Vox Fortis Communications

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.”

There seems to be an eternal struggle between creatives and marketers, and these differences manifest themselves daily. I could likely devote this entire blog to nothing but those slight differences in the ways both groups want to do things, and still be writing when I’m 95 years old.

Let’s dissect one of those otherwise miniscule things that I’ve seen create huge discord: button naming. It seems like such a small thing, doesn’t it? A button is a button, a link’s a link, whatever…you click and something happens. It should seem so easy.

Having been on both sides of this fence, and understanding the motivations for both, I have to weigh in on the side of the marketers this time. Let’s explore each camp’s viewpoint, shall we?

The creative stance: Let’s face it, web pages can get really boring. Same text on everything, same call to action…there’s a tendency to want to be clever because you CAN be and you figure it will stand out. I’ve been there, totally. Naming links something that was probably pretty witty (well, in my mind, anyway) and perfectly matched the theme, intent and feel of the page. Original. Different. Which you can sometimes confuse with engaging for a consumer/web site visitor.

The marketer/analytic stance: Web pages exist for a purpose. In the case of something like e-commerce, your intent is to convert to sale…any distraction from that purchasing path is a very bad thing. That said, button naming needs to be incredibly clear and straightforward. It needs to say what people are pre-programmed to believe it will: “buy now.” It doesn’t show off the company’s smarts and wit, but that’s not what the consumer is coming there for, either.

I haven’t dealt with this issue directly for awhile, but it was refreshed for me this week as I was doing some research. I was checking into how vendors are using things like community and consumer-generated content to further the reach of the brand, and was browsing around KitchenAid.com. I knew they had forums somewhere, but after scanning the home page, I couldn’t find them. I Google’d it and it popped up right away, so I knew I had to be missing something.

 I finally found it…on the home page, a link to the lower right that reads “Join others at KitchenAid Conversations.” I had completely glossed right over it. Even though I appreciate the language used as a writer, as a consumer this was very frustrating. I am already programmed to look for something that says “forum” and when it wasn’t evident I missed the fancy wording. Plus, how am I supposed to know what KitchenAid Conversations is? It could be a blog for all I know.

My point is, as both a writer and marketer, it’s important to know which hat to wear. Make sure you’re doing the same for your clients. Sometimes you want to scrath the creative itch so badly that you forget your company has a business need that needs attention as well. Always stay clear about the intent of the piece you’re working on, and be open to the knowledge your client has about what their audience will be looking for, and the keywords that will keep them engaged.