where people and technology intersect

We can all appreciate FREE, we love free it’s fantastic. Here’s a gift from Donny Deutsch, famous marketing guru and build-your-own-business advocate from The Big Idea, Free Search Engine Optimization of your web site. And it doesn’t end there, the sta.rtup.biz social network provides legal, business and management “guru” advice and resources. Thank you Donny this is a great idea. I am a BIG fan. As I read through posts in the network however, I feel compelled to pass on my own advice so those who do choose to use this resource can better capitalize on it.

Do not be fooled that getting two cents from a guru is the golden ticket; you still have your work cut out for you. This is a bit like the fast food drive through of free business advice. If you fit the target market of a start-up or small business with limited marketing budget, it’s a critical time. Where you allocate your resources and dollars must be high impact. Establishing a foundation requires a thoughtful and strategic approach. Because this free advice is not highly customized, it can be hit and miss. A few cases in point taken from the Free SEO forum post Handmade Aromatherapy Website Needs Help follow. (Sorry Donny, you’re still my hero)

Protect Your Brand

Would you want your company/product presented in ways that conflict with your brand? Linking strategies that promote acquiring junk links across as many directories as possible can land your brand in undesirable circumstances. After spot checking neonlinks.com from a long list of recommended link sites I cringed to find these sites featured side by side on the homepage. See personalized children’s gifts listed below Sexy Eazy Porn. Ouch.

Relevancy Is Key

The first piece of advice via the Guru is change the title of this retail site’s page to “Soy Aromatherapy Candles” and optimize for this keyword because it’s a good one to go after. Well, ummmm one problem with that, this retailer does not appear to sell soy candles on this Web site. Maybe I’m missing something here?

Provided within an Excel spreadsheet is a keyword list that appears to have been compiled by analyzing traffic inventory against competitiveness…a good approach. However attention has not been paid to relevancy. As an aromatherapy retailer what kind of conversion rate do you think you’ll get from customer looking for “oils for plants”? I just hope Scents-ible Solutions does not blindly buy this keyword or worse yet spend time, resources and valuable Web site real estate on organic optimization. In any case, my first piece of advice to this company would be to invest in a professional looking shopping cart, branding and apply user experience best practices such as proper search and browsing features in the store. This might be a good first step for SEO, investigate whether the existing site and cart, which appear to be within a CMS/CMT structure, is speaking with Google at all.

Tips for Approaching SEO

A few general tips when approaching SEO for your Web site and brand:

1. Lead with a strategy, not tactics.
2. Understand your customers and their motivations; define goals, and where you envision your brand going.
3. Filter filter filter – and own your brand!
   1. Throw out keywords that are first and foremost not relevant to your product, service offering, and are off brand or present legal conflict.
   2. Be selective in targeting link sites, directories and blogs. Is this a place you want to be seen and who you want to be seen with?
4. Investigate technical issues preventing your site from being indexed by Google in the first place, no amount of linking or keyword optimization will work if this is not addressed.

I will not say that you get what you pay for. Tid bits of expert advice from a credible source free or otherwise can be valuable if not taken blindly. You are the biggest expert on your company and brand, own that. And if you prefer to take much more of a back seat, pay the price for an expert to spend time considering your business model, brand vision and target market, and who will work closely with you to execute a well crafted strategy. (more of a dine-in or private chef experience)