SEO Marketing and Advertising: Quips from a Convert

I am new to SEO.

I hail from the brick and mortar homebuilding industry where “brick and mortar” not only applied to the business, but to its advertising. 25k newspaper ads were a regular occurrence and chopping down a forest to send flyers was the status quo.

After two years in this economically foundational industry, I left with a solid understanding of off-line advertising and marketing.

Enter Submitawebsite.

I am two months in and the experience has been illuminating. While I knew about pay-per-click campaigns, organic rankings and analytics, my comprehension was rudimentary at best. I was used to making investments in one-time ad placements and short-lived marketing campaigns, not investing in evolving strategies.

Now don’t get me wrong…

Off-line marketing and advertising is important, but without the support of online tactics it is as useless as “trying to pick a lock with a wet herring*” (*reference Shakespeare in Love).

Think “peas and carrots,” “peanut butter and jelly”, “rum and coke….” I think you catch my drift.

I was inspired by a blog post written by SEOmoz’s Jane Copland (click here for more). Copland discusses an entertaining ad she saw on a city bus. When she reached her office she could not remember the url and instead searched for the ad content on the web. Her efforts were in vain. There was no marriage between off-line and online marketing. Therefore, she found no results until she rode the bus again and memorized the url.

This allegory relates an important truth. People tend to search online for products or services they see advertised in more traditional arenas i.e. television, print or billboard. The key to these offline mediums lies in their online application. There is no doubt a business will see the effects in their bottom line if a person reaches a dead-end when searching for their merchandise on the web. I concede there are exceptions to the rules, but keeping your offline ad’s keywords and phrases prominent on your website is a must.

It is also essential to consider price. I am not saying SEO is not expensive, but if you are going to spend 25k on one-time ad placement why would you hesitate to invest 25k in an SEO strategy? Similarly, if you are going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a product launch or grand opening, why not include SEO in that budget?

I hate to say it “brick and mortar” advertisers; there is a new reality. I used to be one of you, but I have been converted. Harness the Internet’s untapped potential (or at least tug at it). Don’t tack-on online strategies as an after thought. Incorporate them from the beginning. Let them feed and nurture your glossy magazine ads, entertaining bus wraps and witty commercials. I promise you will sleep better and enjoy your work more as you see the traffic and conversions start rolling in.