Because of the amazing growth of this blog, since I started marketing it just 9 weeks ago, I am getting a lot of people asking me the same question:
Could you take a quick look at my blog / website Jim and give me some tips for how to get more traffic?
This question is based on an easy to make, but incorrect assumption.
It assumes that I’m a SEO expert
- When I’m actually a Marketing Professional!
I’m not a SEO (search engine optimization), expert. Those are the people who can get you to the top of Google and help you get tons of ‘traffic.’ I am a marketing professional with a blog. The success I have achieved with jimsmarketingblog.com has been achieved through marketing, not SEO.
In fact, even though my last post has already attracted over 155 180 comments, I break many SEO ‘rules’!
For example, I’m told a blogger should post something every day, for the best SEO results. That’s why your favourite Internet Marketing or Social Media ‘Guru’ will often use guest bloggers to write stuff for them – just so they can get SOMETHING out there and keep Google happy. I prefer to post only when I have something of value to share with you – because I blog for people and NOT for Google. As a result, people know the content here will always be consistent and from the same, trusted source.
Also, I refuse to compromise on the way I write, just to make it easier for search engines! I am not repeating ‘key phrases’ or ‘key words’ over and over again. Why? Because if I only compromised my writing style by 1% in order to keep GOOGLE happy, that 1% could be the message YOU needed to hear in order to achieve a great sales or marketing breakthrough.
It’s just NOT an option for me. I write for YOU - Not for Google.
I use two forms of SEO here
I change the title tags of each post, to make them as relevant as possible to people and I also use alt tags for any images. These 2 forms of SEO take seconds to do and don’t get in the way of what I am trying to achieve.
So, what am I trying to achieve?
A blog powered by PEOPLE – NOT just another blog where GOOGLE decides who finds it and how successful it will be!
SEO is ONLY important if you want search engine ‘hits’
SEO is something I believe you need to embrace, ONLY if you want to attract better search engine results. I recommend you invest in as good a SEO provider as you can afford, if you want more traffic from Google and company.
However, I also think you should invest in some of the free, non-SEO ideas I have used on jimsmarketingblog.com. That’s what this post is all about!
Community
Look through the 160 180 or so comments on my previous post and you will see something amazing! You will actually be able to sense the genuine warmth my readers have for each other and for me. There’s already a strong community developing here and that’s what has led to the success of this blog. This feeling of community is why people are so comfortable when commenting here, contacting me or even hiring me for their marketing.
Because of this sense of community, you will also see lots of comments from people who use Twitter. There’s a good reason for that too! When I started marketing this blog (just 9 weeks ago), I had about 160 contacts on Twitter. Today, I have over 5,100 contacts – thanks to the JimsMarketingBlog.com community. Isn’t that amazing? I use just one social networking service and yet connect with more great people, than many who are in half a dozen networks. That’s the value of community!
I find many small businesses think about their online marketing in terms of; hits, clicks, visitors or traffic. I believe a far bigger emphasis should be placed on; people, community, connecting and networking.
Use great SEO – but never forget the human element. Those hits, clicks and visitors are people, after all!
ALWAYS great advice – thanks for your efforts… much to learn!
i like this focus. it resonates with me!
Mark,
You are welcome!
Mary,
It resonates with me too
Just say NO to SEO! While it is one of the tools that can help you get traffic it is useless if you get lots of visitors and they don’t stay or worse, never come back.
It seems that once people learn about SEO they become addicted to it like a drug and so obsessed with optimizing and ranking their pages they completely lose focus with writing good & meaningful content and truly connecting with their audience. Your ability to show people that you truly understand what the heck you are talking about and identify with the challenges they are experiencing…that is what makes people come back…again and again (Like to your blog
)
@teenbizcoach
Shonika,
Thanks for you comment.
I think SEO is actually a good thing, but only if / when used as part of a marketing strategy.
I actually think most good SEO people would agree that SEO is just part of the puzzel, if you want online marketing success.
