1) A dysfunctional practice
If your firm’s financially disorganized, troubled by ethical problems, or incapable of taking on new cases, a web site isn’t going to fix it – no matter how well constructed or content rich. If your firm is having difficulties, fix them first then build your web presence.
2) The actions of competitors
The Web is a Wild West and will likely continue to be so for some time. Just because you rank well and dominate a keyword today doesn’t mean that you can sit back and relax. You must continue to build on your foundation so that you can stay ahead of your competitors. You are only as good as your current SEO campaign. The Internet is a living, breathing, ever changing animal – a shape shifter. You cannot control the behavior others, but you can control your own thematic approach by focusing on your web site and your long-term strategy.
3) The shifting algorithms
Google, Yahoo, MSN and the other big search engines are constantly looking for ways to improve search (and make more money of course). The algorithms that are used by spiders to rank web sites will evolve to fight back against so-called “black hat” SEO techniques. Your goal should not be to “trick” the search engines with rank well quick schemes, but rather to deliver good, timeless, highly relevant content. Remember the tortoise and the hare????
4) The reactions of all visitors
Your resources are limited. Focus on pleasing as many visitors as you can. You are never going to please “all of the people all of the time”.