DIY SEO

Before taking MKT 595, I have tried to do SEO myself for my personal website because I don’t really have any budget to pay someone else to help my website get ranked high on google. Now I’m even more confident in SEO DIY after week 4. The week 4 class materials provided me sufficient knowledge of doing SEO. Some are even so technical. But surprisingly, those coding stuff didn’t bore me that much as I thought they would be.

However then, a question suddenly jumped into my head: Should I really do it myself? May be it is a silly question...But when I really searched online, I found this great article that answered my “silly question” on every level: "Choosing a Professional SEO or Doing It Yourself?"

(http://www.bigmouthmedia.com/live/articles/seo-customer-guide-11.asp)

So, yes, there are pros and cons for both “Doing it Yourself” and “Choosing a Professional SEO”. It is good to know all of them, but you should pay special attention to the following cons of DIY if you have decided to save the money.

§ Do it wrong and you could kill your site's search engine listings.

§ It takes a lot of time to learn how to perform SEO/SEM properly, to be able to predict changes in the search market and act accordingly, to develop and put into action new strategies etc.

§ You're at a disadvantage with SEO professionals because while they're becoming better and more experienced at what they do, you'll be starting from ground up and struggling to master the basics. These professionals could very well be those who market the websites of your competitors.

§ SEO is a constant process. You cannot do SEO for a week and then take a 2 months' break. You don't put your traditional marketing strategy on hold, do you? If you're expecting ROI from your online presence, then SEO has to be a constant factor in your strategy.

§ You will conduct SEO at your own risk. There are methods which can get your site banned if you employ tactics that search engines consider to be unethical. Be extremely careful not to get your site in trouble.

These three marked in red are exactly what I found hard or did wrong when I tried to DIY SEO. It is true that we are getting professional knowledge from the course itself, but that doesn't mean we are already experts. There are new strategies, new tools and new problems coming out all the time. There is no end of this learning process for everyone.