Tom Lindmeier’s Blog @ MarketPlanB

The subject of this article is not about SEO tactics, it’s about the principles needed for the successful execution of SEO strategies. This is also not about the subject of playing a cat and mouse game with the search engines so you can get high rankings right now with little effort. Very few experts just come out and tell you that a successful SEO program is really just a lot of hard work (because nobody wants to hear it and it does not sell). The tactics are freely shared for a good reason: the devil is in the details. Successful SEO firms rely on efficiency of execution to provide value to their clients. If you take what Google tells you at face value and execute well-known best practices you will have some measure of success. But real “conquer the competition” success is dependent on the level of execution.

With the assumption that you are executing best practices, you still have formidable barriers that are the real key to SEO breakthroughs. Here are 5 common characteristics of successful SEO programs from an executive level. These laws should govern the execution of your SEO tactics.

These are the hard lessons I learned from building a successful SEO program at Junionia.com, a top 500 e-commerce site. We did not gain traction until these principles were applied. This is also the primary subject matter of my speaking engagement at Mid-Market e-Tail in October of 2006.

The methodology of SEO optimization is well-documented in websites and blogs. The problem is sorting through the clutter of bad advice and unsubstantiated articles. I have taken the time to find a few good resources on SEO building blocks: link building, site optimization and content optimization.
On Site optimization: 12 Basic On-Site SEO Tactics for On-Site Optimization
Link Building: How SEOmoz Built One Million Links in 33 Months, The Secrets of Building Links
Content Optimization: Holistic Search Engine Optimization

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Spock, the new people search engine achieved a PR coup yesterday with a story on PBS News Hour. Here is their definition of the concept.

Spock is a people search application. You can search for celebrities you love, politicians you hate, athletes on your favorite sports team, your neighbors and friends, or even people you have fallen out of touch with. For each person we find on the internet we provide links to where they are on the web. At Spock, we make finding information about people easy. Spock combines two very powerful forces. First, our technology organizes web content about people into easily understood search results. We search for information on bio pages, social networks, news sites, blogs, directories …pretty much every place imaginable on the internet. Second, the Spock community contributes information to help enhance the search experience. Members can add tags, pictures, and web links or simply vote on existing information to increase its relevance. Anyone can join to help make search better for everyone.

The business model for may become a killer application because it solves a problem with a unique solution. I am a member of a number of social networks and am sometimes frustrated by the fragmentation of my social network. The ability to aggregate people information is of value to me. So I enthusiastically searched Spock for my name and started a sign-up process.

Spock is still in beta so I expected to find some problems and limitations, but my experience found that it is not usable at this time.

1. The name search revealed only one source of information: Linkedin. There was nothing from bio pages, other social networks, news sites, blogs, and directories as they claim. In contrast a simple Google search will find thousands of references.
2. I started a sign-up process so I could claim my search result. There is a typical email confirmation process. They also provide an opportunity to add data from other social networks at this time and request sign-up names and passwords to build your social profile. The confirmation process failed with an error message that said “duh”. I made another attempt to sign up with the same result.

Right now, Spock is not a better search experience and if my experience is typical, it is not ready for prime time.

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The most entertaining moment of the week came when I was viewing comments on a marketing blog (I forget where). The comment read:

“Somebody please read my blog, damn it!”

I laughed and laughed. But also I have to admit that this hit home. I just started this blog in August and am not pleased with the traffic counts. Though I do recognize that it will take awhile to get noticed and I need to be a little more patient.
The eye opener is that writers in the online marketing arena face an obstacle found nowhere else in the blogosphere. Great original content, sound SEO execution and a focus on building relationships with other bloggers may get you noticed with most vertical topics, but it’s not enough if you’re writing about online marketing. The competition is too fierce because of the SEO expertise. To make it even more difficult, individuals who blog from their home office have to compete with the more numerous resources of the marketing firms that dominate the top rankings.
So how do you compete when the only time available for blogging is in airports, at a lunch break or after the kids are put to sleep?
My approach will be not to focus on traffic or compete for rankings. I’ll get over myself and not let ego get in the way. I have enough of a community that posting new content on a regular basis is worthwhile. This blog has not found its legs yet. I have found that I need to find a tighter niche to differentiate the content. Meanwhile, I’ll also refrain from begging for more visitors…

Here’s the link if you’d like this tee from NoPityShirts.

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The first thing you should understand is that I’m not a shill for the SEM agencies. This is a viewpoint from a Director of Ecommerce who understands that the most important decisions concern where to direct resources. For most ecommerce businesses, the PPC program is the primary driver of new customers and deserves the most attention.

Depending on the scale of your organization, you have 4 options:

1. Do it yourself
2. Hire a new employee or delegate to an existing employee
3. Hire an individual contractor
4. Hire an SEM agency

I have previously done all four and am going to recommend the SEM agency with a caveat. The decision of whether or not to run a “long tail” program is your primary consideration. (If you are not running a long tail program for both SEM and SEO you need to do your homework). Long tail programs require effective tools because there are too many dark corners with inefficiencies that can drag down your program when you are managing thousands of phrases on multiple search engines.

These tools have historically been proprietary to the SEM agencies until recently. ChannelAdvisor started as a SEM agency that has redirected its business towards marketing of software and is moving many of their clients to self-management of PPC and other programs by making available it’s formerly proprietary software. Now it’s available to anyone willing to pay the price.

I am not a client of representative of ChannelAdvisor, but have taken a long look at their product and do recommend it. If you are a start-up business, you may not have the economies of scale to get the needed ROI and may benefit from an SEM agency with low minimum fees if you can find one.

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There was an interesting discussion on Ron Shevlin’s blog on the Anti-Web. 2.0 Movement. It’s a ludicrous concept to rally against an unfortunate buzzword, but they do bring up some interesting arguments by identifying the irrational exuberance and engage in a sobering discussion of the potential impact of Web 2.0.

We do need to step back and evaluate where this is headed and analyze if the attempts of marketers to monetize it will ever succeed. A recurring theme I do see is the businesses that deliver the technology are making a bundle of money and the businesses that are attempting to use it to market their customer base are for the most part, experiencing moderate or no success. However, I believe marketers will eventually learn from their mistakes and do it right.

So let’s use Occam’s Razor and ask why a business would use Web 2.0 technology. I can think of 4 reasons. Please add to my list if you think I’m missing anything.

1. As a public relations tool
2. To enhance the SEO value of your site
3. To empower enthusiasts to drive new business
4. To better understand your customers

Where do you start in developing a Web 2.0 program? First, marketers need to realize that Web 2.0 is just another tool for viral or word-of-mouth marketing and this is a concept that dates back hundreds of years. Second, the tools for viral marketing will forever change but the businesses that have a true understanding of their customers and prospects have a good chance to succeed.

So I’m arguing that if you start out with the goal of better understanding your customers, you have a better chance of accomplishing reasons 1, 2 and 3. The worst mistake you can make is to start by engaging in hit-and-miss tactics that are based on assumptions of your marketing goals. Your customers have to provide the direction. See my article on the Invisible Visitor for more information on this subject.

There an exception to this rule of not starting with a tactic. It’s never a bad idea to post a blog because the cost is nominal and there isn’t much of a downside. The problem arises from the decision of how to theme your blog. How do you know what will really resonate with your customers? I would suggest putting up several blogs and test to see what really works. If none of them work, start a new series of tests based on the input from your failed blogs.

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