So long and good luck

Well after some soul searching, I’m hanging up the hat and calling it quits on SEO Honolulu.  Between the economy going to crap and how my line of work in Hawaii isn’t even recognized/desired, I just can’t muster up a reason to keep trying.  I’ve been working a full time job since October of last year, which is good, and I plan on continuing in that capacity for as long as  possible.  This site will be getting pulled down in a couple of weeks.  I will be dropping a new blog in the near future that isn’t SEO related, ya know, just a place to go and blab about life and what have you.  I would love it if you could come check it out after it’s up and running… maybe drop by and say hi.

I’ve been losing interest and passion in what I do for a while now to be honest.  A number of things have fueled it that are inside the SEO industry, as well as life in general.  The biggest thing that has jaded me about this line of work is small business owners themselves wanting professional quality but only willing to pay at sub-amateur rates.  That’s been the norm here even before the economy went south.  Factor in that over 90% of businesses in Hawaii are small business, my target audience is pretty bleak.  After numerous attempts to get some contracts going, the same thing happens after I pass the quote;  they vanish and lack the professional courtesy to decline with a reason… hell even to try and negotiate a different price point.  They just vanish.  Email them, no response.  Call them, no call back.  Crazy thing is, I was charging (and getting) twice as much back in Oregon doing this line of work.. I came here and had to chop my rates in half, and still that’s too expensive for nearly all of the companies I’ve bidded out on.

Then you got the wanna-be’s and vultures from outside the state underbidding you.  Then you got the twitter rockstars running their mouths and acting like morons making you almost ashamed of the irresponsible and idiotic garbage coming out their mouths about SEO.  Then you got noobie bloggers acting like they know it all when they clearly DON’T.  Then you got the die hard Matt Cutt’s zombies who can’t optimize their way out of a paper bag.  Then you got the internal drama in the industry.  Then you got the spammers and shady idiots who make the rest of us look like charlatans.  Then you got web designers and developers who create a dog of a website, pass it onto the company, the company wants marketing done on it, and the damn site needs to be completely redone because their designer was an absolute idiot about the coding and content placement.  Wash, rinse, repeat.

I apologize, I’m not trying to go on the attack, but the point I’m trying to make is that after 8 years of being in this line of work, I’m exhausted.  The same issues that plague websites from 8 years ago are still alive and well today.  The same FUD and misinformation about what SEO and online marketing is still getting fed to company owners by people inside and outside our own industry daily.  I’m tired of fighting for legitimacy and recognition for the work I do and the industry I’m a part of.

For those of you who are going to fight the good fight in this economy and with the obstacles I just mentioned in our line of work, I salute you.  When things get better, which they will, you stand to be rewarded for sticking through it all. 

As for me, this is where I exit stage right.  See ya on the flip side.