7/9/2010
Get Ready to Fail SEO, Scene 1
Scene 1: Buy-in
Expenses are growing by 5%.
KRAMER: Constructed for what?
STARKE: Search engine optimization.
(Prolonged silence)
DELINE: Stan, what is search engine operation?
GRIGSBY: Optimization. They’re talking about making our site show up when people search on Google for forklifts and other stuff we sell.
KRAMER: GOOGLE? We don’t need no Google. My guys hit 80 to 90 percent of quota month in and month out.
STARKE: I know, Charlie, but corporate says 2 percent sales growth won’t cut it.
KRAMER: Why not?
DELINE: (Studying income statement) Well, for one thing, expenses are growing by 5 percent.
KRAMER: Oh. Well, corporate should up the budget for new reps instead of wasting resources on websites and search opulization.
GRIGSBY: Optimization.
STARKE: Whatever. You can make the case for more reps in August, Carl. In the meantime, we’ve got 90 days to put this together. Once again, we’re getting no time, inadequate funding, and next to zero direction. I’m also hearing through the grapevine that half the IT staff is going to get whacked. Any volunteers to lead the project?
TO BE CONTINUED …
11 Responses to Get Ready to Fail SEO, Scene 1
Wow, Brad! That does sound like a recipe for disaster! Cutting the IT staff while telling the non-techies, who don’t even know what SEO is, that they need to update/optimize the company website? They definitely do appear to be setting the team up for failure. No wonder they don’t have buy-in! Can hardly wait for the rest of the story!
Hi Jeanne – It’s hard to imagine how this could end well.
Funny you should say that, Brad, because I considered saying I hoped it would end well but decided against it. Still the eternal optimist, however, somewhere deep inside I’m rooting for a solution.
Brad, I love the creative way that you have presented a very real scenario. Sadly, this is happening in many organizations. Can’t wait to see what happens next! Maybe you can turn it into a web series, The Misadventures of the Clueless Corporation.
Karen, Nice title. There are many possibilities for this scenario … all of them are bad.
Brad,
I LOVE the story. You have hooked (which of my clients did you model?)
Bill
Bill, LOL … Probably a synthesis. I’m in the middle of your book and there sure are a lot of inspiring stories.
There are just too many people that use google and other search engines, that you can’t just dismiss doing SEO on your website. It also needs to be done by someone who knows how it works. This scenario doesn’t look like its going to end well with the replacement of IT staff with reps. Maybe a multi-skilled employee will come to the rescue and have all they skills that it takes to optimise their website. I cannot wait for the rest of the story.
Hi Mandeep, Thanks for reading … There is somebody who can help the cause for this company – the question is, will they listen?
LOL Brad – They definitely need a good copywriter. I haven’t worked for a large company for a lot of years but I can imagine this happening. And I’m looking forward to the rest of the story. I like the way you’ve set it out and made it sound more like fiction.
Years ago, I remember having a heap of large manuals thrown at me when new health and safety laws came in and being told to take them home and learn how to do it. And I was only about 19 or 20.
Hi Cath, Truth is stranger than fiction. If you turned your comment into a story nobody would believe it. When I started in purchasing, about the same age, I was told to start working up orders the same way. I didn’t know what I was doing for about three months.