SEO isn’t your salsa. (And everyone needs salsa.)

Susan - Jan 8, 2008 in SEO, Usability | 7 Comments

I applied for a writing gig that I saw listed the other day, and it asked to include a phone number so if they were interested you could be reached. My phone rang early afternoon, with good and bad news: They had filled the slot, but they really liked my cover letter and my site.

What followed was one of the more pleasant conversations I’ve had with a potential client in awhile, and I was actually slightly bummed to hear they’d keep me on file and to take care. It’s ok, it happens. One of the things they asked me was interesting, and it got me to thinking. I was posed the same question later by another group that I may do some SEO work for, and it showed me the way in which I’m different for my marketplace.

“I see you do SEO work. Tell me your best story about getting a business to the front page.” This surprised me momentarily, but I understand why it was asked.

Rewind to a few months ago, when I posted an ad for an SEO person on Guru. One of my regular gigs was overflowing with SEO requests and we needed an extra hand. The replies we got astounded me. It seemed as though 99% of the applicants couldn’t speak in layman’s terms, but the other part was the bragging about ranking for certain sites.

Look, it’s not that I don’t understand that. SEO is hard, ongoing work, and I’ve worked with a lot of uber-SEO people and that really is their ultimate goal. It was apparent to me in these phone talks I had with potential gigs and clients that they’re very used to hearing that stuff.

Here’s the catch.

If you’re thinking about doing SEO and get a list of sites and search terms to check out from a potential provider: click on the link. What does the site look like?

In my experience, there are the uber-SEO people, and then there are the regular ol’ people like me. I understand SEO, but I also use it as part of an overall marketing strategy. I can run really extensive reporting, and give you the really tired textbook suggestions and myths. But if your site looks awful just to show up on the coveted first page, you’ve accomplished very little. I see listings all the time for “Need SEO company with first page Google guarantee ASAP.”

I don’t even know how to start helping those people understand, but you’re obviously an intelligent and charming person because you’re here reading me, so that gives you a leg up:

1. Be wary of any place that guarantees you any kind of placement. White hat SEO won’t work that fast, and you black hat SEO tricks will get you nailed right quick. 

2. If you secure a company like that, be prepared for the fact your site will be coated in text, linked to from a ton of completely irrelevant sites, and will generally just annoy people in general.

3. Most importantly: if you make the first page of Google and everyone abandons ten seconds after they click your link because their eyes start to twitch, what have you accomplished?

SEO is simply a piece of the marketing puzzle, not the whole enchilada. Would you want an enchilada that has the world’s softest, warmest, yummiest tortilla and plastic meat on the inside? No. (Wow, what an analogy, even for me.)

Yes, SEO is important. I would never say it isn’t. (And if I do, remind me that it’s part of my livelihood.) But it’s not the only important thing when marketing your site.

What’s an enchilada with no meat, cheese, salsa, sour cream and guacamole? It’s an incredibly crappy site that can claim “But hey, I’m on the first page of Google.”

7 Comments...

  1. Judd on January 9th, 2008 said:

    Holy Cats and Yammers!
    You sound ridiculously like something I’ve been preaching for so long I had to start my own company about it.

    It’s only too bad that most folks (particularly the ones that are paying me right now) don’t fully prescribe to this just yet.

    Hopefully they will though, I’ll keep workin’ on ‘em.

    And just so’s you know, sites like this help heaps. So, thanks.

  2. Susan on January 9th, 2008 said:

    Hey Judd, thanks for visiting. :)

    I think eventually people with our mentality will become more prevalent. And hey, if it doesn’t work at your current employer, do what I did and go off to do it on your own!

    Sometimes it’s just difficult to be a big picture marketing person working with a group that just cares about/wants to sell their wee chunk.

    Please do come back!

  3. Michael on January 9th, 2008 said:

    Beautiful, simply beautiful. This discussion goes round and round with people I work for. They insist that they must have that number one spot! But then what? What is behind it? Just like those shops that get you in the door with a beautiful storefront and nice window displays, but then either have no stock or have rude employees. You have to have the substance first to back up anything. And there are a lot of successful companies out there that are not #1 in Google.

    Preach on! Preach on . . .

  4. Susan on January 9th, 2008 said:

    Hiya Michael!

    Nice to see you haunting these parts again. :)

    Sometimes I wonder if it’s just because SEO is a relatively new mainstream marketing tactic…there isn’t the level of education there should be. I also think it’s a product of having firms that focus only in that and don’t complete marketing plans or big picture strategies. Total tunnel vision.

    Your analogy about the storefront is great. (Probably better than my enchilada one, but I was hungry when I wrote it.)

  5. Michael on January 9th, 2008 said:

    Susan - I am always haunting these parts! Love your stuff. I just try not to comment unless I have something constructive to say and as most people who know me will testify to, that isn’t very often. ;)

  6. Judd on January 9th, 2008 said:

    I have only recently discovered this site and will now surely be lurking about.

    Susan, forgive me if I was unclear earlier, but I have started my own company, the “folks paying me” that I was referring to are my clients. They can be an incredibly short-sighted bunch, and unless I bundle my consulting in or do it for free, they just don’t see the need to pay me to tell them that a particular part of their site sucks and a #3 spot isn’t going to change that.

    Then I start talking “conversion rates” and their eyes just gloss over. Like I said though, I’m workin’ on ‘em. For now, they’re paying my bills.

    After I commented last time, I cruised the rest of your site (and more of your stuff on other sites) and you’ve got some good things to say. I don’t know how to say it without sounding like I’m gushing all over you (which I may be…) but I dig your style, you rock.

    \gush

  7. Susan on January 9th, 2008 said:

    Hey Judd,

    Wow, thanks for the compliments. At least someone in the world recognizes my genius. :)

    Aaahh I see what you’re saying. I’ve found it can be harder to work with clients who read one snippet somewhere about SEO and just.can’t.let.it.go.

    I’m helping as a subcontractor for a firm implementing some SEO copy at the moment, and witnessed this round and round discussion, which was a great example of this. One person there was totally hung up on the url that was going to be used…the kicker is that it was a url that was going to redirect to their main site anyway. So they were all hung on a page….that wouldn’t have the content. So there was nothing on-site to support any kind of formidable ranking for the url. He had it lodged in his melon that the url was what it all balances on.

    Which of course, doesn’t explain the popularity of a site with a name like “squidoo.” But, we weren’t dealing with reality here.

    Oy. Pain all around.

    Do you have a blog yet?

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