It’s not just web presence, it’s Web Presence
Because I have been working on the Web since 2000, no one needs to prove to me or anyone I work with the value of a Web site. SEO is a different story. Some people get it and some people don’t. And as with most things, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
What also can be a dangerous thing is having a Web site that is not optimized. For over a year I have been living in and repairing a fixer home. I spend a lot of time online researching methods, products, and finally retail establishments where I can buy the products to apply those methods. I have no trouble finding sites to help me establish the correct methods to help me fix this house. Product sites vary in usefulness, but what I have had the most trouble with is finding information on the brick-and-mortar establishments where I can buy these products. Some sites do actually have Web sites, and I can just imagine the salesperson that sold these frame-based sites 4 or so years ago.
I can imagine the case they made to the small to medium business owner that they needed a web presence. That all they needed was a simple site and the salesperson would take care of the rest of the details. And I am sure they did. And then the site was either never quite finished or never updated after the initial publish. And so they sit there, languishing on the web and surfacing in my searches for obscure retail plumbing parts. These sites have incorrect information on hours, phone numbers, and even addresses sometimes. They rarely offer any detailed product information and if they do, the links to the product sites are broken. This pains me. And it makes me, the potential customer, angry.
And if there is more than one choice in retailer, I am going to choose the one that looks like it was created in the 21st century and if it is optimized they get bonus points. And when I say optimized, I am not talking about anything other than not using frames and having individual pages with actual title tags. These are simple things here and I am not just being picky because I am an SEO professional. These are also the things that “normal” people look for and unsurprisingly, that will cause a site to rank well in Google or other search engines.
This is what makes the differences between having a broken down web presence that is nothing more than a placeholder and having Web Presence that leads your users to come to your store and buy things.
blog buzz, SEO, and desired user action
This post on SEO Moz: R0n Paul is the Snakes on a Plane of 2008 got me thinking about the goals of blog buzz and also the goals of SEO. I think there is an assumption out there that all links are good links and all blog buzz will help your product or strategy. And when I say “out there” I am talking about marketing and PR people who think that if you get enough buzz going with blog mentions or with links on traditional Web sites — what I like to call the “static” web as compared to the “dynamic” web 2.0 web — then you have succeeded in your marketing campaign.
I did not follow the snakes on a plane market outcome too close. I enjoyed the parodies and saying “snakes on a plane” is still pretty funny. I assumed that the buzz did lead to movie ticket sales. It did not. Or at least, considering the hype, it did not do as well as expected for that level of exposure. I didn’t see it in the theater, but I did Netflix it.
I agree with the analysis in the post, and want to add that the audience that actually experienced this viral marketing was probably very small. The target audience for all the snakes on a plane spoofs and discussions was most likely people like me — people who are online all work day and online after work just for fun. And for a movie to make the required huge box office numbers, you have to get more than just the geeks going to see the movie. It is an interesting exercise in viral marketing, but essentially, it did not lead to the desired user action. This action being, 100s of millions of people going to the theater to see the movie.
But I also have another takeaway from an SEO perspective — all links are not good links if they do not lead the user to take the desired action. Listings for your site in the Google SERPS are not always worth it for the link juice alone. Being #1 for a one word keyword is not more important than being number #2 for a long-tail multiple keyword query.
But none of this can be quantified as easily as the snakes on a plane viral marketing example. And part of this is because SEO is mostly about Web sites and bringing in visitors. High rankings bring in more pageviews — that is true. But is the goal of a Web site pageviews? Not for all of them. In many cases, the goal is to get the user to buy a product. And in many cases, getting a #1 listing in Google brings in pageviews, but does not lead the user to the desired action.
The goal of SEO is not to get a #1 listing, it is to lead the user to your site, so that you can offer the searcher what he or she is looking for. If the searcher is looking for something more basic than what you are offering, then a #1 listing on a basic keyword query is not going to help you reach your goal or the user reach his or her goal. So you will be wasting SEO time and bandwidth and the searcher not only is dissatisfied with the link, but perhaps even leaves the site and returns to Google with a bad opinion of your site. It’s like reverse branding.
I do still believe a viral campaign is a very powerful thing and I love links (from Google and other web sites). But I think both should be invested in prudently and efficiently to serve both you (the SEO, Web site owner, and/or marketer) and the searcher.
01.15.08wordpress upgrade complete
That was not too bad. I am happy to be back FTPing. Getting back to my roots. ha
01.9.08news flash (or flash news)
Looks like I am going to have to change my story here. For years I have given this SEO advice: Don’t put text in flash if you want Google to read it.
But Matt Cutts has recently affirmed what has been rumored for quite a while. Google is reading some flash text and currently is using Macromedia Flash Search Engine SDK to read it. So you can can check what Google sees by using this same tool.
However, it is a little more complicated than it sounds based on this CNET article on the mechanics behind Optimizing your Flash for Google.
Definitely good news. However, based on the application of this flash optimization , I stand by my statement with just one edit: Don’t put your most important keyword text in flash, but do make sure you are optimizing the text you do create in flash.
01.5.08netflix TV
Only slightly offtopic — interesting piece here on Netflix partnering with LG to create a set-top box to stream the “Watch Instantly” videos on Netflix onto a TV. It seems like a great idea except for two things:
- It is possible right now to connect a laptop with a DVD-player to your TV to do the same thing.
- Unless NetFlix is planning to significantly add more videos to the “Watch Instantly” section I don’t see the value-add.
I have spent a lot of time skimming through the Watch Instantly area and watching videos that way. At this point, I think I have seen all I care to see. The selection is not very good — all you have to do is take a look at how few movies are rated 4 or above — not many. Many are obscure b-grade movies (at least in the sci-fi section) or recent network TV shows. My guess is the lack of selection has something to do with how these films are licensed. Or maybe I am just not the target audience.
The articles says there will be 6000 videos to chose from. I am not sure how many Netflix has in the Watch Instantly bucket now, but Netflix does have 90,000 in its catalog.
You’ll still have to use your computer to select the movies, so it is not even a completely TV-enabled system.
Maybe there is a market for this — I am not seeing it. But then I still have rabbit ears on my non-HD TV set.
12.27.07Still getting used to this wordpress thing
I wouldn’t say I am a super-user of any particular blog software, but I do know my way around Roller and Blogger. But WordPress has so much more to offer. It is overwhelming. I think I have done all the theme tweaking I need to (and some I probably did not need to). Now I need to organize all my various Web 2.0 bits and pieces into this one spot.
12.11.07This week in SEO
Looking into the Yahoo Site explorer to try and branch out from the Google Webmaster tool as the only option for search engine to Web site communication.
Also hacking this wordpress theme. I like the layout, but not the adsense ads. I will be the one to decide where ads go, thank you very much.
11.30.07Welcome
Stay tuned for exciting SEO hints and tips