We have come to realize that there is a common theme among how we begin to work with our clients: We are invited to work on their websites. We increase digital strength for them. While you are saving lives, our focus stays on your interactive and marketing matters. Together, “Digital Strength” is where we both excel. This month’s newsletter was supposed to be on positioning; however, based on a few positions of my own, I felt the need to table that topic until a later date – I think this month’s “Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is for Dummies” article will make my reasoning crystal clear.

Since I am not the first person to mock the lengthy holiday missives, I want to be the first to draw a comparison between the "dreaded" holiday letter and your website. Maybe not YOUR website, but MANY websites alienate visitors because they are too self-centered. Too self-absorbed and "puffed-up."

When people visit a "self-centered" site, they leave it quickly and do not retain valuable information. Valuable information will be overlooked if it is embedded in a long-winded, one-sided "conversation." To understand what makes a website selfish and arrogant, try to recall your last conversation with a self-serving and arrogant individual. Can I safely assume that most of the words spoken included: I, me, my, myself and mine? A startling number of websites commit this same crime.

SEO IS FOR DUMMIES

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the least of your worries this year. Before you call me crazy, realize that the goal of SEO is to attract clients-to-be to your website. It is comforting to think that a decline in market share or an inability to grow can be blamed on people just not being able to find your website. With SEO, your problems will be solved… right?

News flash: Your customers are not only able to find you — they are also able to find your competitors and every other substitute in a matter of seconds on Google, LinkedIn or Blogger. So it is important that you increase the ranking of your website… right? Wrong. SEO is the least of your problems. In fact, if you have not yet optimized your website, you have probably done yourself a favor.

The SEO concept has become a mainstream topic. Most of the newspaper and magazine articles, newsletters, RSS feeds support the party line: “optimize, optimize, optimize!” Urgent messages flood my inbox, “Rick, you need more links leading to your website!” and “Rick, we can help you optimize for as little as $50!” These claims are seriously lacking substance.

Stop for a second, and think about this . . . is your website actually ready for the people you want to attract, for your important “clients-to-be?” Most marketers have an immediate and visceral response, “Of course it is!” When I say “ready,” I really mean “worthy.” The same people who insist that their websites are “ready” are attracting clients-to-be to websites that (1) lack strategic direction (2) offer “news” that is 3 months or 3 years old (3) embrace design concepts that undermine their brand identities. For example, your company offers a product or service that promises to streamline operations for clients-to-be, but your website has convoluted navigation, lengthy blocks of copy, low-end graphics, lots of numbers and complicated concepts. You get the idea because you have encountered these websites, too. They make you frustrated and angry. This is how clients-to-be feel when they encounter websites that are “ready” yet not “worthy” of their time and attention. Now imagine that your competitor offers an inferior product/service, but they have a strategically sound, popular website that is able to win the hearts and minds of your marketplace. If the thought of this scenario makes you uncomfortable, your website is probably “ready.”

Some websites make it impossible to find the most basic contact information. The simplest “call to action” is next to impossible to fulfill. Worse yet, most firms do not carve out solid positioning based on what they actually do (let alone “do well”) in the marketplace. With no real differentiation, websites are often created that lack identity to the point of no return: competitor logos could be swapped out and it would not make a whit of difference. If the words are bland (but true) and if the promises made can be easily fulfilled by your company (as well as by five of your top competitors), you might think your website is “ready” – for search engine optimization. Think about this before you proceed any further.

A brand is not a name and a logo – it is a promise set high on a platform within the marketplace that is held up by delivering on that promise with great care, integrity and consistency. Your website is one of the main pillars holding up your brand promise. If your website is perceived as being neglected, having obsolete and/or irrelevant content and poorly written copy — what does that say about your product or service?

If you want your website to support marketing and sales goals and to be used as a sales tool, your website must be based on an interactive marketing strategy. Seriously, stop buying tickets to the SEO rodeo. There are a bunch of rodeo clowns out there distracting you from the bigger, more serious issues affecting your digital strength. The worst part of it is that you may be paying big bucks for help that is making a bad impression on even more of your clients-to-be. Put the horse before the cart. Do not lead more people to your website if is chock-full of information about “you” that no one, not even your customers (or competitors) care about, nor believe.

Websites should be a tool of inspiration, self-evaluation and stimulation.

The JDAnthony MIND, BODY and SPIRIT Web Wellness Program

MIND - THE INTELLEGENCE

• Does your marketing strategy have a web-focused component?
• Is your website based on an interactive strategy / strategic plan?