Search Engine Optimization

I have had many people ask me what I do at work. As the quote board on my apartment can testify, I didn't know for a while. Now that I think I have a handle on my job, and I have an official title I thought I would write a short piece about what I do.

I work at an Internet Marketing Firm in Gainesville and it does many things. My company builds websites primarily but we also consult on marketing strategy, do technical maintenance on existing sites, and this nebulous service called Search Engine Optimization. SEO as we like to call it is what my department is responsible for.

First, let me start by explaining the purpose of SEO. It's simple really, it is making your website visible to search engines and therefore to the world. Ever wonder why those websites people make in intro to computer science never show up on the first page of Google? Ever been frustrated trying to find the website for something, a church perhaps, and finding it listed after lots of irrelevant things? That is all due to people like me. (Search for St. Joseph's Catholic Church Athens, GA. You won't find the churches homepage on the first few pages)

Search engines use a complex algorithm to decide who shows up where. They use a combination of the code, HTML, and the content to make that decision. Somethings, like the title and header of the page get more weight while other things, such as pictures without tags get no weight. (The reason St. Joe's does not show up is because those words do not appear on the page. They are bound up in an image that the search engine cannot read. You will find the LifeTeen web page Brandon and I put together a long time ago however.) We manipulate those things in the code and the content to help it rank higher on the search engine results page. There are also many other things one can do to help a sites rankings but it can get very technical and boring so thats enough for now.

Many people get ripped off by SEO service providers promising results, getting those results using banned practices, such as link hiding and keyword spamming, and selling pointless services. Many "SEO Firms" will also guarantee that you will rank for a keyword phrase. They make this happen by picking an obscure phrase and optimizing for that. Then they get the customer to search for that phrase, which no one else ever searches for, and the customer thinks they have seen results. SEO just like all marketing should positively impact the bottom line. Sure it is nice to be number one when someone searches for "Aqua Spider Monkey Juggling Staplers" but how many people really search for that. This is my warning about the many thieves that are out there trying to make a quick buck.

Let the SEO Consumers Beware
Let it be known that no one should ever pay anyone to submit their site to a search engine and you need not submit more than once. Search engine submission takes 2.5 seconds on a slow day and is often marketed as an SEO service. Also let it be known that Google Analytics is free and takes slightly longer to install, approximately 3.5 seconds on that same bad day.

A short list of "SEO" services that no one should ever pay for.

• Search Engine Submission
• Google Analyitics
• Links
• Reports with NO recomendations
• Guaranteed Results

SEO is can be a very effective way of promoting a business however it is not widely understood and is often a mask used to rip people off who don't understand internet marketing. If you are paying $200 a month for guaranteed results STOP!. SEO is very time intensive and no matter what anyone says there is no way to guarantee long term results. Everyday I come into contact with people who were made these promises and fell victim to these shady businesses. Often these shady people used shady SEO tricks which ended up hurting the site in the long run. Did you know that your site can be banned by search engines from showing up in the results? I think history says it best "if it looks to good to be true, it probably is."

Pop Culture Faith

So there I was browsing the LifeTeen homepage when I was slapped in the face by corporate America. There they were, represented in actual size, two iPod Nanos on the homepage. Ok so iPods are hip and it is important for a youth group to be hip, so no big deal. As I browsed farther, I noticed that brand appearing on other pages as well. The adult leaders page sports the very elegant "cover flow" design of iTunes. Wait, I'm not done yet. The same brand appears once more on the FAQ section on the podcast page. No you don't need an iPod to play the podcast but it will "enhance your experience" for without one you cannot enjoy the podcast while "driving your car, working out, or mowing the lawn."

The point of this post is not to bash LifeTeen as I don't even know that they intended to promote Apple. I think it is very possible that they didn't even notice how many times the brand shows up on the site. I also respect the materials they provide to youth leaders and teens. My point is to illustrate an issue that has bothered me for a while now.

Where do we draw the line between being hip and relevant to the youth and endorsing pop culture? I believe we must be very careful about what statements we make both implicitly and explicitly especially when it involves teens and cool.

When I began to think about the effects of LifeTeen's implicit endorsement of the iPod and iTunes, I couldn't help but think about all of the underprivileged children I have worked with and how much they value being cool. The fact that the iPod is the most expensive mp3 player you can buy and mp3 players in general are a luxury, compound this problem in my mind.

When I saw the ad at the bottom of the homepage advertising the LifeTeen podcasts I could help but feel my heart sink in empathy for those teens that did not receive an mp3 player for Christmas or those that had another, less expensive, brand or a less cool iPod from years past.

I guess the bottom line is that I think kids feel enough pressure to be cool without their religion adding to it. Being aware of this pressure should moderate our use of pop culture to form the faith of our teens. Should we reject pop culture outright, or should we embrace it? I'm not sure I have the answer but I believe it will be some combination of both. We must focus on creating an environment of acceptance and work to make love and acceptance cool.

My first Blog

For the past two months I have been learning a lot about "social media marketing" and "web 2.0." For those of you reading this who are unfamiliar with those terms I am basically talking about the serge of Facebook-like sites and blogs, etc. that have popped up in the last few years.

Also over the last couple of months I have been encouraged to have a blog and to quote "join the conversation." Don't worry unlike most of the "experts" I have no hidden agenda with this blog. I don't care about my place on Search Engine Results pages or in how many minutes my new posts get indexed. There will be no keyword research and no attempts to optimize posts for carefully selected keywords. This blog has one purpose. That purpose is to facilitate conversations and to encourage learning through conversation. I can honestly say that most of what I know today was learned though a good conversation with a knowledgeable friend and the rest in arguments with those who disagree with me.

One more thing you should know. There is no theme to this blog. I will simply write about the thoughts and ideas I think would benefit from conversation.

I welcome comments, criticisms and suggestions. I just ask that if you comment you keep with the spirit of growing and learning through conversation. Thanks for giving me five minutes of your time. You can subscribe to my blog using the RSS icon in the right side of the address bar.