Before the likes of Twitter and Facebook stepped to the front of the
stage, blogging was all the rage. Successful bloggers garnered audiences
that were often greater than what the typical commercial site could
attract. In turn, companies created blogs of their own, packed full of
search engine optimization (SEO) tactics. The promise being that if you
build a blog the traffic will follow.
What most people ignored was that a blog should add value to a site
and be used to engage potential and existing customers. In practice,
what ended up happening was that the blog became a dumping ground for a
mishmash of content that was uninteresting, usually too short and
infrequently delivered. But even after their blogs failed to attract
traffic or produce results in any measurable way, site owners are still
loathe to get rid of them. The most common reason given? Because having a
blog allows them to check off another SEO tactic on their list.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for trying something different. In fact,
part of what makes SEO so interesting for me is the testing of new
ideas. But I also learned from my project manager days that sometimes
when a project isn't completed on time and the window of opportunity the
project was meant to capitalize on has closed, the best course of
action is to terminate the project. Or if you're the investment type,
you don't throw good money after bad.
Clichés aside, terminating an SEO
tactic that isn't working is a smart move, but can be hard to do.
Confirm Your Assumptions
Don't start with an assumption that you haven't verified. In the blog
example above, it would be easy to declare that what seems like
low-traffic levels as a failure of the blog effort, but what if the blog
was created as a testing ground for landing page copy that is far
easier to deploy using blog software like WordPress? Once you confirm
what the goal was you can then proceed to confirm that it wasn't met.
Understand the History
Second, find out the history of the tactic. You'll have a much easier
time shutting something down if the person that came up with it is no
longer an employee or, better yet, if it was something a previous SEO
agency came up with. While the difficulty will vary depending on who
came up with the idea, your best approach is one that acknowledges that
everyone is just trying to succeed in the competitive organic search
engine space.
So your justification to end an effort should be one that
is based on data, actual experience, or if secondary research is all
that is available, then try to make it as bulletproof as possible.
Prepare an Alternative
Lastly, before you go in with a recommendation to end something, be
sure to have a replacement idea to present. After all, if you're about
to free up resources, you might as well come up with something new to
apply those resources too.
Not only will this help move the SEO campaign
forward, but it will also provide a good conversation point for anyone
that has to explain why a tactic is being terminated, i.e., it is being
replaced by a new and improved tactic that holds more promise.
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