My Blog
By now, you probably know that being found online has something to do with keywords and search engines and the interactions of these. Since I was close to the Google hive when I worked at AOL in Dulles, VA, I learned that this complex interaction is centered around one word for Google - "RELEVANCE". Sure, there are lots of tricks that "SEO" firms can play to simulate top relevance, but they will be fleetingly useful if you don't have sustainable relevance. If you are truly the most relevant listing for a certain set of keywords, then by all means Google wants you to be the ichiban (top one, number one, top dog, big honcho) listing. What set of keywords are right for your company and how you get them to work for you is unique to your business and a longer conversation, but the most important thought for today is that it is a never ending quest to keep up with evolving relevance. I came across the following diagram that shows how search dynamics have changed over the last few years for the blogging space. How might your keywords be changing?
I couldn't take my eyes off of these images. They made me pay attention and look closer to understand what was being expressed, as I controlled my laughter. Can you imagine if you were driving by such a vehicle and you saw these signs? Truly Purple Cow expressions for these companies. Their effectiveness is more than just the oddity of the images, their placement and messaging. What these signs do is consider human behaviors and trigger them to capture engagement and hold it. That is what your web site / online touchpoints (Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogger, Facebook page...) should do. In the near future, you MUST go beyond just a site and become an engaging "cause" to your customers, no matter what industry you are in or you will find yourself increasingly perceived as irrelevant. But, what is your cause? Who thinks this way? Who can take me beyond an advertising or simple web design mentality and into "thinking web sites"?
Keep reading past the jump.
