Could you send me some pictures of your 2.5 and 3 bedroom apartments please?? I’m going to the U of Minn next year with 2 other friends and need a place to live!

thankss

In the same way that “pure” marketing is simply informing you about something you already wanted to know about (I would have bought it if I knew it existed!), SEO is the same thing for information on web sites (I would have read their site if I could have found it on Google).

Building something great is a good long-term strategy and makes it easier because there is a natural pull from the public (once word gets out) instead of a push from the content makers. But I’d also say that there have been many underdogs in all sorts of industries that (even having a superior product) failed. Maybe they would have succeeded if their search engine rank had been just one notch higher.

Even though SEO services are performed for a marketer, if we do our jobs right, we will end up making a better search experience for users.

I know Derek is way over this by now (http://twitter.com/fraying/status/4872472797), so I think I’ll give up on trying to explain why “SEO isn’t either obvious web design or an unethical scam” to deaf ears.

Still…it was a good eye opener about how there are some really strong feelings out there against our profession, and any of us (all of us) who can shed light on what we do, and why can really help online marketers make smarter decisions about their websites.

Thanks again!

While I do appreciate your comments – I would say you are exactly the kind of “opportunist” that caused Derek to rant.

Let’s use our names when leaving blog comments. Let’s be real people.

Thanks everybody for your comments…I’m on the road, so moderation will be slow, but I’m honored to be having a healthier conversation with you all about this stuff!

I’m headed out of town now…so hopefully all (both) of my other readers can chime in, and I’ll be back next week to check in!

Talk amongst yourselves…

To be quite clear, I think he could have written that post about any service that is performed by a professional that a normal person could do as well if they just put the time into learning, like a…

- Lawn Mower
- Window Washer
- Mailman
- Nanny
- Web Designer
- Graphic Designer
- Carpet Layer
- Butcher

All of these can probably be done by just about anyone who wants to, but we hire professionals because they can, and absolutely should, perform these at a higher level of quality than we can ourselves. They are probably quicker as well.

I work on websites all the time that had been “Optimized” previously by the web developer. It is usually quite obvious that the developer did not know $#!+ about SEO and just sold their client an SEO “Snake Oil” primer to say that the site was optimized. It usually becomes evident the the site owner that this is the case and is whey they contact me. This is not always the case as there are many, many good Dev’s that actually Rock, but it happens more than it should!

Cheers to all developers that take SEO seriously!

The Devil is in the details!