Article: SEO
is Only Part of the Equation
By Julie Friedman Bacchini
The Dream: You launch a search engine optimization (SEO)
campaign and immediately you have millions of hits and
your web site crashes because of the traffic and – of
course! – the sales. You never have to do anything
again except sit back and relax: hundreds of thousands
of people will visit your site every day from now on, buying
everything you care to offer. Oh, and did I mention? The
SEO campaign itself was an inexpensive, quick, do-it-yourself
kit.
The Reality: The above
scenario is nothing more than a dream … in fact,
nothing more than a pipedream. Sorry to disappoint you,
but it’s time to chew a
stick of the reality gum and get down to business:
- SEO
is not a silver bullet. The fact is, there is no silver
bullet when it comes to marketing. It’s easy
to think that the next “latest and greatest” is
the answer to all your marketing prayers: SEO, enewsletters,
blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter … every one of
them has been touted as the be-all and end-all of marketing.
But the truth is, they are all tools. Tools that have to
be weighed carefully to determine if they will work effectively
with your business strategy to drive your target market
to your door. Some will work for you, some won’t.
- SEO is part of your overall
marketing strategy. Because
there are no silver bullets, every available marketing
tool should be analyzed to see where and how it may fit
with your overall marketing strategy. And remember, all
those tools then become interrelated: SEO, blogs, direct
mail, TV and radio advertising, print ads, etc. A careful
marketing strategy examines both the tools available,
and their potential interactions in order to gain the
most bang for the buck. Accordingly, SEO may very well
be a part of your overall marketing strategy, but it
is still only a part of what you need to do to get the
word out about your business.
- SEO is a unique part of
your marketing strategy. Another important point to
consider is that SEO is unique in its position in your
marketing strategy. Basically every other marketing
strategy is about getting your name out in front of
your target market. You send emails, letters, ads,
commercials, billboards … all hoping to catch someone’s
eye. But SEO is different: in SEO, your target market comes
looking for you. Instead of you reaching out to them, they
are reaching out to you. It is vital that your overall
marketing strategy includes both these outward pushes (traditional
marketing) and inward pulls (search engine optimization) – and
plans for them to work hand-in-hand.
- SEO is a deliberate,
methodical process. If you decide that SEO is appropriate
for your business, then set realistic expectations about
how it is going to happen. Search engine optimization
is about promoting your unique company and your unique
benefits to your unique market … there’s
nothing cookie-cutter about that goal, so there is nothing
cookie-cutter about the process. This is not about making
a phone call, shoehorning some keywords into your site,
and sitting back. A search engine optimization strategy
must be tailored to your precise needs and goals, and
that takes research, time, and effort.
- SEO takes time
to generate response. “Sign up
now! For $299 we’ll put you on the front page of
Google in a week!” You remember the old adage? “If
it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Certainly,
that’s the case for SEO. SEO is a time-intensive
process. Not only is it time-intensive when it comes to
developing the initial SEO strategy: it is then time-intensive
in actually working that strategy out. An SEO campaign
involves getting your site re-indexed, tracking results,
modifying keywords and copy, consistently adding new content,
and much more. All that takes time. But the good news is,
the results are powerful – and lasting.
© 2009 Julie Friedman Bacchini
Article Source: http://www.neptunemoon.com
About the Author:
© 2009 Neptune Moon
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