Thanks!!
The people reason for blogging is so much more important than the Google reason for blogging – thanks for pointing this out, Jim. A blog can’t be useful or helpful without people to read it, and Google is just one of many tools that bring people to your blog (like Twitter). Excellent post, Jim!!
b
While SEO is very important, it is not the Holy Grail. Focusing on your audience, your followers, your friends and business partners, will get you more mileaage than any SEO effort. People like to know that you are speaking to them and care that they are listening.
Cheers!
Rob
Beth,
Those are my thoughts exactly!
Rob,
You make a great point about the importance of listening to people. We all like to feel as though our opinions are being taken into account or listened to.
… and never forget that we, as bloggers, usually have equally pressing work to do aside from blogging!
good post.
Vaqi,
This is another excellent point. The best part of developing a blog around a community of people, is that it eats into a lot less of your time.
Sure, if you are a member of three or four or more ‘social networking’ sites – you can lose stacks of time.
But if you have just a blog and a low maintenance ‘social networking’ group (I use Twitter) it’s amazing how little time is takes to achieve amazing results.
It also helps not having to post ‘something’ every day just to keep Google happy.
Post when you have something worth saying and on the other days, get involved with your readers!!
It’s always about people!
Hi Jim, it seems that you are managing to really build a tribe (see also Seth’s tribe book, which I think is nice), which is great. I agree with you on the people orientation. I know some so-so blogs to which people come back and read just because the author is a good guy or has build a community around him/her. If the blog is good – the effect is just multiplied. SEO is good to bring new people in, but it’s useless at keeping them, from my point of view. When I Google, I don’t connect, I just read and in 10 seconds I’m gone. When I come back to and read a blog – I connect.
So – let SEO bring in some of the new readers / followers and let the people orientation of you blog keep them. This is how I see it.
SEO may get you some people, but cultivating relationships with the people you already have will get you MANY MORE people. Your followers will naturally become evangelists and spread info about you via word of mouth. Those you already have are THE MOST valuable resource that you can cultivate.
Liviu,
Thanks for the comment; though I find the use of the word ‘tribe’ really disrespectful. I know the man wants to sell books, but there’s no need to add more, meaningless buzzwords to the language!
You are totally correct about getting the right balance.
Like you say, SEO will bring some people in, but it won’t keep them! Well put sir
Damien,
You are right. It’s impossible to over estimate the value of a community or social network; when it comes to growing a website or blog.
It’s what I have relied upon here for about 99% of my results thus far.
Hi Jim, great post today. I totally agree that a good mix is key. What good is having a perfect SEO article if it doesn’t speak to your reader? Getting someone to visit your site is not the hard part; its getting them to keep coming back (or make a purchase, or subscribe to your newsletter, etc). If you don’t write relevant articles, the SEO just doesn’t matter.
Jenn,
Thanks for the comment.
Jim:
Great point.
I’m very interested in community and connection so I appreciate your article.
I think some times we lose sight of community and people. It seems to be evident in our daily lives as we ride alone to work, pull into our garages, close the doors. Maybe this is why social networking is working. We are connected to a group.
Cathy
Cathy,
That’s a very interesting observation! Certainly some food for thought, thanks Cathy.
Heartily agree.
I think seeing your site as a resource both for you to help readers, and for readers to help you, will automatically generate links, newsletter subscribers and a ‘connection’.
That has a lot more strength and longevity than relying on the peaks and troughs of search results.
Craig,
I try hard to make sure that everyone who reads and comments here knows that we are part of a mutual network.
I focus a lot on giving, but as you rightly point out – I get stacks back in return.
Thanks!
Hi Jim,
Another excellent post! Your blog is proof positive that connecting with people beats pleasing spiders every time. I am do glad I discovered it-and you- on Twitter! Consider me a fan!
