Square One: SEO is dead again
by Sapphire (September 8, 2006)
I read a Bob Massa interview at SEOBook that really confirmed some feelings I’ve been having for a while. I highly recommend the article.
I keep coming back to the idea that the search engines are turning marketing inside out, and not in a good way. Think about the pre-internet days. You create a store. You buy some TV commercials. You try to get your ad placed in a show that your kind of customers would be interested in. If you’re very influential, maybe you try to get the TV network to influence the content of the show - not product placement, but maybe have a few more car chases because your product is cars.
Throw in search engines, and this model changes hilariously. You create your store, you try to trick the TV network exec’s assistants into seeing it, in hopes the assistants will report it to the boss, in hopes the boss will give you an ad spot during a show your audience likes… all the while knowing the TV studio has its OWN stores to promote. It’s insane. No wonder I’m working my ass off for a few hundred a month.
Even if you have no budget whatsoever, I think Bob Massa’s right: stick your url on the bathroom wall. It’s as likely to work as SEO. Seriously. Maybe much better, if you make the ad funny or curiosity-inducing. People are more receptive when they’re not expecting marketing, anyway.
This site and my other original content blogs get a pretty fair shake from the engines, and I do no offsite SEO. I really don’t do any onsite SEO, either - that’s the beauty of blogging. For the most part, a good blog will get good traffic and a great blog will get great traffic. Period. No SEO needed.
My aff sites have got to become good websites that sell affiliate products shamelessly, but with a personal touch. I can’t compete with Amazon, so why do a catalog-style site? No amount of SEO is going to launch it, and people are still going to go to Amazon in the end, because it’s the better site. The trick for small fries like me is going to be personal touches that say, “I’m a shopper, too, and here’s what interests me.” Just like this site says, “I’m an online marketer, too, and here’s what interests me.” The current trend is to do this with blogs and articles and interviews, but I’m not sure that’s necessary. I’m going to start with… I’m not sure, really. I’m just going to personalize things a bit. Present my sites as a guide to help people through the difficult world of online shopping.
I know people feel the SEs sabotage certain good sites. Maybe that’s true. But most people I know learn of more websites through friends and places like MySpace than through Google, anyway. People prefer to ask friends for recommended plumbers rather than just pick the first name in the Yellow Pages. The SEs have a reputation for delivering content, but they don’t confer a sense that it’s safe to open your wallet at the sites they rank high. So why should rankings be my focus?
Posted in SEO
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