SEO Salespeople

More than once this month my office has fielded phone calls from salespeople from some small marketing firms claiming they could get us on the front page of Google.

The first conversation I had with an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) saleswoman went like this:
Me: Thank you for calling the Marble Falls Massage Therapy Center. How may I help you today?
SEO Saleswoman: Yes. Would you like to be Google?
Me: ::pause:: excuse me? How would I like to BE Google?
SEO Saleswoman: yea you know... Google. We can get you on Google.
Me: I am confused. We are on Google for free. What exactly are you selling?
SEO Saleswoman: we can get you on Google's first page and a pin on the Google map (which is also free and you can do it yourself) for $XXX.00
Me: Where are you located?
SEO Saleswoman: Seattle.
Me: and how did you learn about our business?
SEO Saleswoman: I found you online.
Me: So we already rank pretty high on Google then?...
SEO Saleswoman: ::pause::

A large percentage of our new clients find us from searching for "massage in Marble Falls" or some variation. Our business name is Marble Falls Massage Therapy Center. We secured the URL www.MarbleFallsMassageTherapy.com . But, when we first opened that wasn't enough to get us on page one. We built up the website, added a Facebook page, and requested our pin on the Google map. We learned how SEO works .... by Googling it... and we attended a workshop hosted by Google in downtown Austin. After the hosting/domain name for the website and the gas to the workshop, everything else was free.

When linking back to your site was THE way to increase rank, we linked back to our website through our Facebook page, blog, and other people's blogs. Now that the emphasis is on fresh and relevant content, we've changed to adding new, content-rich subpages in our website in addition to our blogs. By staying on top of current trends we've managed to get an average of 6 spots on the google front page for "massage in marble falls"

I suppose there are business owners out there who still don't understand SEO, or websites for that matter, and for them the services offered by small marketing firms in Seattle are worth their weight in gold. But honestly, once you figure out the rules it's easy to play the game and coach your businesses own SEO with home field advantage.