I see something very simmilar happen with another buzzword… SEO!

Granted, it may not be as extreme or even near that level, but I still see those 2 things happening agian.  It’s like the buzzword SEO has people spending money on drunken sailors, and the people offering SEO services are making a ton off of it.  And the kicker is, they’re not doing a whole lot to do it!  Best part is, offering SEO is so easy, even companies that are on death’s doorstep like phone book publishers are doing it to stay afloat.

This is all they do….UNABRIDGED!

1. Say they can get you #1 listings on Google, Yahoo, Bing (Or whatever the newest one is).
2. Tell you it will only cost you $300-$400 a month.
3. Take that $300-$400 a month, take a cut for themselves, open an Google Adwords and Yahoo Overture account and use the rest to fund the account.
4. Set a no-limit cost per click so that your site gets listed first
5. List you on their directory site (takes them probably 30 seconds)
6. Show you you’re listed first, then get you into a contract!

Sadly this really doesn’t do much.  Sure having your site’s link on their directory is good for search engine visibility.  But when everything’s said and done, if you quit paying that monthly fee, your site drops down in the results rankings to nothing.  And that’s because search engine visibility has NOTHING to do with pay-per click advertising!

Search engine visibility really only consists of 6 elements:

1. Making sure your content is clear, and focuses on what the page is about.
2. Selecting the right keywords that apply to that content.
3. Making sure the keywords are well saturated in the content.
4. Giving search engines a way to see the keywords and content.
5. Getting other sites to verify that your pages are relevant to your content.
6. Establishing a way to monitor what keywords users search for that visit your site.

Best part is, these things can be done in a with little effort when a site is designed properly.   We do these things as part of a site design.  It’s not a monthly fee!

…And we’re not done yet!  We have 2 sites in the works that will be launched by February 1st!

This goes to show that despite all the doom and gloom news about the economy, the people who know this is the time to expand your customer base.  When your current customer base is watching what they spend, it’s important to expand the customer base to keep sales stable.  And then when economic conditions improve, you have more customers adding to your sales.   As simple as it sounds, it’s how businesses grow over time!

With that economics lesson behind us, We hope 2010 is a good year for you too!