11/27/2013
This is the transcript of an interview with Barry Austin, Pres. and CEO of Big Sky SEO Services, Inc in Darby MT.
Please feel free to leave a comment and if you would like more information contact us at [email protected] and we will be glad to try and help.
Jeri (interviewer)
I am talking with BA today about his company, BSSEOS and how his services might help me understand SEO. BA what is your company about?
BA
BSSEOS is an internet marketing company specializing in Search Engine Optimization or SEO. That simply means that we try to help our clients get increasingly better results when people search online for their products and services.
JA
What is SEO?
BA
So SEO is a viable technique for producing results with the search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and others.
Most people don’t even know what the acronym ‘SEO’ stands for. There are many people from around the world that try and make themselves ‘SEO Experts’ just by saying so. They play the numbers game in hopes of catching the unwary with convincing rhetoric. They hope to convince them of the need for the service of ‘XYZ SEO Company’ because “we (XYZ) know what you need and we can deliver it for you”, for a price of course.
When people don’t really know what all this SEO mumbo jumbo is about they come to a point where they think they must need something because everybody is saying they need it, but they don’t really know what that something is. And finally they just ‘do something’, even if it’s wrong.
And so, sometimes people get burned by these ‘would be’, so called “SEO Experts”, often without realizing it, because they haven’t had time to educate themselves about SEO, and that is sad.
Good SEO does take time and preferably some degree of expertise, but it can and should produce beneficial results, and it can and should be affordable regardless of the size of your business.
The bottom line is, that it should produce measurable results within a reasonable time frame, and if it does not you should ask why not?
JA
What kind of history do you have with web sites and internet marketing?
BA
We have been working and marketing online, developing web sites and marketing strategies since 1997.
For the past 4 yrs our main focus has been on SEO and how to use it to benefit our clients.
The reason for this focus is that without good SEO it is almost impossible to achieve worthwhile results in your internet marketing efforts.
The simple fact of the matter is that if no one can find you, when they search for your products and service, in effect you do not exist at all.
I know that seems harsh to say but the reality is that no matter how beautiful your web site may be, if no one ever sees it, what difference does it make? In the virtual world, if no one ever visits your site to see what you have to offer, does it benefit you?
In the ‘Brick & Mortar’ world, if no one ever comes to your store can you do business and turn a profit?
So that is why we decided 4 yrs ago to shift our focus to SEO, because without effective SEO the rest doesn’t make much difference.
JA
Some people might say that you are an SEO expert. How would you respond to that?
BA
The dictionary definition of ‘Expert’ is: “A person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area”. By that definition others have said I’m an ‘Expert’ in the SEO field.
I have spent a great deal of time learning, testing, experimenting and I have gained a good bit of knowledge from all that experience, but I still don’t like to refer to myself as an expert. I prefer to consider myself “Knowledgeable”.
I don’t know it all and I don’t’ think anyone else does either so you might want to be wary of the one who claims to be an “Expert”.
Really how can one “know it all” or be an expert when things and continuously changing at such a rapid pace that it is all but impossible to keep up. There is a constant need for renewed education.
While I do not claim to be an expert and I certainly do not “know it all”, I do know how to benefit my clients and that has always been my main goal.
JA
You mention “continuous change”, what exactly do you mean by that?
BA
Well as you may know Google is the largest and most important search engine out there and as such commands our attention.
They make changes to the way they provide search results on a very regular basis, sometimes almost daily. However in addition, they also make some major changes from time to time. You may have heard of the ‘Penguin’ and ‘Panda’ updates they have done in the last 2 yrs.
Those where life changing events for many who make a living marketing online so it is vital that we pay attention to what Google is doing from day to day.
Just recently they made the most significant update in the past 11 or 12 yrs and it impacted many people and their web sites. They called it ‘Hummingbird’ and it was a very important improvement in the way Google returns results when a consumer does a search on their site.
For those that do not understand or properly implement SEO on their sites, ‘Hummingbird’ could potentially be a disaster. Google really did change the whole game this time. If you understand SEO and what Google wants - and that is our focus at BSSEOS - then ‘Hummingbird’ didn’t present a problem.
However, the inverse is also true. If you do not understand SEO, and do not use it or pay someone else to use it for you, you may very well find yourself in an unfavorable position when those online search for your products and services.
That is why we continue to educate ourselves at BSSEO, so that we can stay on top of these changes as they occur, otherwise you become lost in the shuffle.
JA
It’s been very interesting and informative to learn a little bit of what SEO is really about. Thank you for sharing your time and experience with us.
BA
You are very welcome …