You do use various SEO techniques throughout your site and your writing, whether intentionally or not. You consistently link to other posts of yours throughout your writing and you constantly link ‘jimsmarketingblog.com’ back to that address in your writing.
By showing a list of recent posts and comments on the right site, this pumps each page full of additional keywords in the content for search engines to crawl.
Not knocking these techniques, Jim. (don’t want to risk you deleting my comment
) Just bringing your attention to them in case you’re not already aware of them.
Hi Tim,
I got an email earlier about linking from one article to another. I actually do it exclusively for my RSS subscribers; so they can find my homepage or a related article that’s here on the blog, whether they get their feed via email or a feed reader.
I’ve never heard before, that having the usual blog sidebar with comments and stuff, had any SEO benefit. After all, almost every blog has a side bar. Are you sure? (anyone??)
I can assure you that anything in my writing that’s ‘good seo’ is there for it’s content 100%. I remember reading a comment here on the blog, where someone said that if you write great content, Google will STILL pick it up even if it’s NOT SEO’ed. Is that your experience Tim?
(Or anyone else’s?)
I couldn’t agree more, Jim. Many focus so much on the technical aspects of SEO that they forget the purpose of a blog or website is to appeal to people once they arrive.
As Tim points out above, you do incorporate a number of on-site SEO techniques into your writing (whether or not you realize it), like internal linking – which is important to search engines like Google BECAUSE they help to improve the user’s experience.
The most important thing to remember is that a site built solely to appeal to the search engines’ algorithms is almost certain to fail. One crafted with visitors in mind has a much greater chance of not only generating traffic, but more importantly – as Jim illustrates – build a large and loyal community.
Another great post Jim.
The links from posts to posts helps your SEO slightly like Tim says, but the sidebar thing doesn’t.
As you pointed out, it’s a feature of almost every blog. So any gain would be tiny because all your competitors would get it too.
I cant spot any seo copywriting here or keyword stuffing. You also dont embold keywords.
I also checked your links and you have not done any of the SEO directory linking either.
Everything here is totally consistent with what you have said.
SEOaly,
Thanks for your valued feedback. I know you work as an SEO professional and agree 100% with what you said.
It’s about focusing on people – not hits – Just like the title of the post says.
Vic,
You are right, I decided not to list the blog in those link directories. I want people to link to me because they know me or my work.
I value that kind of link far higher on a human level, and I think most people feel the same.
Thanks Vic
Hi Jim,
Once again great post. Being someone who has seen the success of your twitter following, as well as a reader of the blog, what you say makes sense, and your data (followers on twitter etc) backs it up.
I worked on a website that did very well in organic SEO getting great Google rankings for many many relevant search terms. The trouble was, we got around 40,000 readers each month, 80% or more of whom were new. No one came back to continue reading because they either got what they wanted in one visit or it didn’t find what they thought they were going to get.
I’ve always believed in the quality over quantity mantra. If the quality of your readers is such that you have both influencers/evangelists promoting to their network you will continue to attract quality readers with a minimum of dross.
Simon,
I have heard of many, many examples like the one you give; where a site gets a stack of search engine traffic, but it doesn’t ‘do anything’ for the site / business.
I get less than 1% of my traffic from search engines. The other 99% is people.
Hi Jim,
This post comes at a good time. I’m not an SEO expert either but I am, somehow, a mobile product manager and SEO is on my to-do list at the moment. I’ve learned what I know about the industry by doing and being surrounded by others with more experience. This post soothes many of my insecurities about being in the wrong pond. (I’m a music journalist at heart.) I realize the value of metrics, but because I deal directly with consumers 160 characters at a time, I prefer to measure success by the amount of satisfaction I perceive users experiencing. And that in turn gives me satisfaction in a job well done. I’m only too happy to live to learn another day. And it that spirit, I will keep reading and following.
Best,
Jorge
Jorge,
Sounds like you are learning fast!! Thanks for the comment.
the marketing aspect is entertaining. infotaining is important to keep me interested in the information presented. fascinating ideas. presented by an engaging writer.
