Today at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum I moderated a panel on B2B blogging. When you get a room full of marketers the conversation will sometimes turn to SEO and of course ROI. Mix the two and you have a lively conversation.
Yes we all know that Google loves blogs, but if your only reason for blogging is SEO, then you're going to fail. Back in early 2006 I posted about a newspaper that wanted to start community blogging. I told them if the reasons were revenue or page views that things would fail. The primary purpose has to be conversation and community. If you do those two things right (and have your blog properly configured) then SEO and all the other benefits should follow.
During the panel today the analogy I used was this:
If your fiance asks you why you love him/her and want to spend the rest of your life with them you shouldn't say:
A. I'm looking for increased ROI thru shared living expenses.
B. You have a great network of (hot) friends, and partnering with you allows me to position myself favorably with them.
It should first and foremost be about love and compassion (with your fiance).
Visitor Comments
Sadly, I know too many people who don't see anything wrong with that analogy and prove it in their relationships. Those are the people to stay away from in business as well...
Posted by: Chris Scott | October 2, 2007 9:38 PM
Fantastic analogy!
As you know, I've used the "relationship" theme in many of my analogies. I had a meeting with two marketing people yesterday where one of them said (and I paraphrase, but not by much): "Why do we have to do all this work? It seems like it would be easier to just fake it to move things along faster... would anyone really know if we were just making it up?"
I responded - "Sure we could do that, but going back to our 'realtionship mindset', that's a one-night stand. And nobody likes to be in a one-night stand when they thought it was the begining of a real relationship."
A long pauses and a "...oh, well, that IS true" was the response.
Posted by: Jake McKee | October 3, 2007 9:00 AM
Wait, wait... what the hell is wrong with choice B?
Posted by: Sean O'Shaughnessy | October 3, 2007 3:35 PM
Great post! So many businesses are entering the conversation not understanding the point. Creates static. Well said.
Posted by: John Stavely | October 3, 2007 10:19 PM
Hear here. Its the goodwill you build up that will provide the most benefit, not the raw traffic and page views. By doing right by them, the community will practically bend over backwards when you need them (to forgive a mistake, or adopt a new product, etc).
Posted by: Eric Marden | October 4, 2007 12:43 PM
What does SEO mean? I fear asking the question for being obviously "out of it." Yet, aren't we communicators who should clearly communicate? I work with engineers who use an alphabet soup language that's as foreign as Greek. My job is intrepreting.
Posted by: Jane | October 4, 2007 2:58 PM
Jane, SEO means Search Engine Optimization
Posted by: Josh Hallett | October 4, 2007 3:37 PM
My oooh my! What a great post... Far too many times do I face this when dealing with customers and positioning the benefits of Web 2.0/social networking.. It's a great indicator of where the focus of instant gratification has lead corporations astray from truly connecting with their audience and truly wanting to know the feedback that, end the long run, calls them to deal with their inefficiency's and gaps within their organization.
Bottom line, those who care to know and want to improve will embrace the wave, those that don't simply don't care and don't want to align with the feedback that will take take to the next level. Ignorance is bliss for those who don't give a rat's ass for customer satisfaction and improvement...
Thank you for the post!
Mark
Posted by: Mark Courtney | October 4, 2007 11:20 PM
Josh, your panel discussion was terrific! Wonderful examples from Emerson, Edelman and Compendium. Thanks.
Posted by: C.B. Whittemore | October 6, 2007 11:30 AM
This is exactly what drives me crazy about people in our industry who say "you have to be able to show that it affects the bottom line or sales . . . otherwise it's just a fun way to waste time." Quote from here: http://transomblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/bottom-line-with-social-media.html
Thanks for a great analogy.
Posted by: Marijean Jaggers | October 10, 2007 10:32 AM