Comments on: Is search engine optimisation overrated?

By: John Picton

John Picton — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:35:14 +0000

Yup, very valid point there Richard regarding the ‘address on stationery’ question. I suppose it all depends on exactly where your stationery / business cards etc end up!

Thanks for your comments.

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:20:05 +0000

Having the web address on all stationery does help, but I’d argue that it doesn’t generate new business, which is the point of most SEO; using blogs to attract inbound links (mentioned in your post) is SEO.

I think you hit the nail on the head with ‘don’t see SEO as a magical answer to all our marketing questions’; it can be a primary portion of it, but you should never put all of your eggs in one basket!

By: John Picton

John Picton — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:30:24 +0000

Absolutely, that sums up nicely the point I was trying to make. You can spend a lot of time and money on SEO which could be far more effectively used elsewhere in your campaign! And traffic to a site isn’t necessarily any good if it doesn’t convert. Personally I would rather have a warm introduction than a Google number 1 any day of the week!

By: Richard Lane

Richard Lane — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:12:28 +0000

Interesting post, John. As with most things in life I guess it comes down to moderation – e.g. focus on covering the bases and SEO will deliver for you alongside your other marketing / awareness activities. The trick is getting the effort/reward ratio correct.

By: michelle

michelle — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:05:58 +0000

We’ve obviously had this conversation a few times over the past couple of years. Having looked at the way my business works and performs I would be in complete agreement that SEO is overrated, at least in terms of what I do.

If you type my name into google then it’s number one and listed in most of the sites on the first and second pages. But the thing is that it’s specific, people already know who I am, therefore they are actively seeking out my website. It’s those keywords that have brought them directly to my site. I agree completely that a website is a tool in a bigger marketing campaign, it’s a fabulous way of showcasing what you do, getting out immediate information etc, but if it’s not backed up with other methods, it’s just one in millions and the likelyhood of attracting work from that alone is minimal.

Even in this digital world people still like to be given a physical business card, a good well written letter, a compliment slip, and best of all, a personal recommendation. The next one is Keywords, useful again if people know you, but not the be all and end all. For example, GoogleAds, I have an advert out at the moment, which is generating traffic to my website, which is great, it’s doing it’s job in that it is helping to spread awareness, but it is still the people who I make contact with myself then point to my site that give me business. Is this just the nature of what I do, or a recurrent factor?….