In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman.

~ David M. Ogilvy

Account Managers (AM) today have varied backgrounds, possess different characteristics, and have their own philosophies regarding how to manage a base of business. Account Managers are critical to future success for any company, particularly SEO’s, because the industry is further ahead of the client’s ability to truly understand what we do and how we do it. Quality SEO AM are accountable, enthusiastic and possess a fine balance of technical knowledge, marketing savvy, passion for the client, and a positive hard working attitude.

Most people think of SEO as a technical role. While CSS, PHP and other programming skills are invaluable to SEO, I tend to think of SEO more as Marketing with technical requirements. More often than not, the marketing part of an SEO’s job is overlooked.

#5 Writing Body Content for the Search Engines

Writing for the web can be pretty challenging. You often have many different audiences to appease: your Potential Customer, Shareholders and Investors, and of course, the Search Engines. Each of these have different objectives and can require a significantly different language and tone.

Cher Monsieur Rose,

J’ai publié un article sur un blog il y a de cela quelques jours Une fonctionnalité sur Digg est brisée… Ohhhh, Ca fait mal, mettant en lumière quelques uns des problèmes auxquels je me suis heurté. L’intention, comme vous le remarquerez n’est pas de taper sur Digg en aucune façon, mais seulement de mettre en lumière ces problèmes que j’ai eus avec ce site, et la solution que j’ai trouvé pour contourner ces difficultés jusqu’à ce que ces problèmes soient résolus d’une manière ou d’une autre.

 
Image courtoisie de ScottBeale/ Laughing Squid

Hmmmm…..Sometimes you find things when you least expect it. Like when you happen to be in a meeting, doing a sample search and find yourself standing bolt upright, pointing and exclaiming, “OHMYGOD WHAT’S THAT?!?!” noting, “hmmm, that’s interesting”, as I found myself doing this morning.

Google has gone a step beyond maps to introduce addresses directly into Adwords ads and apparently is running a small test sample.

Do I like it? I’m not convinced.

Is it functional? Perhaps a little.

Credit: MirkoGarufi

Although Search Engine People has a fair share of Canadian based clientele, we also service the needs of many firms that are located overseas, and often more than half way across the globe. With Local SEO becoming more and more prominent, it’s imperative that we track SERP rankings not only on Google (dot) Com but also on regional Google search engines. Obtaining reporting on natural search results across different geographies can be tedious and time consuming, especially when a particular client receives a significant portion of referral traffic from different regional Google search engines. However where there is a will, there is a way and with so many bright minds in the Search Marketing industry, a solution to ‘optimize’ the quandary couldn’t have been far away.

I’ve been running Search Engine People for 7 years now, and am just finally getting the company to the point that I know it could run perfectly without me in the picture at all. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not planning on leaving or going anywhere. Its just that now, I can focus on working to my strengths, and taking the company to the next level of its evolution. We’re currently a 15 person organization, and if everything goes according to plan should have slightly more than 30 people at the same time next year.

Image Credit : Torchondo

Lay Down Google Analytics. Analyze Your RSS Growth Instead

A recent analysis by 45n5 states that the average RSS subscriber syndicated to an Internet Marketing| SEO | Make Money Online niche is worth about $31 in intangible value. While this number may be debatable, there is no doubt that growth in RSS subscriptions are the life blood of any booming blog. In fact, next to figuring out the number of Returning Visitors, and Time on Site, I’d say that RSS is the best metric to evaluate the ’stickiness’ of your content.

Codicil: Anyone who knows me know I’m the second last person in the world to suck up to the boss… (I’d say last but that’s too much like aspiring to a recognizable title, which I don’t as a rule do.)

I would like to think I’m a good employee, showing up on time, putting in an honest day’s work, playing nice with all the other kids, telling all the other kids where I got my toys (cause let’s face it, no one really likes to share).

Organic search can sometimes be difficult for a marketing person to get their head around. This is because Organic search doesn’t follow regular business rules. It follows Google’s Rules.

In business most of us are familiar with the rules of engagement. Barring everything you learned in Economics, HR, Strategic Planning, Finance, it all boils down to this: If you have enough money, talent and time, you can have basically anything you want. And executives are used to this.

Its true! Let me explain. While I was at Pubcon in Las Vegas last week, I sat in on a couple of sessions about video optimization, and had this revelation that almost certainly will come to fruition. Search optimization of videos will become a very important component of movie, video, and television production going forward. Accordingly, I want to ensure that our company is prepared once this inevitability occurs … so Stephen Spielberg, I want to throw our name into the short list of potential SEOs of Record now. Here’s why you’re gonna need us … soon! You can reach me directly at jeff (at) searchenginepeople.com (hehe).