Is SEO Dead?
For real estate bloggers:
Last year, the SEO reason to blog was to get search engine traffic to your blogsite. For lead generation purposes, search engine traffic is not the most efficient; chances are slim that your blog will answer the question a Googler is asking. The best case was to get random readers to "follow" your blog.
Now, the "lead generation" reason for participating in the social media is to find people who will "follow" you. Strangers you don't know follow you, but you don't know why. Perhaps it's because you are providing information they need. Or looking to buy a house. Chances are much higher these "followers" are better qualified for your business than those pushed to you by search engines.
SEO is not dead. SEO still works because it "finds" your citations across the social media and then directs readers to you; Twitter seems particularly search engine friendly.
Conclusion: The social media creates contextual relationships based on common interest and purpose through systems of "followership" - blog RSS subscription, Facebook and LinkedIn friending, Twitter and Friendfeed following, Google Reader sharing. This informal, virtual referral system becomes the lead generation system. SEO's functionality is to fill in the blanks and randomly push people who might follow you.
We're watching as the number one commercial real estate firm in the world is going down faster than the Dow Jones. This is because these old line commercial brokerage firms never really took the internet seriously but rather they just figured that it was only window dressing. It's because of this lack of taking the web with all seriousness than they were then unable to truly experience the full power, efficiency, huge cost savings and growth that they could had experienced. Intead they are bloated with excess management, marketing and IT professionals who are each terrified about their own jobs and it was in this fear that they themselves boxed out the very technology vendors that could have saved their own lives and careers. Why are people so stupid?
Reply to this
Interesting article -- FYI: I found your article from Twitter.
Reply to this
I average about 40 clickthroughs on my Twitter posts with links on it - monitored via Tweetburner. You can see my Tweetburner stats here.
Reply to this
Great post. I agree with all you're saying. I've been immersed in Twitter for the past half year, and the 'water cooler conversation' style of that social media platform in particular, is captivating and immensely beneficial, across personal and business fronts.
I've been noticing that Google searches are showing more and more 'Tweets' and Linkein information, along with blog posts. It's not about traffic per say, it's about the right traffic.
Reply to this
Hey Great Post!!!
And you are very correct.
Reply to this
As Jeff writes above, it is not the traffic, it is the right traffic. I could not agree more. We get some very, very, very strange search terms leading people to our site. Naturally, they are not after what we offer, so their visit does not help one bit. I don't think SEO is dead at all, and I really don't think it ever will be. I do, however, expect it to continually evolve, meaning we'll all have to continually adapt.
Reply to this
Excellent description, Pat.
Here is how I just found harmony between all of my social media platforms:
1. I start in Google Reader and either search for specific terms or just read new info for the day. - Generally 50 - 150 articles / day.
2. I find 10 top articles to share through Google Reader so that other people can benefit. It also helps me track and remember the most important things.
3. I click through to the actual blog and leave a comment. This shows my "followers" for lack of a better word, that I actually participate in the info that I share.
4. I digg and stumble each article - as a "Thank You" to the author. It also helps pass info to my friends in those networks.
5. I tweet about the article through a mortgage blogging group on tweetworks. This sends the info to twitter, but allows people to comment on it in the group.
6. Everything is fed into mybloglog.com and published on a couple of industry related blogs that I have.
Besides commenting on the actual articles, the entire process literally takes 2 - 3 min per syndication.
The main purpose for that whole song and dance - I just like to read and share. If it takes me an extra 3 min to enrich hundreds or thousands of people with the info I find, then it is worth the time.
Reply to this
Mark, thanks for a great description of your SEO/online presence development methodology. You're a generous reader! Also glad to learn about Tweetworks, but it doesn't seem to have too much traction. In general, we've used #hashtags to catalog conversations.
Reply to this
Citations in the social media are usually "no followed" thus not of much use for organic purposes. However, as a traffic generation tool it can do some wonderful things.
Reply to this