![\"seo\"](\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/seo.jpg\" "\\"seo\\"")
<\/a> was like being married again, but having less to clean up \u2014 especially after a double-bucket night of Kentucky Fried Chicken.\u00a0 Or KFC as they like to be called now, since \u201cfried\u201d stuff has such a bad image.\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s much healthier now that it\u2019s called KFC.<\/p>\nI\u2019ll be Frank with you, although the rest of my friends call me Jeff. Not everyone can be on the first page of Google.\u00a0 Or the second, third or fourth pages either.\u00a0 And if you make it to the fifth page, well\u2026 who cares.<\/p>\n
No one searches to the fifth page anymore \u2014 those days are gone\u2026 quit living in the past.\u00a0 The Internet, it turns out, is the home of the Short Attention-Span Theater.\u00a0 No one reaches the fifth page on a search. They type in a new search term and search again.<\/p>\n
So all the thousands of SEO articles you\u2019ve read?\u00a0 Yep, just so much blah blah\u2026.<\/p>\n
And to all the hundreds of thousands of people and firms trying for the first pages of the search engines: Bah, Humbug: did you really believe in those myths \u2014 and that they could get you there?\u00a0 Except for the first 40 firms who actually placed, you\u2019ve wasted your time and money.\u00a0 You could have sent that money to me and it would have been better spent.\u00a0 Well, better for me anyhow.<\/p>\n
But wait, there\u2019s more\u2026<\/p>\n
Now that you know the myth about SEO, and that SEO doesn\u2019t really matter all that much, what does matter?\u00a0 Well, the fact that my secretary has the softest blond hair and pale blue eyes seems to matter. She reminds me of my wife.\u00a0 In fact every time I get a little too close to her she reminds me of my wife.\u00a0 But here\u2019s what does matter in online marketing, what you can do to be effective, and how to actually get on the first page of Google.<\/p>\n
So, when SEO doesn\u2019t matter, what matters most:<\/p>\n
PPC.\u00a0 Pay Per Click.\u00a0 Advertising at it\u2019s best.\u00a0 Taking over the number one slot from brighly colored packaging at the grocery store, and the number two slot of the yellow pages as advertising at the most appropriate moment.<\/p>\n
1. What matters is a wise selection of keywords.<\/strong> This brings focused, targeted traffic to the specific pages of your reader\u2019s interest.\u00a0 Your ads appear to those interested parties who are ready to buy.\u00a0 Well, in theory anyhow.<\/p>\n 2. Compelling ads = a good number of quality inquiries.<\/strong><\/p>\n The better the ad, the better the response, and for the best written ads: a more focused the audience.\u00a0 The best ads = the maximum number of inquiries from the highest quality of inquirers.<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0 Good testing.<\/strong> Real time online testing is fast and easy. The ability to test in real time is what makes web marketing so efficient.\u00a0 In traditional mailings we wait for the mail to be delivered, opened, filled out \u2014 then wait for the response to dribble in over the coming weeks.\u00a0 The Internet?\u00a0 Test in hours, even test in minutes. Rapid testing yields to a faster ramp-up to higher quality ads, placements, inquiries and conversion rates.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget: Split testing, optimization tools, bid management, keyword ranking, geo targeting, day parting, copy testing, PPC optimization and reporting.<\/p>\n Like so much ga ga, these tests are for the big guys.\u00a0 I guess we\u2019d all do this if we had money to burn, of if we could hire some of those geeky guys that we made fun of in high school.\u00a0 Yea, they\u2019re getting us back, now – aren\u2019t they?\u00a0 Like the Native Americans. We bought Manhattan for 24 bucks, and now they own every casino in America.\u00a0 They\u2019re paying us back, too\u2026 aren\u2019t they. 25 dollar tables on a Saturday night.\u00a0 Where\u2019s the love in that?<\/p>\n 4. Great landing pages.<\/strong> The more exciting your site, the more likely visitors will stay.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0 Sticky web sites.<\/strong> The more time people stay on your site, the more likely they will become a customer.\u00a0 Your customer.<\/p>\n 6.\u00a0 The best offers.<\/strong> Give visitors exposure to your good, better and best offers.\u00a0 Driving people deeper into your site = greater conversion.<\/p>\n 7. Drive phone calls.<\/strong> Call me old fashioned, but I like all the above to\u2026 drive visitors, customers and prospects to a phone call.\u00a0 Unless your website closes everyone, every time – I\u2019d offer a big phone number on every page.\u00a0 Then YOU close customers.<\/p>\n Hauh!\u00a0 Phone calls!\u00a0 Remember them.\u00a0 It\u2019s the old marketing part of me that just won\u2019t let go.\u00a0 Like the free love of the 60\u2019s, the music from the 70\u2019s, drinking and driving – some things you just never grow out of.<\/p>\n With live customer contact you can get a real vision of what customers like, what they want, what they like about you, your site, your products, your company. Find out if there\u2019s a problem with ordering: colors, products, delivery.\u00a0 You can find out why they left your site without placing an order last time.\u00a0 And you can show them a real side of great customer service.\u00a0 Just ask Verizon or Comcast.\u00a0 OK, maybe those weren\u2019t such good examples.<\/p>\n – Jeff<\/em><\/p>\n