No one is invincible
A news story today reminded me of this fact. It’s so easy to do something dumb when you’re dumb and you begin thinking you’re invincible. I can’t say that I didn’t do a handful of dumb things when I thought I was ten feet tall and fireproof. Fortunately I came away largely unscathed.
As I’ve continued our SEO efforts on the Netvantage website, I find myself wondering what some of our established competitors are thinking when they suddenly see us popping up in the SERPs with the rest of the old guard. I like to imagine a panicked discussion among managers after seeing us listed in front of them for terms like paid search management. I envision this conversation starting with the line, “Where in the heck did these guys come from?” Now whether or not that actually happens, I don’t know, but it makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
More importantly, I need to remember this scene because I don’t want it to be me. SEO is no different than any other strategic marketing initiative. You need to have a basic sense of your environment and one eye on the rear view mirror once you’ve made it to the top. If your website is a key business driver, you can’t rest on your laurels in regards to search engine optimization. For most sites, search is THE key driver of traffic. If new competitors begin bumping you down the wrungs of the rankings, even a few notches could lead to some significant dropoffs in the returns from your site.
So just because you’ve been atop the rankings for a long period doesn’t mean there isn’t a hungry upstart ready to pounce and start eating up market share…So to all you search marketing firms out there, make room, because you’ll be seeing a lot of us.
