A Day in the Life of a Persuasion Architect: Do I look crazy to you?

Shari Thurow wrote in ClickZ Monday about How NOT to Work With an SEO/SEM Firm. She interviewed SEO/SEM firms about their most common client/prospect complaints:

You'll have to change your Web site. Accept this fact before contacting us.

"We have a difficult time talking to people who honestly believe we can wave a magic wand and miraculously make a Web site appear at the top of search results, even in this day and age," said one SEO firm staffer. "In order for us to optimize a site, the site has to change: copywriting (and not just the meta-tag descriptions), information architecture, page layout, link development, you name it. The prospect's site must change in order for the prospect's site to receive increased 'natural' search engine traffic."

Another SEM firm echoes this sentiment. "When we said that the text content on your pages will need to be changed, what we meant was: the. text. content. on. your. pages. will. need. to. be. changed."

It's a valid point, but from a Conversion standpoint, it underscores a more important one to us- Why do people continue to try and attack a conversion challenge by throwing more traffic at it? It's pure lunacy to change your site to accomodate the recommendations of a firm whose stated goals are to provide more qualified traffic, when you've previously displayed an utter inability to close on the qualified traffic you currently enjoy.

Fix the holes in the bucket first, and then worry about how to add more water!

Comments

I think myself Shari was just blowing off a little steam there. SEO does not primarily concern itself with conversion and if I'm called in to rework a site then I'm not inclined to suggest the potential client rejects my efforts in favour of making better use of the existing traffic. Why would I? Why should I?

Posted by: Bill Kruse | July 06, 2005 at 02:36 PM

Posted by: Bill Kruse | July 06, 2005 at 02:37 PM