Branding? Important to SEO?

While social optimization is going to continue being a huge trend in SEO in 2011, one of the more interesting things is that a traditional, tried and true way to build business is making a BIG comeback - branding. Yep, branding.
As search becomes ever more personalized, better known sites (that usually means better known names) are going to get even more traffic. That can be a problem for smaller, breakthrough marketers, but it can be an opportunity, too. If you take a structured approach to building your brand and your visibility at the same time, you can outpace your peer competitors.
Making sure that you are optimized for mobile devices is key, too, as well as making sure that you're optimized in your area (for small, local businesses). It's all kind of like a puzzle, but one where you can move the pieces around.

SEO Matters

There are people out there now saying that SEO is dead. They think that the new Google instant search, and more recently, the preview function on Google will somehow replace thoughtful, informative, relevant content.
They are wrong.
Google Instant Search simply won't serve up your website if it doesn't think it's relevant to those search terms. No amount of previewing will get them to your site if you're not on the first page. That's why SEO still matters. Maybe even more than it did before.

The Three Big Questions Before SEO and PPC

Before you even START thinking about implementing SEO or PPC, there are three hugely important questions you must ask yourself:

1. What do you want to be found for?

2. What are people actually searching for?

3. What do you want to happen when they find you?

So, while you may want to be found for some proprietary term you have for yourself like "experiential retention" what people are really searching for are terms like "customer service experts" or "effective loyalty programs". You cannot be obtuse when it comes to SEO or choosing your keywords for PPC.

Then, if you want people to actually do something once they do find you, send them to the right page. Don't send someone who click on an ad about rare vinyl records to a home page that's about your music store - send them to the vinyl records page. Don't send a person looking for diamond stud earrings to a page with a big picture of pearls. If you want them to buy something, send them there.

I've had SEO clients who have taken top search terms out of copy because they don't like the sound of them, or think they're too mundane. Problem is, those are the terms people are searching for, and if they're not in the copy, I can't just put them in the tags, so the search engines don't find them on their site, and guess what - they don't get found.

It seems simple, but it's one of the main mistakes I've seen. Don't make it.

How Many Hats?

How many hats do you wear?

If it's only one, you're waaaayyy out of sync with the rest of the business world these days. The fast pace of change in the marketplace, the ever-expanding ways to reach an audience, the downsizing of the recent past economy and the confusion on the part of management have all coalesced to form the perfect storm of hat proliferation.

Are you the project manager and the PPC person? Are you the go-to for social media and for SEO? Can you juggle your design work with app development? Stretched? We all are.

But.....

There are times when we all need some help. When we simply don't have time to learn a new application or polish up on the latest Google insights. It's okay to ask for help, even if it's with one of your hats. Every hat you take off lightens the load, even if it's only for a little while. And gives you the much-needed time to recharge. Occasionally, you must go hatless all together and re-boot.

And when you do need help, ask.

Knowledge Isn't Just Knowing Rules

Knowledge is about actually knowing.

I read a very interesting article the other day about knowledge. Surprise, surprise. When it comes to real knowledge - and by that I mean real understanding - experts are often lacking. Take into account this story about Google offering to help a client increase his ROI on adwords, even though the guy had been running a successful campaign already. His campaign may not have followed all of Google's rules, but it did work. Once all the rules were applied, somehow it didn't. Old adage time: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

So think about it. All the formulas and rules and ratings in the world don't mean anything if someone doesn't have real on-the-ground information, intuition and insight into your customers. Choose your partners based on that, and you'll choose the right partners.