Sure, SEO is nice. But SEO alone isn’t going to drive quality contacts. I think that if you focus on the community, that has far greater potential for driving more contacts (building stronger relationships).
Matt,
Thanks. I’m glad you enjoy the blog and were kind enough to let me know. It’s always appreciated!
Ricardo,
Relationships are everything, in business and every other area of life. Good point!
Jim,
Well done and well said.
I too don’t care about hits, but “community” is the buzz word that transcends time.
Folks worldwide are tired of the one-way conversations businesses have with their clients.
People want to be heard, accepted and cared about. So the only way for that to happen is to develop what you have done sticking to solid principles including one that says, “help enough people get what they want and you WILL get what you want.”
You have certainly proved that point.
Bravo, maestro!
Anthony Whyms
Moving4ward Marketing
http://twitter.com/anthonywhyms
Jim;
Another great article, always said I would rather earn one honest dollar than fifty dishonest ones. Very glad you said hello and introduced yourself on twitter. Kudos and keep on doing what your doing, best of luck for your future.
Robert …
Anthony,
One way conversations are still, as you say, all too common in the marketing. Good point.
Robert,
Thanks – That’s a good attitude to have about business AND money!
Jim,
I can’t explain how much I just love reading your stuff. You are so right and I notice on my own blog that it’s when I give some lovin that people respond the most. It’s time to leave the cold “tricks and tactics” to those who just want clicks but community is where it’s at.
You’re a fantastic marketer by the way and long-term, this has far more value than SEO.
BTW- the two SEO tips you mentioned are the best to start with and the truth is, even Google wants you to write naturally. We have to engage in conversation and can’t do this when repeating words unnecessarily.
Trish
Trish,
Hello again! I’m just about to take a look at your blog http://www.trishjones.com
Thanks for your kind words!
The first key to a great marketing campaign is to have a great product. Your content is always worth reading
Thanks Susan!
Hi Jim,
After reading this post I also followed up your tweet of http://tinyurl.com/6ca5b7 to Calloway Green’s post on no follow rule which they are also implementing.
I follow you because of the genuine value you supply, and because I know what I am going to get.
Information has to have value _and_ be focused to be useful, and as you are blogging and tweeting _consistently_ about a valuable subject, hence we know what we’re going to get, hence we stay – well, I do!
Add to that a personal response as you have indicated in this blog post and you have a winning formula. You are the only tweeter who I had not met before following, who sent me a personal DM of thanks and input, even commenting on my website. It certainly works!
Jim,
You said this so well! It is about people and one the things that SEO marketing drives me crazy with is that the People-Factor is dropped out.
We forget we drive all this traffic hither and frither (made that up!) and then it comes down to PEOPLE. Relationship. You have just proven that the people factor is more important than then the traffic driving SEO factor. Word of mouth is more powerful and interested people show up not just some random searcher.
I too don’t post nearly enough. I havew to have something to say. I don’t want to fill my blog with meaningless garbage, I want to create value. And since my blog is an inspirational blog, with posts that are channeled, many transformational and designed to question how readers think and “BE” in their lives – these posts aren’t just plucked from trees.
There are so many blogs (even by gurus) that are really just reiterations of each other. If the posts were all jumbled and put into a big “blog post basket” I be4t the majority of their readers would not be able to tell correctly who wrote what post.
I honestly see a return to authenticity not only in blogging and cultivating online relationships, but in LIVING LIFE. In being human. This is the arise of human beings living as their authentic selves not the “identity or named” selves.
And if those reading this aren’t sure what that means, read my blog (though it’s less blog like and more article like) Read the channeled story of Dinky – The Little Yellow Daffodil. Empowering and moving. It is here: http://is.gd/3Osn In this tale, Dinky embodied uniqueness. And he changed the world by being just uniquely himself.
