Online Marketing and SEO

We think like a machine / We think like a human. We use intuition / We use logic.

Our methodology for Search Engine Optimization helps to explain our overall approach to online campaigns. For one, we are a small but effective company. We try to do a lot with little, which has helped us think outside the box. Many SEO practitioners over the years have tried to influence search engine ranking results by discovering the latest tricks, hacks, or by looking for what the Google-bot wants to see. This pursuit has lead to many SEO practitioners to do whatever it takes to become number "one". There is one crucial flaw in this way of thinking....where are the users in all of this?

Too many SEO professionals have begun to think like machines, not like humans. This has lead to criticisms by Google towards the unethical practices by SEO pros over the years and the invention of ever more rules and algorithms to fend off the Google-bot trickery. From a business perspective, you might ask: well, if it works, why not? The answer to this question lies in the hearts and minds of the target user or customer. In the end, they are the ones that we, marketing and SEO professions, seek to win over. A campaign is more than the sum of website traffic or visits. A campaign is a strategic enterprize that attracts and retains humans towards a purpose (or set of purposes). A good SEO marketer knows hitting the first page for a broad keyterm is not always the right approach for all organizations. Sometimes the right approach is becoming number one for a niche keyterm---a keyterm that will hit a more selective group of users. Another mistake, all too common, in the SEO world is to deeply consider your audience. Think beyond Google...yes, even Google can be a box. Consider other vehicles for engagement: social tools, more traditional newsletters combined with user generated content, tagging and making the right content findable, or building a unique tool for a set of core users in order to build fire of interest from your most devoted and vocal user groups.

We are not saying to other SEO professionals: "Don't think like a machine." It would be unwise not to study the inner workings of famed search engine technologies and frequently updated, search algorithms. We are also avid students, and there is a lot to learn from the extended SEO community. We are always learning and feel excitedly propelled by how much we do not know. Our message is simple: think like machines / think like humans....make your approach resilient and multi-dimensional, but always consider the broader picture.

From assets to assessment

The internet is a business necessity. From social networking tools, blogs and micro blogs, search engine results: both organic and paid, viral content, online press distribution, user generated content, traditional and non-traditional / paid and non-paid advertising, media buying, B-to-B partnerships and inclusions, and web 2.0 tools are a few of the emerging vehicles for developing human engagement.

Think outside SEO

SEO or Search Engine Optimization can be a indepensible tool for business success. But, as the web grows and new ideas come into play, the methods for accessing and influencing users will diversify and expand. Sites such as Facebook and Myspace have already become a dominant force in the world of online marketing. The millions of daily visitors to those two social networking sites attests to the power of new ideas. Corporate and personal blogs are yet another powerful force that have shaken the world as we knew it. Public Relations professionals have had to wrestle, with due haste, the over-whelming influence of this once laughed-at publishing activity. Now blogs can contend in power and influence with great and reputable publications...and such publications have not only acknowledged it, but have joined the ranks of the blogging phenomenon. Another success case is Flickr, a tool of partial non-text expression, where photos and graphics form the basis of communication and can serve as an inexensive or free method of discourse and community sharing. The list goes on...to the extent that each day, new ideas are forms and such ideas may become the basis for tomorrow's vehicle of expression.

Think inside SEO

Despite the onset of the ever expanding volume of tools online, search engines should not be ruled out. There are always new ways to create a successful campaign by way of search engines. This reality applies to both large and small businesses. For example, just because your organization doesn't have the budget to campaign for the top page for the keyterm "business consultant" or "chain supply management", does not mean that you should rule out compeating within search engines for new business. An SEO campaign does more than 'throw in some keywords' and wish for the best. Strategy, experience and innovation are some of the key qualities of a good SEO / SEM campaign.