A few weeks ago, I heard Andy Beal on Marketing Voices on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I'm focused on Social Media at this part of my career, and saw some areas where SEO and Social Media really impact and may conflict. Andy's a good guy and a friend, and if he can handle my questions, here in public, I'm sure he could do the same in front of clients, and/or competitors.
Here's the challenge questions on Search Engine Optimization.
Jeremiah's Question 1)
"Because blogs score high in Google Search results, how does this impact corporations who spend resources on SEO campaigns for their websites?"
Jeremiah's Question 2)
"If Social Media is an effective way to gain in SEO (as well as engage an audience), should we increase Social Media Program budgets and reduce SEO budgets?"
Jeremiah's Question 3)
"The word of mouth network is becoming more and more efficient. Communities are forming and networks are formalizing, these networks allow users to share info about products and services without using search. (Twitter, blogs, myspace are good examples). update: If these word of mouth networks become so efficient and content is shared amongst a common group, will this reduce the need for searches?"
Jeremiah's Question 4)
"I state that Web Marketing is not on Two (corporate and google) domains only. Some savvy companies are realizing the Web Marketing battle isn't on the corporate domain only, as the word of mouth effect becomes more important, do companies really want visitors to come to their site? Or will the savvy company realize that the most effective web marketing is using advocate customers to turn cold and warm prospects. How does this impact the SEO industry?"
The SEO community has responded
Andy Beal has responded, I feel kind of bad by putting him out on a ledge for question 3, but he seemed to handle it with no problem, out of the mayn SEO professionals I've met, Andy has been excellent in responding to any question I've had, so I'm not concerned about him hanging on a ledge. I've also seen that Daniel from Emergence Media has also responded, similar answers, but a different tone. Now if I can just get Calacanis to answer.
Also related, I saw a trackback from Nick Wilson that thinks that Andy, Jennifer and I are in the old boys club, I dunno Nick, I met Andy at a conference where we were speaking, I had him do a project for me while I was the Manager of Global Web Marketing at Hitachi and was impressed with him from then on, we've maintained a relationship since. I don't know you Nick, but I look forward to meeting you one day as well, I'm an equal opportunity old boys club member.
If you're an SEO professional, I encourage you to try to answer these challenge questions as they may start to emerge in client meetings as social media becomes a line item within organizations.
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