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Ha, ha. I told you I was new to this whole blogging thing–I wrote a blog over the weekend and thought I had posted it, but when I just checked in to write this one I found out that I had only saved a draft of it. OOPS. So the whole “have a good Memorial Day weekend” thing is a little later. I will get better at this, I promise!
Anyhoo…Kelley forwarded me a really great article this morning that I thought I would write about.
The article was about the importance of knowing the basics of SEO even if you are going to outsource the work to an SEO agency. It’s probably not the best strategy to rely completely on your SEO firm. One reason is that SEO is different for every web site and something that worked beautifully for one site might not work so well for another. Knowing this about SEO can help you bring up such things during meetings with your SEO agency. If your SEO firm suggests something to you that doesn’t seem quite right, you will have enough knowledge to question or challenge them. It’s also important to be able to have the basic fundamental knowledge of SEO to be able to answer the day-to-day questions and concerns that may arise without always having to contact your SEO firm. Most likely, they will not always be available to you anyway, so this can help you save some time and maybe even frustration. This article suggested four things to quickly become up to speed on the very basics of SEO (you don’t have to pull all-nighters or spend weeks/months studying this).
1. Read, read, read–read books on SEO. Go hang out at your local bookstore or library and read up on the basics.
2. Become a member of SEO learning communities–read web sites, attend webinars, go to conferences. These can bring you a wealth of information.
3. Buy online training programs–here you can learn at your own pace and convenience. SEMPO institute is a great one. There are quizzes after each section so you can see how much you learned.
4. Talk to an SEO consultant–see if they would be willing to give an in-house training session.
This is great information–by taking just a bit of time to learn the SEO basics, you’ll be able to answer questions, talk about SEO strategy with co-workers and peers, and effectively manage your accounts.

I am off to a landing page optimization workshop early next week. I’m sure I’ll have lots to talk about when I get back.

Have a good weekend, all.

We are so thrilled to have our blog up and running! I have to admit, I am new to this whole blogging thing, so bear with me, but
I’m very excited to be the first one to post a blog on our new site.
I just read an interesting article, actually, about a trap that many online marketers are falling into. It was about how many businesses were being killed by their competition and they didn’t even realize it. It said that many people are ignoring external factors that have an impact on their business, such as the number of competitors they have, what their goals and strategies are, and even how they are funded, and instead get so caught up with their own measures of success, CTR, CPA, ROI, etc, that they ignore their competition. This failure can cost them greatly. The point is that what your competition is doing can have a lot to do with the success or failure of your business. Knowing that, it is vital to always stay on top of the marketplace and on top of your competitors. You cannot just safely assume that your ROI will continue to rise month after month without knowing what your competition is doing. The article suggests paying attention to your competition’s ad copy, landing pages, whether you share views (how often your ads appear in relation to your competitor’s), and what keyword bidding your competitor’s are doing.
Bottom line–pay attention to other factors besides your own internal metrics. Doing this can save you money and frustration, but can also give you a better understanding of your competition and the marketplace in general. Good advice and something important to think about!
I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend!