Everyone knows how hard
it is to make a business known to people. Businessmen usually employ
a lot of advertising strategies just so that they can boost their
sales a bit.
The usual ways through which a person can advertise is television, radio, magazines, billboards, letters, and newspapers. But now, there’s a whole new playing field on the internet. Be the master of this new playing field and you’ll soon be rolling in riches.
The internet is like the outer space for business men. It’s the final frontier. Conquer it and you’ll have conquered your business. Millions and millions of people log on every single day. This means that your business ads have the potential to be seen by millions of people. Imagine the amount of advertising you’ll get and also the profit that goes along with it.
--- Fighting for Space in the Internet ---
But this “final frontier” is so very different from outer space. For one thing, there won’t be just two competitors like there were only Russia and America to fight over space back then. The internet is an entirely different ball game. For one, the net is saturated with people. Even the most bizarre businesses can have competition. And because of this, getting your website properly advertised has become quite hard.
However, even if it is extremely difficult to become popular in the internet, it’s a hurdle that you’ll just have to jump over because there’s this huge pot of gold waiting at the other end. Sometimes, you just need a little nudge to get started. This is where SEO comes in.
--- The Value of SEO ---
First, let’s find out how customers get to your site. To find something, you would type a keyword on the search bar and then wait for the results to come up. The first name on the list is usually the website that best fits your keyword. This website is also the website with the most amount of traffic, and consequently, the most amount of advertising.
SEO professionals have one mission: to push you up to that pedestal… that coveted number one spot on the list of search results. To do this, they “buff up” your site so that it’ll be easier for your potential customers to find. And by “buffing up”, I mean that they fill
your site with the necessary keywords, the necessary information, and they might even make your site look prettier so that it’ll be more pleasing to your customers.
For example, if you sell lobsters, they’ll fill your site with articles related to lobsters. They’ll put articles like “Lobsters for Sale” or “Delicious Lobsters” or even “Green Lobsters”. They’ll put in anything that your potential customers can possibly type into the search bar, as long as it’s related to your business.
--- White Hat SEO versus Black Hat SEO ---
But the thing is, sometimes SEO professionals can step over the fine line between ethical and unethical SEO. And while unethical or “black hat” SEO can benefit your site for some time, it can be quite harmful in the long run. SEO’s become unethical when they put articles which aren’t really related to the keyword, but are related to your business.
For example, someone is searching for information about chocolates. He finds a link, clicks on it, and to his surprise, he is redirected to a site about lobsters. Wouldn’t that be annoying? However, this is just something someone practicing “black hat” SEO will do.
Just remember, even if such a practice may increase traffic to your site, chances are, these visitors you get through such a scheme wouldn’t even bother to look at the contents of your site. Where’s the profit in that?
Besides, it’s not all about profit. People who avail of the service
of these unethical SEO professionals are actually disrespecting their
fellow men. So always remember, there is such a thing as ethical SEO!