So thank you Jim for being just uniquely you and contributing to the world as only Jim Connolly can!
With Appreciation & Joy,
Amy
Pardon all my typos! post was so big, they disappeared all the way up into the grey box! LOL!
I humbly apologize for the mess!
Amy
Su,
Thanks for being so generous regarding my work It means a great deal to me.
I always try and respond to every comment – or at least those comments, which require an answer from me.
It’s part of my ethos – that this blog is a community, which we are all a part of.
Thanks Su!
I agree completely, provide for your community and they will grow and provide the traffic. SEO is a secondary consideration.
Google’s goal was to be able to find sites the provide great content, it’s goal was not to create a system to be gamed.
Just came across your blog from a link on IBW forum, great info, thank you.
I completely agree with connecting to your community and achieving SEO organically by writing fresh, relevant and focused content. Paying an SEO expert is not always necessary, especially if you use a blogsite platform dedicated to achieving SEO organically by design. Our business blogsites do just that with Guest Weblogs (ie. blogroll), Briefings (automatic, up to date Google queries for topics relevant to your business topic) and dedicated weblog topic channels. Take a look http: //blogsite.com
I found your site via our Twitter connection!
Adam,
Thanks for the comment!
Lorna,
Thanks great – Thanks.
Amy,
Another comment from someone via Twitter. It’s a great way to connect.
Always enjoy your blogs and advice. The thing I notice is that SEO is full of rules to be broken, as long as these are carefully tested as not to undo what you’ve done. AND even though SEO is somewhat technical, its overall effects are a result of good messaging and marketing. So, I would say that in a way you are an SEO expert.
Jon-Mikel,
That’s an original way of looking at it.
Once again, another great post. I’ve learned so much from you in the short time I’ve been following you on Twitter. Thank you!
Fantastic blog! We get the same requests all the time, all wanting to be the ‘top of Google’ without thinking about what will happen when customers actually get to their site.
Google, as far as I know, doesn’t generally buy stuff from our customer’s websites. People buy from websites, not web crawlers.
Alyssa,
Another Twitter contact, thanks for stopping by the blog!
Andy,
Thanks for blogging about me today. I appreciate it. Your comment about Google not buying stuff from people’s websites is a good one – well put!
Jim, one of the most valuable aspects of your blog in the interactive community you have created. I love your ideas, but the conversations they start trigger more great ideas than any one blog post could generate.
I think people often underestimate the value of a community, but the development of ideas through the back and forth of an intelligent group of people is one of the most powerful and valuable things any marketer can create.
Thanks for creating this community.
Jared Young
Jared,
The comments here are what makes the blog worthwhile.
It takes the one-way communication of a website and turns it on its head.
The community here is truly amazing and as you can see, the value of their comments is amazing.
Wow! Wonderful post. Getting off the blocks can seem daunting. With so many social networking sites and Internet marketing strategies around it can be hard to know where to start. But good advice like this is what we need. Basically focus on traditional offline tactics online and as Seth Godin says, build a tribe. I think you are saying the exact same thing
[...] I read Jim’s Blog post on his techniques for getting traffic. he said that many people are asking him about SEO and how to [...]
Finally, newbies (and everybody else) can breathe a little easier knowing that they don’t have to spend fortunes on SEO, PPC or other methods available to get traffic to their websites, blogs, etc…
There are certainly more than enough self proclaimed Guru’s out there who will tell you it’s SEO or nothing to get traffic to your site. You are proof that is NOT the case. You make it plain to see that SEO is only “one piece of the pie” in our plan for getting traffic to our pages.
The real “light in the darkness” that I see is your devotion to providing worthwhile content to your readers and NOT to the spiders. That is so REFRESHING!
Thanks for a great post.
Dave Perkins
(aka: trafficmechanic)
Stuart,
Don’t build a ‘Tribe’ – Connect with PEOPLE instead!
David,
Thanks. SEO is ONE way to get more people to visit a website or a blog. It’s clearly not the only way though, as this blog proves.
