Friday, October 15, 2010
Admit failure in SEM: The Right Ethics
This topic deals with a subject which is very close to my heart and is often difficult for everyone to follow. It deals with the acceptance of failure gracefully without trying to cover up faults if you are responsible for the failure of the project. It is better to admit it and take any blame if it is your fault.
In recent memory, not too long ago I remember reading an article about sales. It is often the case in cold calling and after great efforts of promotion sales people often fail. This is the case in SEM projects as well. But the art of the situation such as failure is how you bounce back and deal with the failure. You should have a crisis plan in place that will help you deal with any SEM project’s failure. This part of any job, and the stronger you are in admitting failure the better off you are going to be. You need to be able to take rejection and learn and grow from any failure. This is what will help you in the long run.
My favorite story is about the great inventor Thomas Edison. He tried very hard and failed 1000 times before he finally nailed it. The light bulb was made and perfected. He took failure gracefully. He wrote that it took a 1000 steps make a light bulb. He truly knew how to fail and learn from his failure.
In the SEM business the same principles apply. Sometimes things just do not work out. A site may not take off as projected and expected. One has to follow many steps as a SEM effort. Keyword research has to be done, narrowing the keywords to a workable list, segmenting to cover variations, site optimization, changing the information architecture, URL changes, changing title tags, anchor tags and tag in diagrams and photos, Image optimization, conversion optimization, and lastly campaigns on social media. These are some of the 1000 steps before you succeed in the right SEM progress for a client. The main goal that should be in the back of mind is to help increase conversions for the client. Most often the SEM projects involve website optimization, or PPC (pay per click advertising) or a blog subscription. Failure is possible in all three domains of SEM.
One the pit falls in SEM projects is to focus too much on the keywords and use to help rank the clients page. When we do this we often are too narrow-minded and lose out at other aspects of the ranking game. This is a reason for failure if we over do just one of the tactics in SEM projects. In SEM projects one gets paid no matter what the result it but this should not be an excuse not to admit failure if conversions for the client does not happen. We get paid no matter what the results as stated in the contract.
Clients do not understand SEM if some failure takes place, do not pull the wool over the client’s eyes and cover up failure. This is rather unethical. You should tell the client exactly what is wrong and try to fix it and move to a better position by learning from the faults of the past. SEM is not regulated, has no set standards, and no schooling is required. It is a highly subjective business with a lot of theory. Even though they may not be able to measure such of the project do not pull a fast one, if you are responsible for the failure. It is better to admit it and rise from the abyss of failure.
Friday, October 1, 2010
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