really A Secret
To use one of many possible analogies, do you remember the most popular girl in high school? If you attended, and were sober, you do. Your website essentially has to mimic her. Pretty (People, and ultimately Google, admire it), engaging (people love to use it), and a lot of people talk about her (loads of back links). Now, imagine this. You’re the new girl in school. You aren’t the prettiest but you’re not ugly either, I’d say – plain and that’s nothing a little makeover couldn’t fix. At the moment, there’s already 3 very popular girls and as far as they’re concerned, no room for another. You can’t overtake this regime without a new look and some credibility, can you? You feel you’ve got a lot to offer, people just don’t know it yet – so now you need a strategy.
At this point you have exactly 4 options.
- Run away and hide at the geek table, content with an easy victory, knowing a little attention is better than failing.
- Identify your competition, let your natural beauty shine, show up to all the right parties and hope for the best.
- Quit shopping at the GAP, hit VS and strap on your FMB’s. Make friends with the entire football team and throw all of the cool parties.
- Spread rumors about the girls, make a move on the most popular guy (aka, the bf of girl target #1) and expect a short, and very damaging run.
By now you’ve estimated #2 is the only valid option for a company such as yours. You run a company that wants to move naturally to the top, and by god, you’re going to get there on great customer service and steadfast attention to detail. You’ve quickly deduced #1 is a joke because you can’t give up, you would never steal a boyfriend, nor do you think your parents would let you throw parties or pay for thongs. So, your mission is strictly white hat and you hire a white hat SEO to oversee this strategy because you’ve got enough on your plate, and let’s be honest – you haven’t even figured out how to use that new fucking mouse yet.
But you’re wrong, already. Most SEO is a joke, just ask Dave McClure – and you know what? He’s kind of right.
