3 Reasons Why Blogs for SEO Fail

I found this article on Online Marketing Blog by Lee Odden. I couldn’t agree any more with just about every point. Often times clients ask me to design and develop a blog but are not quite sure what they are getting themeselves into. I admit, even I suggest that one may be useful in certain situations as they do have their strong points. But deciding if blogging is right for you and your business is a task not to be taken lightly. Lee breaks it down into some very technical reasoning in terms of SEO, but in the end it’s really common sense. Without proper planning, implementation, management and monitoring, a blog could do you more harm than good.

http://www.toprankblog.com/2008/12/blogs-for-seo-fail/

3 Reasons Why Blogs for SEO Fail

There are many benefits to publishing a business blog and improved search engine visibility is one of the most popular. It’s pretty common advice to hear: start a blog and the fresh content will attract links, improving your search results. Such tactical advice can be very effective.

Unfortunately, the advice gets filtered and distorted, not unlike what happens in the game “telephone” kids play. Pretty soon one or more blogs are implemented for the sole purpose and expectation of improving search engine visibility and nothing else. At least nothing else that’s accountable.

What’s wrong with this picture? Blogs started solely for SEO objectives will inevitably fail.

Read more…

Clients should help their own SEO cause

This article was written by Shell Harris at Big Oak SEO. I consider Big Oak the real deal and usually what Shell says in his blog, is right on the money. This article really struck a chord with me because clients ALWAYS ask “what can I do to get my website listed higher in Google.” And while the answer is usually a long and  complicated one, this takes a simple task and gets the client involved. Not only will it blow up your backlinks but I would think once the client saw the results, they would want to get much more involved. The act of doing goes a lot further in the act of learning. And with SEO it’s a constant state of learning. Once the client sees the difference this strategy makes, they’ll get more motivated. And a motivated client is a great thing. The best products I’ve produced are a direct result of working with highly motivated clients.

Clients should help their own SEO cause

By Shell Harris | Big Oak SEO

It occurs to me that as you get into more tactics that involve the social web, you should start leveraging the client’s staff (and possibly their customers) for assistance.

For example, what if you created a series of assignments to roll out over the life of your work with the client starting with each staff member tagging the company on delicious, then digging some page(s) on the site that they like, then creating their own lens on Squidoo.com, etc.

Providing instructions for your clients on how to do this would be part of the SEO consulting work you should be doing for your clients.

SEO is hard work and many hands make light work as my Mom used to say. Get your client’s involved and they will appreciate you efforts all the more and feel like they are part of the process and the success.

How personal does a group photo make your site?

I’m not a big fan of group photos on a a business or company portfolio site. I’ve learned that I am generally alone on this one. The thing about an online company is that your imagination can run wild with the notion of “how big is this company?” A group photo kind of limits my imagination and without that photo that for some reason makes me so crazy, the scope of the company feels limitless. It’s also one less cost you’ll have to deal with down road if you need to shoot or reshoot the photo. I’ve been unsuccessful in talking the last 3 clients out of this as everyone thinks it makes the site more personal. Is it just me or does anyone else find themselves making wise cracks about them? Like: “Nice haircut, what is this the 80s?”. If I want personal, I’ll go to a car dealer or my local Mexican restaurant. I’d love to hear comments on this one. I also don’t like twitter. Nope, sure don’t.

Understanding the Creative’s Process

One of the most rewarding (and sometimes most difficult) things about running a small marketing firm is that I often get to work directly with the owners of the companies I’m marketing. Most of the time, if the company is successful, the owners know what they are talking about in terms of understanding their market. So if you are the creative and not the client, then listen up, you may learn something from the owners, I always do. Every new site or print project I’m involved in I learn something new about a new market. It never ceases to amaze me.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done my fair share of work with large companies where red tape can run rampant and the creative process is completely befuddled. Make no doubt about it, the end product of a well managed and efficiently run project is far more superior then that of one where the flow of communications is like rice through water. Read more…