Learn something new every day! Thanks for the tip on alt tags. Now I have to figure out how to implement in wordpress. I can particularly see their usefulness for visually-impaired web users who rely on text to voice capabilities. Never thought about that nor how it could positively impact SEO.
I’m a subscriber now!
Cherryl,
When you add an image to your post, there’s an option you can use to add alt text to the image.
In my version of wordpress it says: Add caption – Alternate text, e.g. “The Mona Lisa”
The words you use are ‘picked up’ by Google, to help it identify the image.
I’m sure an SEO pro will comment here and give a much better explanation to you.
I’m the guy from Twitter that got unfollowed and has had almost no traffic to his blog because I used the term (Tribe), to describe my followers and readers.
I have deleted the post but the damage has been done. I only used the term in one post and it was meant as a way of saying community.
Its NOT an insult. But if you haven’t read Seths book you dont know that right? I cant believe how stupid I was.
Hi Anon,
I mentioned your problem on Twitter and got a lot of people who said they too wouldn’t like to be called someone’s tribe.
Even people who are in the Author’s ‘tribe’ like yourself, seem to use the term internally only – Not externally to address their clients, contacts.
I would blog about your experience and focus on rebuilding. I would also contact Seth Goddin and ask him what HE thinks you should do.
If you decide you want to let me / the readers here know who you are and where your blog is, I will happily give you a ‘shout’
We all make mistakes – right?
Great post as always Jim. It’s interesting how syncronicity works, as I’ve just started posting an SEO Intensives series and the first thing I wrote about was that you need to write about something that interests you, and not just throw posts at a blog to get ranked by the search engines.
Indeed, without the feedback, none of us would know if we were going in the right direction or not. The interaction is a requirement for all of us to improve ourselves, our writing and our blogs.
When someone decides to start a blog-type website, they are putting themselves out to the world. If noone comments and interacts with them, then they’ve got a whole lot of not much. I know for myself that the feedback and comments help shape what I write about.
SEO should really be part of everything you do, and since real, true SEO actions — that will continue to work indefinitely and are not trickery — NEVER violate the customer/personal contact aspect of the job, you’re in the clear anyway. (Because SEs are really just a predict of what people want and if you match that you have what the SEs want.) Any other “SEO” action is usually just about good clean programming code that delivers content well. The job is a misnomer. Because most of what I do isn’t SEO at all – it’s good programming – good website engineering.
Desi,
As I say in the post, SEO is vital for everyone who wants more search engine traffic.
My point was simply that I am not prepared to compromise how I write or how I link, to keep Google happy.
I blog for people, Google can do whatever it wants. It it likes the blog great – if not, great.
Jim,
Great stuff. Love the content and the reality of your posts.
Michael Bristol
Hi Michael,
Glad you like it! Thanks for stopping by the blog.
Jim,
Great post as always. it is funny because I just got back from a networking event where the guest speaker was an SEO company… and a really good one at that!
However, SEO is so over rated IMO these days. Sure, if you have the money and the time to wait SEO can help you with traffic… but is it traffic you want, or clients?
They are able to get you to page 1 on Google and play with the big boys, and that is great and all, but if you are a small “local” business, being on page 1 on Google in NYC does so good if I am in Salt Lake City, Utah.
I am not saying social media, twitter and the like are the best thing for every company, but no matter what you sell as a business, people buy you first, and the relationship you have with them… so go out there, and be human people!
- Doc
Doc,
I think you make a great point when you say; “…is it traffic you want, or clients?”
Nice distinction.
As people know Content is a King. But Community is the Kingdom. By building a community you not only sell more products but you build brand recognition and customer loyalty.
Sam AG,
I love this; “Content is a King. But Community is the Kingdom.”
Great point – thanks.
SEO needs to learn how to treat “humans”.
Gosh, your blog is a breathe of fresh air. It really is.
