A Major Myth: People On Seo Forums Are Helpful

I don't mean to entirely denigrate Search Engine Optimization and marketing forums, but something should be said about the idea of using them for information gathering. Doing this is like swimming with a school of injured tuna in the middle of a shark attack. Unless you yourself are at the top of the food chain, you could easily get eaten alive. Even then, there's no guarantee.

At first, the idea is attractive. You're just getting into SEO and SEM. Naturally you want to find a school of fish to swim with. You want to be able to compare notes, ask advice and share your successes. You want to make friends and associates. Your motives in joining Search Engine Optimization forums aren't in the wrong just don't be an idealistic Pollyanna.

You can't go into the forums as a tuna looking for other tuna to hang out with. The fact of the matter is that there are sharks in the water and you, being a newbie tuna, look awfully tasty. You will get all kinds of attention that you don't want, in particular in the way of false advice.

Besides that, tuna are just dumb creatures, really. They're like the sheep of the ocean. Let's think about it. When they see a shark coming, what do they do? They all crowd themselves in together hoping to intimidate the shark. The shark, being the wiser creature, realizes that what they just did was provide him with a VERY large meal.

The other tuna, being dumb creatures such as they are, will give you bad advice simply because they don't know any better. They are victims of all the myths, and blind parrots of SEO mythology. Some, claiming to be inventive thinkers and innovators, find themselves more often than not victims of their own wishful thinking.

Thats not to say that SEO forums are utterly worthless, however. You just have to go in with a different perspective. The key perspective to have for victory is to be the predator.

You have to have an eye for what's good. A good dose of common sense wins out over an open mind any day. You have to take everything with a grain of salt. And when there's blood in the water, know when to attack.

Most predators operate by stealth. It would be foolish for them to announce their presence before studying their prey from the shadows. To apply the analogy, don't join an Search Engine Optimization forum and immediately start posting. Do your homework. Read old threads. Study the new ones. Learn who the alphas are and who the scavengers are. Find the wounded.

This way, before you pose a question, make a comment or say anything, you are on top of your game. You know what ways of attack work and which ones don't. You know how to select your prey. Most of all, you don't come off as a target for the other predators and scavengers. It's easier to develop authority from a position of authority, instead of having to make up for being one of the herd.