Say “No!” to SEO!

I have seen yet another website where the vibe and the feel of it was completely destroyed by over optimization.
I think that when you look at a website and create it, you need to have the same mindset as if you produced a TV commercial.
Something like the Gap commercials.
You need quality, true inspiration, energy and art.
Something that sells, and when your main focus is Google rankings, you are likely to lose a lot of that.
Search engine optimization is something I know a lot about, but also something I am trying to avoid.
I personally do not believe in making changes to a site which has the right feel to it.

The internet is full of boring websites dominating the search engine results pages and mainly because their true essence has been sold out in order to rank high in Google.
If you want to keep your website just like it is, then focus on building links.
You can buy links or you can use a strategy that gets you exposure.
The best links you can have are ones from blogs with related subject matter. You should always have a few pages with a lot of text. I am using the word text since the overused term content dillutes the meaning of it.
People do not like to read too much, and having too much text too soon will sidetrack people from hiring you, so use a blog or some backpages for that and build links into that.

When you build a site, your only focus needs to be to convert traffic into business.

If you want to rank, then use other sites to do that.
Whether or not Google likes it, do not let a search engine dictate how to build YOUR sites.

You will win in the long run. Try PPC, buy banner spots on sites that rank.
If your site performs right, you will be a lot more successful using your instinct than building a site for Google instead of those that are coming to your site!

~ Mike Dammann
http://www.firetown.com