Larger is not necessarily better. Many people tell you to make tons of content but fail
to explain exactly what
quality content is. The biggest problem with growing extremely large is a complete loss
of focus.
If a person is a good web designer and understands a decent amount about how search
engines work they can easily add SEO to their bucket of services. Hosting is also cheap
too. Some people will add on a couple services to website design and call themselves a
full service interactive media company.
It may sound impressive, but how often do you use the phrase "full service
interactive media" in your daily routine? Next to zero I bet. So the message
is harder to spread. It is far easier to be successful if you sharpen and focus
your business efforts vice spreading your efforts across many industries.
Telephone numbers were given 7 digits because human memory sharply drops off as you add
much more data. In any industry people will usually only remember one or two products or
companies.
Think of the name of a copy machine company. Think of another... it gets a bit harder
as you go down the list.
There are full service internet marketing firms, and within the
internet marketing industry there is the SEM community. The SEM community
has the pay per click side and the organic search result
side.
The organic search results side of SEM consists of keyword research, copywriting,
link building services, and link brokers. If you look in
DMOZ there are over 800 generic or full service SEO firms.
Each of the generic SEO firms probably has a less than one in one hundred
chance of being a well known industry leader within the industry.
If you make a huge website then many pages will be multiple links deep into the site.
Many of the links into your site will usually be linked to the home page.
Having only one home page on a huge site vice having five or six really focused sites
means you will probably only have one chance to rank well for really
competitive phrases. You will need to build extreme link popularity into your site to have
your inner pages rank really well for competitive search terms (unless the inner page is
an extremely unique well positioned idea).
The web is a big social network. Many quality links are based upon business
partnerships. If you host, design, and promote sites you make it hard for
hosts, designers, or marketers to link to you. People do not generally like to link to
their competition, especially their unfocused competition.
If you pick a focus on a single industry it is much easier to make
business partnerships with other sites around your business idea that do
not directly compete with you.
As you add to your services you lose the positioning
you have for your other services. When Google bought Blogger they left the name Blogger
alone. When you think Google they want you to think search. When you think search they
want you to think Google.
While line extension may at first seem like a good idea it often hurts businesses more
than it helps them. When Heinz became ketchup it lost it's position as pickles. Right now
I can tell you who I would refer you to for almost anything in SEO because certain people
have branded themselves that way. Certain people become synonymous with ideas within their
industry.
When I think of SEO there are really only a few companies that come to mind (out of
many hundreds or thousands of companies). When I think of each of the market segments I
usually think of one or two people or websites.
SEO Copywriting: People argue as to whether or not copywriting or
links are more important. Obviously both matter at least somewhat. Jill Whalen positioned herself as
"The SEO Copywriter."
It does not matter if she is right or wrong in her thinking how important SEO
copywriting is. If you think you need an SEO Copywriter then you likely will end up
running into Jill Whalen.
Linking is Important: In that whole arguement about whether llinking
or copywriting is more important John Scott branded himself as the person who thinks links
rule the world. His voice has been rather crass and perhaps too loud for some, but he has
established a brand. If you believe in the power of links there is a good chance you will
run into John Scott.
Announcing Websites: Sometimes landing a big client can make your
name. Eric Ward helped build the Amazon.com linking campaign.
He has since worked for many other large national or international sites with his
website announcement service. If you need to announce your website it is likely you will
run into Eric Ward.
Link Brokers: There are only a handful of large link brokers on the
web. I can think of maybe a half dozen off hand.
By taking Google to court for lowering his PageRank SearchKing made himself the
ridicule of many jokes. He now has a gigantic new office. He too was laughing all the way
to the bank.
Sometimes adding on extra things to combat problems within your industry boosts your
popularity and may define you as a leader within your industry. Recently Google began to
stop parsing link popularity on some sites that were selling links and Jarrod Hundt came
up with a service called BlockedPR.com that tracks these sites.
Odds are that if you need a link broker you stand a good chance of running into the
PRadNetwork or TextLinkBrokers.
Keyword Research: Thought to be too small or too focused of an idea by
many SEO firms, keyword research became a lucrative field for Dan Thies.
Dan Thies snatched the opportunity to become synonymous with keyword research. He has
just about zero competitors and if you need help with keyword research you will likely
stumble into Dan Thies.
- The web is a social structure where many links are based on business partnerships.
- If you have a huge broad sweeping business it is usually harder to get free links.
- People usually only remember a few names in any field.
- Most people become successful by focusing their energies vice expanding their offerings.
