Growth has forced us to do a productivity audit at the SearchRankings.Net offices. Since this is not my first go around at growing a new tech company, I try to take advantage of rapid growth, and audit our processes and systems, before hiring staff. In the past we would “throw people” at all of our “growing pains”, typically that just added to the confusion, questions, and debate. As you grow and learn, you start to determine that there is a lot you can do with less, and if you really define what you do, and how you do it, the results are never as complicated as the people, tools and data may suggest.

I just finished another good article on SEOBook.Com called “What’s In Your SEO Toolbox?” It’s all about all the tools out there in the SEO space that will help you determine keywords, monitor links, and evaluate data at every level. Just like everything else if you want to get lost in all this data you can spend days, weeks and years doing it. Just like most of us can start working on the Email Inbox on a Monday morning, and not look up from it until the day is completely gone. Don’t get me wrong, I love tools, and data I can use to gain a competitive advantage, just don’t get lost in it.

If I can tell you how many pages you have indexed by Google, or the percentage of links you currently have pointing to a specific anchor text, or what your top competitors are doing based on an SEO_Audit, it might be interesting, but will it help you convert traffic? Never take your eye off the ball, and step one for staying focused is knowing what to focus on and work backwards from that.

At SearchRankings.Net our goals may involve rankings, but our clients want new customers, exposure into new markets, increased brand exposure, and qualified traffic coming to their websites. If the tools and the data you are spending your time with as an SEO analyst or online marketing professional aren’t helping you achieve the results your clients or company expect, then reset and refocus.

Knowledge is power, but can also be paralyzing. Know the goal first, and then find the most efficient way to achieve it. Optimize your process for achieving results, not just rankings.