Thanks for your strong insight and awesome talents. I’m sure you bring many blessings to others.
As always Jim succinct information. Thank you for pointing that out.
Hi Jim,
As always, the information in your post is exceptionally helpful to me. I can actually understand and apply your suggestions instead of having to translate or research them first.
You also confirmed that I wasn’t as far off base as I had thought.
I haven’t been able to figure out how to included the key words and phrases multiple times without compromising the content and readability of my posts.
Nor could I understand how someone could write a valuable post daily.
Failing to accomplish those guidelines, made me feel as if I was greatly lacking in some essential skills.
After reading your post, I realize that I am not so off base after all.
I have always tried to write posts that were valuable, helpful and easy to understand.
I just couldn’t figure out how to do that and still satisfy Google.
Thankfully, that isn’t necessary.
Thanks for restoring my confidence and peace of mind.
Lauren
Chuckypita,
Thank you for the kind words. Glad you found the blog useful.
Dee,
Thanks!
Lauren,
I am one of YOUR subscribers and enjoy reading your work at http://laurenpkennedy.wordpress.com/
It’s great that you commented here – I know your writing helps so many people – You ROCK!
Finally! I read a tip that combines common sense, marketing savvy, and practicality. I have a new blog and have been struggling with the “advice” I’ve been getting that I must post at least 3 times per week. I just can’t do that; I too, only want to post when I feel I have something useful and value to offer. This post eases my mind considerably.
Great focus away from SEO. I like writing for people too.
[...] most people what the secret to a successful blog or website is and the word Google will come into the conversation pretty quickly. We talk about [...]
Yea, there’s a lot of ways to get notice by the world, SEO is not the only way. But, it is a bonus if we can get a good result in search engine
[...] Everywhere you go, you see long salesletter boasting about their “traffic to their sites exploding” when they used some product or some marketing strategy. While its true that Internet marketing is a numbers game, Jim shares here that it also pays to focus on the people, not the hits! [...]
It goes with me I also am inclined towards building community, creating relations. Some cases though, when not much time is given, you calculate only hits, traffic, conversions. All what matters at the end is making money.
Jim, this post really puts the marketing/SEO/networking world into perspective for me. Being in the infant stages of starting a business, being bombarded with marketing/SEO/networking information can be difficult and confusing when trying to figure out how to achieve your goal, which is sales. You have pretty much summed it up to balancing it all in order to make yourself, and your personality a part of the company image.
[...] maanging the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) side of things with the human side. In his posting Focus on people – Not ‘hits’! he notes how true growth comes from the people. Engage your users and they will return. SEO is [...]
Jim,
Wanted to say I enjoy your updates and this entry really hit the nail on the head for me. I’ve been frustrated by the focus on SEO rather than content and I was glad to see your post about it.
Thanks
@cgrant
I wholeheartedly believe this statement, and i’ve been saying this to my coworkers recently.
“I find many small businesses think about their online marketing in terms of; hits, clicks, visitors or traffic. I believe a far bigger emphasis should be placed on; people, community, connecting and networking.”
The internet sure works in magical ways! Especially twitter, it’s exceeded all of my expectations, and I continue to gain important and useful contacts through it every single day.
Andrea/ @MakingMusicMag
SEO is important as well, but it doesn’t fall in the same category.
SEO belongs to website strategy, webpresence and so on,
whilst blogging might fall into Social Media Marketing strategy.
Both important, both different focus, different uniquenesses & objectives.
There is no doubt in my mind that you need both on page SEO and off page SEO.
Social media marketing is a very important element of SEO. The more quality links you have to your site, the better.
I think that’s exactly right. In the old days, it was all about eyeballs, but no one cared about whose eyeballs. These days, every single visitor (even the trolls) matters and having a successful site is about engaging with each and every one of them on an individual level.
This is another post from someone who does not understand SEO getting his disciples all riled up.
