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I'm Getting Pretty Tired of Startup Advice that Doesn't Include Any Mention of SEO

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Re: I'm Getting Pretty Tired of Startup Advice that Doesn't Include Any Mention of SEO

#23

Post by randfish »

_lc1i wrote: post #9

I found the post ridiculously condescending. Insinuating we are idiots and then stating 'For fuck's sake people - get a clue.' and then attacking specific small startups unprovoked does not seem like a very proper way to spread the word for your company or SEO in general. Unfortunately, I'm sure the post has garnered the desired attention by 'dropping the F bomb for the first time'. I would hope search optimization i…

seekely - I'm the author of the post and am very sorry for being condescending. That wasn't my intent and on re-reading, I can see that it came across that way. I offer my apology.

I was writing a bit more emotionally than I usually do, and, as I said in the post, am much more frustrated with those who provide startup advice ignoring the power of SEO than I am with startups who don't engage in it. Startups have a million things on their plates. Those who make lists recommending marketing practices have just one task, and I think it's negligent to ignore such a valuable marketing tactic for web-based companies.

Re: I'm Getting Pretty Tired of Startup Advice that Doesn't Include Any Mention of SEO

#25

Post by brett »

brett wrote: post #14

April Fools?

Ha. I guess that wasn't very helpful. What I meant to say is that it's kind of silly to suggest that basic startup advice should automatically include something about SEO. Even if we assume that SEO is highly important and every startup should spend time on it, it's an implementation detail. It's no more germane to general startup advice than how to deploy a web app, even if both are vital to a web startup's success.

Re: I'm Getting Pretty Tired of Startup Advice that Doesn't Include Any Mention of SEO

#26

Post by nextmoveone »

For the start up I work at, SEO brings in at least $450 a day, 30 days a month. I believe in SEO and think it works great when you are selling a product or service.

When you are giving a product or service away for free, I don't think the SEO juice is worth the SEO squeeze.

Re: I'm Getting Pretty Tired of Startup Advice that Doesn't Include Any Mention of SEO

#28

Post by smopburrito »

astine wrote: post #11

I've always understood that it was more important to have a good product than to have good SEO. Who cares if your site appears at the top of a Google search if it isn't for what people are searching? They'll come across it, be like "this sucks," and not click on you again. SEO is only one aspect of marketing, which in turn is only one aspect of running a startup. I would argue that not mentioning SEO is not an act of…

there's a direct relationship b/w the level of commoditization of your product and the importance of SEO (let alone relevance of SEO).

if i sell "shoes" SEO means one thing to me, if i sell [insert unique thing here] it means another.

irrespective of the ultimate popularity of [unique item], if it is unique, what am i optomizing for?

maybe another way to look at SEO primacy on this news site is to think about how much the dominant vision is to compete with "what else is out there in your space"- in terms of not only search results, but business model, services, footprint, pricing...- versus how "new" or original you are in addressing unsolved problems.

i get paid by a place that cares about SEO and paid-placement services, and i know that if we simply bothered to innovate within our niche, SEO would take care of itself (i.e. be supplanted by the Real word-of-mouth, positive press, no-brainer reputation that comes with actually being 'the solution' as opposed to 'a possible solution, maybe, but we paid/tried really hard to have you look at us')

Re: I'm Getting Pretty Tired of Startup Advice that Doesn't Include Any Mention of SEO

#29

Post by jamescoops »

randfish wrote: post #23
_lc1i wrote: post #9

I found the post ridiculously condescending. Insinuating we are idiots and then stating 'For fuck's sake people - get a clue.' and then attacking specific small startups unprovoked does not seem like a very proper way to spread the word for your company or SEO in general. Unfortunately, I'm sure the post has garnered the desired attention by 'dropping the F bomb for the first time'. I would hope search optimization i…

seekely - I'm the author of the post and am very sorry for being condescending. That wasn't my intent and on re-reading, I can see that it came across that way. I offer my apology. I was writing a bit more emotionally than I usually do, and, as I said in the post, am much more frustrated with those who provide startup advice ignoring the power of SEO than I am with startups who don't engage in it. Startups have a mil…

i think you're wrong about Octopart - they are optmising around individual part terms e.g. http://octopart.com/category--Integrated+Circuits--Semicondu... not for a generic "electronic parts" ranking. Their recent user data indicates this has been pretty successful - basically SEO - adding categories to search.

Re: I'm Getting Pretty Tired of Startup Advice that Doesn't Include Any Mention of SEO

#30

Post by marcus »

rob wrote: post #22

Proper SEO can mean the difference between making $10/day and $100/day.

It all depends on the keywords you rank highly on, and the value is almost boolean in nature. Appearing in the first 3 links can be very valuable, appearing in the third page practically worthless.

Ranking first on Mesothelioma, a form of cancer only caused by asbestos exposure, can generate a few millions a year, as there is almost always someone to sue for the exposure (btw CPC for related search terms around 70$ ).

Ranking first on "purple dragons with red horns" will probably not generate a dime.

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