The most common question I get about SEO in Portland is actually part statement; “That sounds easy, why wouldn’t I just do it myself?”. First, let’s unpack that sentence.
SEO is a highly competitive, extremely technical industry, and usually the reason that anyone thinks it’s not difficult is because it’s been explained in only the most rudimentary of terms. To put it simply, the web as we know it is expanding at such an incredible rate that quantification is almost impossible, literally exploding with new forms of information, and more importantly, new forms of connection between sets of data.
Staying current with all the new applications, rubrics, and competencies is already a field of enormous depth, compounded by the fact that usually about half of it will be completely irrelevant by the time this article is published. Knowing what to know is always the first job, and applying that knowledge is where the real work begins.
Getting a site not only recognized but popular is the full-time work of dedicated programmers, networkers, and content generators. Which methods are best for gaining his recognition and popularity is vital to making a site well ranking not only in the short term, but the long haul as well. An overarching vision of the future of the Web, and the future of marketing is necessary to fulfill the long term goals of your site, all while producing relevant content which draws traffic every day. Furthermore, strategies fall flat, servers die, and sometimes, the traffic just doesn’t happen. Unless you are in the market for an all encompassing, social-life killing, unimpressive hobby, it just makes more sense to leave it to the pros, so that you can do the thing you actually want to publicize, as opposed to publicizing the thing you want to do.