What Jim fails to tell all of you, is that SEO is not about increasing traffic, but about increasing conversions. When you optimize a site, you don’t optimize for more traffic. Otherwise every site would read “barack obama” “sex” “porn”. You optimize your site for the keywords YOUR AUDIENCE will be researching to find you.
Sure, traffic comes along with that. And lowlife SEOs try for more and more traffic, even if it is unqualified. But get real. This is 2008, not 1999. Sadly Jim is stuck in 1999 with this philosophy, and he is trying to get all of you on his side.
Look at his twitter followers, he has over 7000. How many of those would you (or he) say is his target audience? Is he trying to get traffic (followers) or is he trying to have a community?
This post is completely backwards. SEO is not about increasing traffic, it is about driving the RIGHT(qualified) traffic and getting them exactly what they want. Please don’t get this confused.
Randy,
I’m not an SEO expert, I’m not even a keen amateur – It’s not my thing, as I state at the start of this post.
I am not anti-seo, as you suggest – I stand by what I said, that it’s better if you combine great SEO with non-seo marketing too.
You wondered how many of my followers were in my ‘target group’. I have no idea, because my target group, as you call them, are just people who share my interest in marketing and sales. As you can see from the comments, this also seems to be the kind of people who comment here.
I appreciate your comments Randy.
Just read Randys comment. sounds like he never read your post though.
Im guessing he also dont know you are pro seo and that you have told readers to go hire the best seo guys they can?
Weird that he never supplied his own website address in his comment?
Hey Randy.
So no name and no url with your comment?
Thats what I call smart seo right there. You comment on a well read blog and dont leave a link to your own site.
And you are the seo expert?
Leigh,
Yes, I am pro Search Engine optimisation as you say. My point with THIS blog is to provide a human-powered blog. Even so, as I said in the post, I use both Title Tags and Alt Tags (both are SEO related.)
Salty,
It’s possible he doesn’t have a site. I’m guessing that’s why you didn’t leave a link either?
For those inquiring, I am flattered. Enjoy!
[...] Everywhere you go, you see long salesletter boasting about their “traffic to their sites exploding” when they used some product or some marketing strategy. While its true that Internet marketing is a numbers game, Jim shares here that it also pays to focus on the people, not the hits! [...]
That’s very thought provoking. I used to freak out when I didn’t add to my other blogs in the past…which is why they all dropped on the way side. This helps me go forward with the one I just started a week ago.
Jim, I agree that a people focused approach is definitely a better strategy.
Here is why I think so :
1) It’s people who come to your site that you want to stay
2) Word of mouth (or the spreading of knowledge through people rather than search engines) is far more valuable.
3) Attract comments – People like to interact and it has to be easy to do so.
In my search for the best backlink tactics (my blog) I’ve found that there is not always correlation between Page Rank and where you are on a Google Search – it’s all depends on what people are searching for. If you focus too much on the search engine ranking / key words then you’ll end up changing your content and you’ll get caught up in this endless loop.
Patience and the human touch – definitely.
I see how active you are on Facebook – and I see your face all the time. You have a great human approach to your internet marketing.
You mentioned, “I’m told a blogger should post something every day, for the best SEO results.” Unfortunately, you were told wrong. There is no need to update everyday for SEO purposes unless you’re chasing trends traffic, like who’s the hot celeb today or who got a bailout today.
Otherwise, it’s a matter of targeting the right keywords and building the right back links to your site. That way your traffic level will remain the same even if you don’t update in a week, month or even a year.
Hi Jim,
I went on a lot of different google chat room to learn or just understand how to create more traffic on my blog, one guy told me to register to adsense from Google to attract traffic and make a lot of money…. I mean it sound good when it said that but this isn’t something I want to do now. I liked what I found on your blog about communication with people instead to hide yourself behind a screen and just wait for your blog to do the work….But at the end of the day the content of your blog has to be pretty good.
Thanks anyway…Will follow your advice.