What the heck is S.E.O?

Search engine optimisation is a mystery to me or more accurately a misery. OK we got a web-site and that seems to do what it is supposed to do. But I dread it every time the phone rings and some slick sales man says “I can make your web-site get better ranking for so much £££££”

I just hear the same old tune from these guys “how can you get business without good placing on Google or Yahoo?” So off I go to our Tec guy Mark who did our web-site and say “should I spend cash for page ranking? They say this! They say that!” Simple fact is we already get good placement on Google (page 5) and Yahoo (page 1) with our chosen keywords. I just could not get my head around all this jargon. Finally he sat me down and explained what SEO really means in an easy to understand way.

Most sites already have good S.E.O. (Search Engine Optimisation) which means that Google, Yahoo or any search engine for that matter index sites, based on content, interest and links ranking them accordingly to what people are actually searching for. Throwing cash at it won’t necessarily get you better rankings and in some cases will even harm your position in those listings.

If you really want a higher placement concentrate your efforts on getting links into your site from other subject related sites or spend your money on an add words or pay-per-click campaign on Google or such alike, which will get you targeted hits and increase your web presence.

Caught in a web

It a funny thing, writing these posts. I find myself going over and over them for days on end sometimes. Checking the spelling and tidying up the wording and even then I just seem to find something else that needs to be put right, though its probably fine the way it is. It’s a bit like cleaning I suppose no matter how much you do there always feels like you could do something more.

Which makes it all the more puzzling to me when I found myself chatting to a woman as I did on Monday who told me that the cleaner she has does not like cobwebs “you see” she said to me “my husband and I cant understand how this cobweb in our kitchen has been there for weeks and weeks” What could I say its not one of our cleaners, perhaps her cleaner has just not noticed it or does not keep looking to do that little bit more.

Sometimes I feel that you must go that little bit further or go that extra mile if you want to do a good job. It might mean taking longer or doing more, but quite often its just a question of doing the job right in the first place which will save a lot of work in the long run.

I am in business and my business is not about meeting our customers expectations it is about exceeding them! Which I hope that by doing a little more, taking the time to care and adding a few minor details and fine touches means that none of our customers will ever have cobwebs in their kitchen.

I help people!….that’s what I do

I bumped into an old friend recently who I have not seen for ages and before I could say a word they said “so what are you doing these days?”. I responded “Oh I’m running a cleaning business!” but I knew as soon as I said it that was mistake…

Yes I run a cleaning business but I don’t do it for the money! I don’t do it for an easy life! or job security! Its defiantly not stress free. I mean running a business is about hard work, long hours, and one demand after another as well as not knowing where the next penny is coming from but I love it! It has given me a sense of freedom and liberation, but that does come at a price.

Business I have learned is not about money, or power, or control, or being the boss, or any of the things I used to think it was about. It is about people, It is about doing the job right, It is about caring, it is about service but mostly it is about…….Trust.

However my friend made me think and I started to ask myself, Why do I do it? It did not take me long to realise. That the simple answer is that I like to help people. I have always liked to look after others in one way or another, even my housing management job was all about helping others but my life had just got so busy that I could not keep up with the housework. Having a cleaner myself had a definite impact on the way I lived my life and showed me some very real benefits that I could offer others.

Running my cleaning business allows me to help people to save money, hassle and time. We can all make money but none of us can make a single second of time and if having a cleaner cleaning your home lets you do more with your time as well as having a better quality of life then I have helped someone special, because that is what I really do…I help People!