When I was 6 - and against my deaf parents orders, I went in the rough waters of a surf beach in Hawaii.
I just ignored their obvious life-saving advice.
(And es, they said this in sign language to me and I still use it to this day.)
When I went in, I went out to sea and went under a few times, and the waves threw me back in the shore. I wasn't worried about death - I was worried about disobeying my parents.
The waves took me in and threw me right back out
****SPLASH & THUD***
This is why they warned against me going in, clearly:
But...
I couldn't hear anything.
That was proof enough of my 6-year old insolence.
Thought that was it.
Life was over.
My parent's wrath would cause me to not get anything I ever wanted ever again .... and on top of that I wouldn't hear for life ....specifically for disobeying...
I was a pintsized-sized emotional mess.
I went through all stages of grief as a 6 year old on that beach, crying my eyes out, hitting the ground in rage, bartering (smacking my ears trying to get them to work), making deals with god, and then accepting it. The works, all within a few hours as a little kid.
Then I was OK with it - if they never knew, then it'd be OK. I could keep up the facade for life.
An hour later, during lunch, parents none the wiser b/c I'm talking in sign language... I didn't want to tell them I couldn't hear as I'm eating a sandwhich on the beach... jaws moving, ear canals moving around.
The water then just came out of my ears and all was fine.
I could hear again.
Phew.
The reason why I'm sharing this is that when it comes to Search Engine Optimization, rankings is the difference between the survival of the business and a 20-hour per week GRIND of networking and cold calling for clients.
The advice Chase Reiner and I share is as clear as day, and the proof is there, but when someone that clearly knows better shares advice that you don't take. You risk the survival of your business.
You might get an adverse reaction with SEO by ignoring the actionable 100-different-seo-fctors in an audit...
...and your own thing that you go through and deal with the 7 stages of grief with your business marketing ...
and ending with justifying and accepting your problems.
It sounds like this:
Me: Thanks for meeting with me, Here's an audit, solve this to get rankings and grow your business.
You: Thanks for letting me know the opportunity. I bought 5k of Google ads, and well... I must be OK because everyone else has the same problem ;) [internally screaming]
Me: Uhh, Did you solve the problems I identified for you?
You: Yeah, SEO is important so I bought a link builder and I lost ALL of my rankings!!!! Hmmm... well, I'll just on developing my network and PPC so that'll be OK [internally screaming]
Me: Ok, it's been a year, and you haven't done any of the roadmap implementations after you site got redesigned.
You: OK! I rehired my expensive web designer he redesigned the sites and it looks great now. [interally screaming]
Me: I reaudited the site, and sees the exact same problems are still there. You should fix those.
You: Its OK, my competitors must be dealing with the same problem. Right? So I'll be ok right where I am.
Crickets: ***Chirps*****
However, time won't solve this problem.
The water won't drip out of your ears and make everything OK again.
For a business without search engine rankings, it will only get worse
More and more people are simply searching on their phones trying to find their local service professional... and other biz owners are now building their SEO presence online in Minnesota (3 years behind the trend)....
and while you're spending too much time talking and networking...
They're making you work harder to get each new sale.
With all of that being said:
Even if you're an SEO bro or a biz owner, it's up to you to prioritize the advice you get.
And my advice is this:
If you're serious about this, I invite you to meet with me, locally (if you're in Minnesota) or with a no obligation conference call.
Once you realize that you'll hear the same obvious recommendations from my own voice, you'll get a clear message and 100-points of what to do explained to you for what matters for finally growing your business with your website.